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A Passion Project: Thirty-five Years of Migration Research at the Shoals Marine Lab

April 9 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Since 1990, Sara Morris has been the lead bander at the Appledore Island Migration Station, which operates during both fall and spring migration. The station is focused on studying songbird migration and stopover ecology, the short breaks during migration when birds rest, refuel, and wait for favorable weather to continue migratory flights. The team that contributes to this research has added additional studies to help increase our understanding of migration in the annual cycle of birds as well as other aspects of bird biology and birds’ roles in community ecology.

Bio: Sara Morris is currently the Executive Director of the Shoals Marine Lab, an educational field station on Appledore Island, Maine, jointly operated by the University of New Hampshire and Cornell University. Her connection to Appledore and the Shoals Marine Lab dates back to 1990, when she began her studies of bird migration as a graduate student at Cornell University. She received her PhD. in 1996 and joined the faculty at Canisius College that year. At Canisius, she taught a variety of courses including ornithology, vertebrate zoology, field ecology, evolution and ecology, and anatomy and physiology of plants and animals. After more than 27 years at Canisius, including the last nine in academic administration, she retired from Canisius in 2024, received the honor of emeritus status, and immediately accepted the passion project of leading the Shoals Marine Lab. Sara also has enjoyed teaching ornithology at the National Audubon Society’s Camp in Maine each summer since 1990. Sara has served as the President of the Wilson Ornithological Society, was elected as a Fellow of the American Ornithologists’ Union, and currently serves as President of the American Ornithological Society.