A hungry 乐播传媒 Bobcat knows to make tracks to Commons. For a peckish local osprey, Lake Andrews offers bountiful helpings of its favorite food: fish. Specifically, goldfish.

Around 10 a.m. on Aug. 22, 乐播传媒 Communications photographer Theophil Syslo spied an osprey perched atop a Garcelon Field light stand.

Through his camera viewfinder, Syslo saw the raptor munching a goldfish from the campus pond. “And I figured it would go for more.”

Syslo tagged along to chronicle the show, and here’s what happened:

10:03:25 a.m.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

Atop a light stand at Garcelon Field, the osprey finishes its first helping of Lake Andrews goldfish.

Goldfish have long populated the campus pond. They were there before the pond’s 1998 draining and restoration, and reappeared soon afterward.

We assume they were introduced by students. Fish being the only pets allowed in residences, it’s easy to imagine a goldfish going from, say, Adams Hall to Lake Andrews.

10:05:28 a.m.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

Having eaten one goldfish, the osprey takes flight for Lake Andrews, just 500 feet away.

A bird expert who often does fieldwork on remote seal islands, 乐播传媒 Professor of Biology Don Dearborn appreciates this local bird show: “It’s super cool!”

He adds, “Especially since the Puddle is so popular 鈥� noontime walkers, students studying 鈥� it’s great that people have a chance to see nature in action.”

10:09:23 a.m.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

Perched in a spruce tree along the shore, the osprey scans the water below for fish. Osprey are the only hawk species in North America that eat live fish almost exclusively.

10:09:46 a.m.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

The osprey dives toward its prey and, just before hitting the water, “repositions to land feet-first for prey capture,” says Dearborn. “As a side consequence, they typically penetrate a meter or less into the water.”

10:09:49 a.m.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

Shedding water, the osprey emerges from the pond with a goldfish. Barbed pads on the soles of an osprey’s feet help grip slippery fish.

Like most raptors, an osprey has four long toes鈥攖hree in front and one in back. When it reaches for a fish, one front toe swivels toward the rear, effectively positioning two toes in front and two in back to create twin grasping talons: perfect for holding a fish tightly.

10:09:52 a.m.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

It’s said that when an osprey has a fish in its claws, it orients the fish head first for less wind resistance, though that doesn’t appear to be the case here.

Repositioning the fish “is perhaps less important for short-distance flights, given the risk of dropping the fish during repositioning,” Dearborn says. “On longer flights, such as back to a distant nest, the reorientation is likely to produce valuable energy savings.”

10:09:53 a.m.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

As the osprey ascends from the water, it shakes itself off, shedding water easily thanks to oily feathers common among aquatic birds and many terrestrial birds.

10:09:55 a.m.

Theophil Syslo/乐播传媒 College

See you again, osprey!

Way up in a tree on the 乐播传媒 campus, a bird hammered away at the wood on a recent afternoon.

Mindful of 乐播传媒鈥� birding history, I was curious: What species was this rat-a-tapping bird? The possible pecking order, I figured, included two familiar Maine species: the downy woodpecker and hairy woodpecker.

Professor of Biology Don Dearborn, an expert in avian biology, cheerfully ID鈥檇 the bird after I showed him a video clip and still image.

It鈥檚 neither of those woodpeckers, he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a yellow-bellied sapsucker,鈥� he explained, pointing to the black and white mottling on its back 鈥渞ather than a block of solid white, as with the downy or hairy.鈥�

And, he added, its red throat makes it a male. 鈥淢ale and female sapsuckers both have a red forehead 鈥� though not visible in your photo 鈥� but only the males have a red throat.鈥�

You can tell the species and gender of this bird by the red patch on its throat.

The species’ eponymous yellow belly can be 鈥渜uite variable,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his one appears to have at least a tiny bit, low on its flanks.鈥�

The sapsucker鈥檚 chosen tree, located in a small stand of mixed conifers at the corner of Nichols Street and Campus Avenue across from the Historic Quad, is clearly a spruce.

I asked Brett Huggett, assistant professor of biology听and architect of the 乐播传媒 Canopy website, which species. 鈥淎re its branches hanging down?鈥� he asked me. (Yup.) 鈥淭hen it鈥檚 a Norway spruce.鈥�

The sapsucker is a migratory bird, so it can seem a bit more rare in Maine than the year-round downy or hairy woodpeckers. As its name suggests, the and feeds on the sap that oozes out.

The yellow-bellied sapsucker was doing his thing in a Norway spruce (center), a species characterized by drooping branches. On left and right are red pines. This stand of conifers is at the corner of Nichols Street and Campus Avenue.

In the summer as I train for 乐播传媒 cross country, I run over wooded trails, so I鈥檓 constantly on the lookout for ticks. All I know about these tiny arachnids is that they carry dangerous diseases, such as Lyme.

Ben Tonelli 鈥�18, a double major in biology and religious studies, is also a cross country runner. But his honors-thesis research in biology means he can look at ticks from a scientific perspective.

Last year, Tonelli took biology professor Donald Dearborn鈥檚 Short Term course in avian biology. He learned that migrating songbirds can transport ticks southward as they leave Canada and the northern U.S. during the fall.

“Until Ben鈥檚 model, we haven鈥檛 had a sense of where the redistribution might occur.”

Intrigued, he planned do his thesis research in the field, looking at songbirds and the ticks they carry 鈥� that is, until last summer鈥檚 biomedical engineering internship pointed him a different, more computational direction.

The result is unique: Tonelli has created the first mathematical model to visually illustrate the movement of ticks as they hitch rides with songbirds migrating south.

鈥淲e鈥檝e known for a long time that some southbound songbirds carry ticks, but until Ben鈥檚 model, we haven鈥檛 had a sense of where the redistribution might occur and the possible scale of that effect,鈥� Dearborn says. 鈥淏en has connected the dots of existing research.鈥�

As tick-borne illnesses continue to spread both , Tonelli hopes his research will help scientists identify emerging public-health risks. 鈥淭his is a topic people deal with in their daily life,鈥� he says.

What inspired your thesis?

After I took Don鈥檚 Short Term, we talked about doing something field-based for my thesis. Then, last summer I worked at the University of Vermont and studied under and other researchers involved in biomedical engineering.

Tonelli’s experience in an avian biology Short Term course taught by Don Dearborn in 2017 got him started on his honors thesis project. Here, Dearborn’s students head out to do fieldwork on Kent Island last May. (Don Dearborn)

Dr. Prothen has created what鈥檚 known as an individual-based model, also called an agent-based model, that seeks to in lung tissue regeneration. I thought about Don鈥檚 central question, how songbirds transport ticks, and how it might be more fruitful to look at the literature and then create a model of how those pieces play into the phenomenon as a whole, as opposed to a specific study of a specific bird species.

So I got the methodology from UVM and got the idea from Don and then combined those.

Tell us more about your individual-based model.

An individual-based model is an interesting way to answer questions about the natural world. It is based on the idea that behavioral patterns of an individual, or agent, can explain a wide, system-level dynamic.

My model depicts each bird as an individual. That meant I had to learn their behavior, so I went into the existing literature to find information; from that, I created the parameters for the model.

This animation of Ben Tonelli鈥檚 individual-based model shows how songbirds transport ticks southward during fall migration. The animation starts with 800 black dots, simulating the ovenbird species, in their northern breeding grounds. Their departure southward turns the black dots to blue. Certain dots pick up ticks and turn green. The attachment site of each tick is an orange dot, and the dropoff site, farther south, is red.

What are some of the parameters that you used?

For ticks, the parameters are pretty simple: Where they are in the U.S., the seasonal timing of their activity patterns, the rate they attach to birds, and how long they stay on.

Birds are way more in-depth. I used two different species, ovenbird and wood thrush, in the model; each forages on the ground, and researchers know a lot about them.

I had to know where they breed in the U.S. and Canada, how fast they can go, at what rate do they regain their energy stores when they stop, at what times do they start migrating, in what numbers are the initial populations, etc. 听Anything that you can think of, because at the end of the day there are just a ton of parameters.

Did you have to learn any computer programs for your thesis?

Before last summer, I did not really know how to code. During the summer when I was working at UVM, I worked with CT scans and ended up learning how to code by learning , a platform for engineers, mostly bioengineers, but people use it for all types of things. I had to learn that to create my model for this thesis.

With 乐播传媒 now having a Digital and Computational Studies Program, students will be able to do research rooted in the natural life sciences but also have a computational end to it. The more you do it, the easier it gets.

How do you make what you write about accessible to all students, like me, who are not in STEM fields?

I鈥檝e been motivated by the fact that this topic has an impact on human health; people have personal experiences with tick-borne diseases like Lyme.

So when writing I think about how I am going to explain it to my mom and my brother, and kind of orient it toward simple language when possible. At the end of the day, hopefully this will say something about effects on humans.

You鈥檙e also a religious studies major.

I wanted to major in religious studies because I think it is a great way to access the humanities, including history, cultural studies, and philosophy.

I also like how religious studies allows for the consideration of topics surrounding human suffering in a way distinct from the sciences.

In the Filene Room, Tonelli talks with Lewiston High School track athletes following a February 2017 screening of the documentary Freedom Runners, about an Israeli teacher who forms a running team for his students, young African refugees and asylum seekers. The screening was a collaboration between the Maine Jewish Film Festival and the Harward Center for Community Partnerships. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

How is your relationship with your adviser?

Don is an absolutely great adviser. Sometimes I get really stuck and am trying to think through how best to parameterize something in the model. I will explain it to him, and he will sit there for what seems like an uncomfortable amount of time while he thinks about it. Then he will give a really thought-out answer that will shift my thinking and really push me.

The biggest thing that Don has given me is the background in avian physiology and behavior. If I had an adviser who did not know so much about birds, the project would not have been possible because I had to learn a lot of these individual behaviors. My project is mostly self-directed, but he put the seeds in for places for me to start looking.

Tonelli competes at the NESCAC cross country championship meet on Oct. 10, 2017, at Pineland Farms.

What has been the most enjoyable part of your thesis?

I think just being self-directed and being able to pursue my question. Don鈥檚 huge background in all things avian means I can learn something totally new but also do it on my own time. That鈥檚 been really cool.

Do you have a favorite work spot on campus?

If I am coding, I work in Coram because the computer screens are huge so it is easy to have MATLAB and something else up. When I was doing the research I mostly did it in Commons upstairs, which is good because I could get plenty of coffee. I usually try to work there in the mornings because it is very quiet.

Any favorite snacks that you like to have while you are working?

If I鈥檓 working in the morning, I go upstairs in Commons and pound back breakfast in the first 10 minutes because I don鈥檛 want to get my computer all gross. Then I will just drink a ton of tea and coffee.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Find something that you are really interested in and then from there, try to think through a research question that you can answer during your time doing thesis.

Think about that early because I think that a lot of people who have the most success start doing stuff over the summer.

In the deep cold of a Maine winter, the reality of our warming climate feels counterintuitive. But as scientists remind us, climate change is best understood over the long term.

In fact, an imperiled ocean bird off the Maine coast is trying to tell us the same thing. Since 1988, a population of Leach鈥檚 storm-petrels in the Bay of Fundy has been breeding less and less successfully, and our warming climate is the culprit, according to new research by 乐播传媒 Professor of Biology Don Dearborn and colleagues.

New research suggests a link between the decline of Leach’s storm-petrels and a warming climate. (Don Dearborn)

The findings by Dearborn, Professor of Biology Robert Mauck of Kenyon College, and the late Professor Emeritus of Biology Charles Huntington of Bowdoin College were published in in December.

The researchers discovered that one specific climate variable, , is the 鈥渟ingle most important predictor of the storm-petrels鈥� hatching success.鈥�

鈥淥ur analysis points out both whether any climate variable is involved鈥� in the birds鈥� breeding decline 鈥� the answer is a definitive yes 鈥� 鈥渁nd also what climate variable is the best predictor, and it’s global mean temperature,鈥� Dearborn says.

Then came “the tipping point.”

Since 1955, researchers on Kent Island, home of the Bowdoin Scientific Station, have recorded all sorts of data about the local storm-petrels, including the birds鈥� success at breeding, determined by checking if there鈥檚 a chick in a nest where previously there had been an incubating egg.

Reviewing data from 1955 to 2010, the researchers saw that the petrels鈥� hatching success initially improved with the rise in global mean temperature. Then came 鈥渢he tipping point,鈥� when success stopped improving. 鈥淭hat year was 1988,鈥� they report. Since then, hatching success has declined as temperatures have continued to increase.

A warming climate affects species in myriad ways, and it鈥檚 believed that 鈥渃hanges in food availability and food quality, paralleled by marked changes in fisheries鈥� are causing the birds鈥� decline on Kent Island.

Jacob Freedman 鈥�18 of Chestnut Hill, Mass., checks a Leach鈥檚 storm-petrel breeding burrow for occupancy during fieldwork on Kent Island last Short Term, part of Professor of Biology Don Dearborn鈥檚 avian biology course. (Don Dearborn)

乐播传媒 students in Professor of Biology Don Dearborn鈥檚 avian biology Short Term course head out to do fieldwork on Kent Island in May 2017. (Don Dearborn).

A researcher takes a blood sample from a Leach鈥檚 storm-petrel on Kent Island in July 2016. (Don Dearborn)

A breeding burrow of a Leach's storm-petrel on Kent Island in the Bay of Fundy. (Don Dearborn)

Quite a few climate variables touch Leach鈥檚 storm-petrels, birds that travel great distances within and between breeding seasons. 鈥淭hese birds are in very different places at different times of the year, and even on different days,鈥� Dearborn says. Many variables mean there have been a variety of 鈥渞easonable biological hypotheses鈥� to explain what鈥檚 happening to the birds.

Besides the rise in global temperature, there are regional temperature changes. There鈥檚 the rise in sea surface temperatures, both in the North Atlantic where the birds find food in the summer, and near the equator where they spend the winter. There鈥檚 the temperature in the birds鈥� own burrows, where they incubate eggs.

By building statistical models with different combinations of known climate variables, the researchers found that the global mean temperature, though 鈥渁 single, broad-brush metric,鈥� nevertheless provides the most useful index to capture 鈥渢he complexity faced by these seabirds over a half-century of climate change.鈥�

听“It is the great integrator.”

With global temperatures unlikely to return to their pre-1988 levels, the researchers warn that 鈥渢he future is not bright for this marine vertebrate breeding in the Bay of Fundy.鈥�

Beyond the fate of the storm-petrels, the study underscores the need to think about climate change as a global phenomenon, 鈥渆ven as the local climate changes differently in different places,鈥� Dearborn explains.

Accordingly, 鈥済lobal mean temperature should be a useful predictor for other natural populations around the world, particularly for other species that travel across large spatial scales, as storm-petrels do,鈥� Dearborn says.

As the researchers say in their paper, 鈥淕lobal temperature is an index of an entire planet鈥檚 worth of interactions. It is the great integrator.鈥�

Maine Baseball Hall of Fame’s nine inductees include a 乐播传媒 ace 鈥� Portland Press Herald

Thom Freeman ’63 tips his hat as he and fellow Maine Baseball Hall of Fame inductees are honored prior to a Sea Dogs minor league game at Hadlock Field in Portland. At left is Dan Deshaies, a great Maine umpire, and at right is Dave Gonyar, who played on UMaine teams that went to the College World Series. (Photograph by John Lanza ’67)

From left, six-foot-six Thom Freeman ’63 (left) poses with head coach Chick Leahey ’52 and other stars of the 1962 season: slugger Howard Vandersea ’63, with a team-leading four homers, and John Lanza ’67, a team-leading .363 average. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Common roots of two iconic American artists at the 乐播传媒 museum 鈥� Maine Sunday Telegram

“Tilt,” silkscreen on triple-primed canvas from the “Like a Rolling Stone” series by Robert Indiana.

A 乐播传媒 friend鈥檚 advice pays off for a new high school coach 鈥� Valley News

Young-adult novelist Jones picks up the social-justice gauntlet 鈥� Portland Press Herald

Carrie Jones ’93 has published two books since May, including this week’s Flying, a young-adult science fiction title.

The unusual case of an animal ignoring a genetic trait in a potential mate鈥� Molecular Ecology

An adult Leach’s storm petrel is measured and fitted with an individually numbered leg band during island research in the Bay of Fundy. (Photo courtesy of Don Dearborn)

We鈥檙e in Carnegie Science Hall, peering into a vintage display case of stuffed birds.

The nameplate says it鈥檚 the Waterman Collection. That would be Willard H. Waterman of Auburn, an avid birder of the early 20th century and a longtime director of the local , which gave the collection to 乐播传媒 many years ago.

The Waterman Collection is in Carnegie Science Hall. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

The bird club is named for legendary 乐播传媒 professor Johnny Stanton (1834鈥�1918), a polymath who taught ornithology, among other topics, and had a tradition of taking students on

Stanton assembled his own prodigious collection of stuffed birds, and in the photograph below he poses with his birds in Carnegie Science Hall shortly before his 1918 death.

Jonathan Stanton poses with his bird collection in Carnegie Science Hall in this circa 1918 photograph. (Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library)

Most of Stanton鈥檚 collection went from 乐播传媒 to the Maine State Museum around 1980 but a few specimens stayed behind, and they share the Carnegie display case along with Waterman鈥檚 birds.

The style of the tag on this common bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula europoea, indicates that it was part of Stanton’s collection.

This preserved common bullfinch, Pyrrhula pyrrhula europoea, was part of Stanton’s collection. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Though preserved birds are used in 乐播传媒 classrooms and research today, these older birds aren鈥檛 鈥� arsenic was likely used to preserve them.

And while Stanton collected a lot of specimens from around the world (乐播传媒 publications of his era say he netted the kestrel in his collection while tramping about the ruins of the Parthenon), his collection never was particularly useful to later researchers. Besides the poison problem, the tags on his specimens all lack dates and locations.

The tag on this Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica, is of a different and, perhaps, better style, telling that the bird was taken on July 10, 1949, on Herring Island, famous for its puffins, off Labrador.

Atlantic puffin, Fratercula arctica. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

乐播传媒 does maintain a varied collection of bird specimens that are safe for teaching and research, including this snowy owl, Bubo scandiacus

Its tag says that the bird was found dead in 1991 in Rangeley, Maine, and also gives the bird’s weight (1,110 grams) and says that starvation was the cause of death.

Snowy owl, Bubo scandiacus. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

As a healthy snowy owl weighs between 1,400 and 3,000 grams, explains 乐播传媒 Professor of Biology Don Dearborn, finding a bird weighing just 1,100 grams would be a clue that starvation did it in.

Other clues would be a “lack of subcutaneous fat and, more extreme, reduced size of major muscles due to catabolism, when an organism meets its metabolic needs by breaking down its own muscle.”

Catabolism can happen when an animal is badly injured and unable to obtain food.

“A broken wing would do that,” Dearborn suggests. “If the bird could get to a safe perch, it would then slowly starve. A rotten way to go.”

Here’s a red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus, native to North and Central America. Like the osprey, red-winged blackbirds can be seen around Lake Andrews, where they nest in the cattails.

Red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phoeniceus. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

In his research, Dearborn and colleagues have used museum specimens to make a discovery about red-wing blackbird feather colors.

They found low levels of the hormone corticosterone in their feathers correlates with brighter red epaulets.

Since bright epaulets attract females, and since birds release corticosterone when they are stressed, it might follow that a stressed male with less-bright epaulets will have trouble finding a mate 鈥� which is sad for the male but, under Darwinian thinking, the way it goes.

Here are a few more images of birds in the Woodman display case:

Eastern rosella, Platycercus eximius, native to Australia. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Ending our avian meet-and-greet is this resplendent quetzal, Pharomachrus mocinno, found from southern Mexico to western Panama. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Spruce grouse, Falcipennis canadensis, native to North America. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Common snipe, Capella gallinago, native to northern Europe and northern Asia. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)

Osprey, Pandion haliaetus, a species that can be found on all continents except Antarctica. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/乐播传媒 College)