Annie Pollard, M.S. Student
I’m currently studying interactions between Leach’s Storm-Petrels and mammalian predators.
The Leach’s Storm-Petrel (Oceanodroma leucorhoa) is a small, planktivorous seabird found breeding on islands all along the west coast of North America. It breeds in large colonies and nests in burrows. It is also nocturnal, only coming to shore late at night. These behaviors protect it from most predators. Saddle Rock, an island of the southern Oregon coast, hosts a population of Leach’s Storm-Petrels that are heavily predated. Saddle Rock is contiguous with the mainland at low tide and is therefore accessible by mammalian predators. In recent years, predation has significantly reduced the Saddle Rock Colony. My research aims to discover who the predators are on Saddle, how much predation is occurring, and how the population size is responding increased predation pressure.
