by Ann Carpenter
By 1982, just five years after hatching, the Bird Club was financially strong enough to grant research scholarships to Graduate Students who were studying ornithology at the College of William and Mary. A proposal for these scholarships was presented to and approved by the membership in November 1981. The rationale was that the club was being supported by the College which donates the club meeting space free of charge; one of the club’s primary goals is to educate people about birds; and the club could afford to support a scholarship from fund-raising projects. In fact, the third Bird Seed Sale, a project initiated in 1980, yielded over $1800 to be used towards these grant awards.
The Board voted to award a total of $500 per year for these scholarships.
When the Bird Club announced to the College of William and Mary’s Biology Department that it was offering a scholarship stipend for ornithological research for one of its students, the club had no idea there would be so many worthy applicants. Therefore, instead of one, the club made two awards of $250 each to Bob Anderson and Fenton Day. Bob proposed studying the feeding and population dynamics of Oystercatchers, while Fenton proposed looking into the effects that Herring Gull colonies have on adjacent tern and skimmer colonies.
In 2004, the Bird Club named the research grants in honor of William J. Sheehan, a Charter Member, the Club’s first Secretary, and the keeper of local bird club records from Day 1. In 2007, at the club’s 30th anniversary meeting, it was announced that one of the scholarships would be named to honor Ruth Beck, retired professor of Biology at W&M and a charter and founding member of the Bird Club. The scholarships are now called the Bill Sheehan/Ruth Beck Ornithology Research Grants.
Awards were made to one or two students per year until 2006 when the number was increased to three awards per year. Award amounts increased to $500 per student in 2000 and to $600 per student in 2014. Following the passing of Dr. Ruth Beck in 2015, the club received more than $5,000 in memorial donations. These funds are being devoted to the research
grants, allowing the club to make four awards in 2015 and five awards in 2016. In addition, the club receives semi-annual donations from Wild Birds Unlimited which also go toward funding the research grants. Members also may make designated donations to the grant fund.
Since 1982, the Bird Club has awarded 72 grants, totaling more than $35,000, to 66 graduate and undergraduate students. The mentors to the grantees over the last 35 years have included: Mitchell Byrd, Ruth Beck, Dan Cristol, John Swaddle, Matthias Leu, and Bryan Watts. Twenty-five of the grantees’ projects led to published, peer-reviewed articles. Each year, in the spring following the award, the students present the results of their research studies at a Bird Club meeting.
Student Researcher and WBC Grant Recipient Carly Hawkins and two Zebra Finches
This year’s awardees are Megan Thompson, “A Study of the Cognitive Memory of Birds and their Ability to Avoid a Toxic Food Source”; Carly Hawkins, “Investigating the Effects of Anthropogenic Noise Disturbance on Songbird Social Networks”; and Ananda Menon, “The Effect of Mercury on Reproductive Function in Male Songbirds”.
| YEAR | AWARDEE(S) | PROJECT | AWARDS AMOUNT | Mentor | Peer-reviewed article published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Bob Anderson | Eastern Shore Birdlife - Studies of Feeding and Population Dynamics of American Oystercatchers | $250.00 | Byrd | |
| Fenton Day | Eastern Shore Birdlife - Studies of the effects that Herrring Gull Colonies have on Adjacent Tern and Skimmer Colonies | $250.00 | Byrd | ||
| 1983 | Irene Rusnak | Home Range and Habitat Utilization of Resident Bald Eagle Pairs in Virginia | $500.00 | Byrd | |
| 1984 | Chuck Rosenberg | Research on nesting Barn Owls | $250.00 | Byrd | |
| Tim Kinkead | Nesting ecology of Ospreys | $250.00 | Byrd | ||
| 1985 | Peter McLean | Studies of Chesapeake Bay Ospreys | $500.00 | Byrd | |
| 1986 | Lynn Walter | Research on the food caching behavior of Carolina Chickadees | $500.00 | Byrd | |
| 1987 | Bob Cross | Studies of Piping Plovers on Virginia's Eastern Shore barrier islands | $500.00 | Byrd | |
| 1988 | Bob Cross | Studies of Piping Plovers on Virginia's Eastern Shore barrier islands | $500.00 | Byrd | |
| 1989 | Bob Cross | Studies of Piping Plovers on Virginia's Eastern Shore barrier islands | $500.00 | Byrd | |
| 1990 | Kennedy Clark | Shoreline Habitat Selection by Bald Eagles in Non-Breeding Concentration Area on the James River | $250.00 | Byrd | |
| Gregory Keller | Nesting Substrate Preference and Breeding Success of Common Terns and Black Skimmers in Virginia | $250.00 | Beck | ||
| 1991 | Tim O'Connell | The Effects of Gull Predation on the Colony Reproductive Success of Terns and Skimmers in Virginia | $500.00 | Beck | |
| 1992 | Ellen Bentley | A description and landscape analysis of the habitat requirements of Yellow-crowned Night Herons, Great Egrets and Green-backed Herons in Tidewater Virginia | $500.00 | Beck | |
| 1993 | Kristine Clements | Research on Great Blue Herons along the James and Chickahominy Rivers | $500.00 | Beck | |
| 1994 | Kristol Matthews | Nesting habitats of Black Skimmers | $500.00 | Beck | |
| 1995 | Elaine Mertus | Investigating nesting Red-headed Woodpeckers on Jamestown Island | $500.00 | Beck | |
| 1996 | David Whalen | The Breeding Ecology of Barn Owls in Upland versus Marsh Habitats in Virginia | $500.00 | Watts | J. Field Ornithology, Auk |
| 1997 | Chris Gordon | Is Food Acquisition a Limiting Factor in the Reproductive Success of the Black Skimmer | $300.00 | Beck | Waterbirds |
| Valerie Weiss | Population Declines and Habitat Requirements of the Brown-headed Nuthatch | $300.00 | Cristol | ||
| 1998 | Karen Johnson | Determination of Spring Departure in White-throated Sparrows | $500.00 | Cristol | J. Experimental Zoology |
| 1999 | Jenny Gamble | Learning of Drop-Catch behavior in Herring Gulls Foraging on Clams | $500.00 | Cristol | Animal Behaviour |
| 2000 | Renae Held | Tern nesting on the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel | $500.00 | Beck | |
| Emillie Snell-Rood* | Constructed Wetlands as Habitat for Native Birds | $500.00 | Cristol | Condor | |
| 2001 | Kevin Croll | Habitat Use, Productivity, and Winter Dispersal of the American Oystercatcher in Virginia | $500.00 | Beck | |
| David DesRochers | Birds of Man-made Salt Marshes | $500.00 | Cristol | Ecoscience | |
| 2002 | Alexandria Wilke | Research on American Oystercatchers on Virginia's Barrier Islands | $500.00 | Watts | Waterbirds |
| 2003 | Alexandria Wilke | Research on American Oystercatchers on Virginia's Barrier Islands | $500.00 | Watts | |
| Catherine Markham | The influence of salinity on diet, prey delivery, and nestling growth in Bald Eagles in the Lower Chesapeake Bay | $500.00 | Watts | Auk, J. Raptor research | |
| 2004 | Elizabeth Long | Prey Selection of Peregrine Falcons During Breeding Season in Virginia | $500.00 | Watts | |
| Caitlin Kight | The effects of human disturbance on the breeding success of cavity-nesting bird species | $500.00 | Swaddle | Biological Conservation | |
| 2005 | Caitlin Kight | The effects of human disturbance on the breeding success of cavity-nesting bird species | $500.00 | Swaddle | |
| Ariel White | Mercury Effects in Belted Kingfisher and Eastern Screech-Owls | $500.00 | Cristol | Waterbirds | |
| 2006 | Caitlin Kight | The effects of human disturbance on the breeding success of cavity-nesting bird species | $500.00 | Swaddle | |
| Anne Condon | An examination of mercury levels in fledgling birds along contaminated portions of the South and Shenandoah Rivers in Virginia | $500.00 | Cristol | Environmental Chemistry and Toxicology | |
| Rebecka Brasso | The effects of mercury contamination on the nesting of tree swallows | $500.00 | Cristol | Ecotoxicology | |
| 2007 | Joanna Hubbard | Choosy birds choose who? Exploring male mate choice in eastern bluebirds | $500.00 | Swaddle | Auk |
| Elise Larsen | Impacts of urban development on bird diversity in the Coastal Plain: the role of diet | $500.00 | Watts | ||
| Mikaela Howie | Distance from aquatic source to which mercury contamination affects wildlife | $500.00 | Cristol | ||
| 2008 | Allyson Jackson | Golf Courses as Replacement Habitats: Effects on Fledgling Survival? | $500.00 | Cristol | J. Wildlife Management |
| Mikaela Howie | The Infiltration of Aquatic Mercury into the Terrestrial Ecosystem | $500.00 | Cristol | ||
| Ryan Burdge | Pesticide Exposure and Diet of an Insectivorous Songbird on Virginia Golf Courses | $500.00 | Cristol | ||
| 2009 | Leah Wilson | Mate guarding behavior in the Australian Zebra Finch: Is it flexible and Optimized | $500.00 | Swaddle | Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology |
| Marie Pitts | Reproductive success of eastern bluebirds on golf courses: habitat effects across multiple spatial scales | $500.00 | Swaddle | ||
| Andrew McGann | Rusty Blackbird: Winter Ecology of a Disappearing Species | $500.00 | Cristol | Condor | |
| 2010 | Sarah Lemelin | Effects of Mercury on Reproductive Success and Adrenocortical Function | $500.00 | Cristol | Bulletin of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology |
| Catherine Lewis | The Sublethal Effects of Mercury on the Songbird Immune Systems: An Experimental Study | $500.00 | Cristol | Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology | |
| Amanda Bessler | The Effect of Mercury on Zebra Finch Spatial Memory | $500.00 | Cristol | ||
| 2011 | Megan Kobiela | The Effect of Mercury on Starvation and Predation Risk Tradeoffs in Zebra Finches | $500.00 | Swaddle | Animal Behaviour |
| Jenna Carlson | Sublelethal effects of methylmercury on avian flight: a captive dosing study on European Starlings | $500.00 | Swaddle | Ecotoxicology | |
| Kenton Buck | Variation and Heritability of Avian Mercury Bioaccumulation | $500.00 | Swaddle | PLoS ONE | |
| 2012 | Morgan Niccoli | Is Occupany Modeling a Feasible Alternative to Collecting Demography Data? | $500.00 | Leu | |
| Jessica Ebers | The Effect of Methylmercury on Immune Response to a Common Parasite in Songbirds | $500.00 | Cristol | ||
| Courtney Turrin | Negative Feedback Effects of Population Saturation in Bald Eagles in the Chesapeake Bay | $500.00 | Watts | Ardea, J. Raptor Research | |
| 2013 | Vitek Jirinec | Wood Thrush habitat use at the home range scale: implications for local distribution | $500.00 | Leu | Condor |
| Margaret Whitney | The Impact of Methylmercury on Passerine Migratory Behavior | $500.00 | Cristol | ||
| Ghazi Mahjoub | Effectiveness of a "Sonic Net" at an outdoor aviary: implications for reduced aircraft bird strikes | $500.00 | Swaddle | Bulletin of the Wildlife Society | |
| 2014 | Stephanie Chin | The effect of dietary methylmercury on parental care of a model avian species | $599.00 | Cristol | |
| Autumn Swan | Effect of Noise on the Social Structure of European Starlings | $599.00 | Swaddle | ||
| Akshay Deverakonda* | Determining Space Use of Breeding Wood Thrush Pairs in Southeastern Virginia | $599.00 | Leu | ||
| 2015 | Sarah Wolf | Assessing the ototoxic effects of methylmercury exposure in the zebra finch | $599.00 | Cristol | Journal of the Association for Research in Otolaryngology |
| Virginia Greene | Mercury and Mate Choice in Zebra Finches | $599.00 | Cristol | ||
| Nicole Ingrassia | Using sound as a barrier to bird strikes with stationary objects | $599.00 | Swaddle | ||
| Nicholas Newberry* | The investigation of the relationship between housing prices and bird diversity | $599.00 | Cristol | ||
| 2016 | Juan Botero | Inducing Oxidative Stress in Captive Zebra Finches | $599.00 | Cristol | |
| Nicholas Newberry* | Exploring the Relationship Between the Birds Outside and the Price on the ‘For Sale’ Sign | $599.00 | Cristol | ||
| Virginia Greene | Toxic Song: The Effects of Mercury on Song Attractiveness in Zebra Finches. | $599.00 | Cristol | ||
| Ohad Paris | The Effects of Methyl-mercury Exposure During Development on Songbird Reproductive Success | $599.00 | Cristol | ||
| Sarah Wolf | Assessing the effects of mercury on hearing: auditory brainstem response in the zebra finch | $599.00 | Cristol | ||
| 2017 | Megan Thompson | A Study of the Cognitive Memory of Birds and their Ability to Avoid a Toxic Food Source | $599.00 | Swaddle | |
| Carly Hawkins | Investigating the effects of anthropogenic noise disturbance on songbird social networks | $599.00 | Swaddle | ||
| Ananda Menon | The effect of Mercury on Reproductive Function in Male Songbirds | $599.00 | Swaddle | ||
| TOTAL AWARDED | $35,585.00 | 25 led to peer-reviewed article published | |||
| * undergraduate student | |||||
| 72 GRANTS AWARDED | |||||
| 66 AWARDEES |