Bowdoin Scientific Station records

The Bowdoin Scientific Station located on Kent Island, New Brunswick, Canada, is Bowdoin College's biological field station. Since the summer of 1934, students from Bowdoin College (and other colleges and universities) have banded birds and worked on various projects on the Island. Kent Island was deeded to Bowdoin College in 1936 by J. Sterling Rockefeller and Paula Rockefeller for scientific purposes only, with the stipulation that a bird sanctuary be maintained on the Island. Alfred O. Gross, Bowdoin Professor of Biology, was the first director of the station, a position he held until his retirement in 1953. His son, William A.O. Gross (Bowdoin class of 1937) was the first field director, and Ernest Joy was the first caretaker. Since the first official Bowdoin College expedition to the Island in 1935, the station has been a research facility and sanctuary for nesting seabirds, and it is known for studies of gulls and storm-petrels. During the summer, undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty are involved in research projects concerning seabirds, island plants, marine biology, meteorology, and other aspects of the environment and ecology. Many scientific papers have been published based on research at the Station.