Location:
Located 1/2 mile off Popham Beach in the Kennebec River, Sagadahoc County.
(Approx. 1 hour drive south of Bremen.) Pond Island is owned by the
US Fish & Wildlife Service. It is part of the Petit Manan National
Wildlife Refuge, but is managed by National Audubon Society.
Access: Qualified research staff provide transport from the mainland by motorized Avon docking at Fort Popham. (Only high tide landings may be done at the Gamble Family’s float.) When all staff are on the island, the Avon stays at the island tied to a mooring buoy. Island staff are responsible for securing their own supplies and groceries as needed when no one is scheduled to arrive from the Audubon base camp in Bremen. Use of personal vehicles is necessary. NAS has fuel accounts at vendors in Brunswick.
Accommodations: A large tent accommodates the island supervisor and the research equipment. The "kitchen" is equipped with a propane camp stove. Volunteers and interns must bring their own tent, sleeping bag and ground pad. The camp has a solar shower bag, but occasionally showers may be taken at the Gamble’s residence. There is no toilet on the island.
Duties: The Island supervisor will outline the specific projects underway when you arrive on the island. Duties may include: daily bird counts, 3-hour blind observation stints, bird banding and censusing, and greeting and sharing natural history information with the public landing on the beach. Public interaction may include restricting visitor access to the sensitive nesting areas.
Wildlife: Migrant land birds during the early part of the season and migrant shorebirds from late July through August. Nearby islands host herons, gulls and cormorants. Nearby Popham Beach is a Piping Plover breeding site.
Study
Projects: Establish and monitor a restored tern colony; eider
productivity study; tern chick feeding study.
General information for research assistants and volunteers
The
first Common Tern to return to nest on Pond Island guards its two eggs.
Behind it is a shelter to protect its chicks from predators after they
hatch.
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