Acknowledgments

This project would never have taken flight if not for my tolerant master’s thesis adviser, Jim McKenna. As I studied all things cormorant and traveled around, I dragged in many friends and colleagues as members of the Brave Research Team. These kind figures provided curiosity, patience, and good humor while helping with fieldwork, logistics, and expertise in a wide range of disciplines: Munro Johnson, Jon “Hoss” Mitchell, Jenny Doak, Ret Talbot, Sean Donaghy, Nicole Dobroski, and Rush Hambleton.

A number of people over the years have given generously with their time and assisted with logistics and local contacts, helped locate images, and read drafts of previous cormorant articles and the chapters of this book. A few of them I have bothered further still to include directly in this text, for which required still more of their patience and expertise. Thank you especially to Kazuto Hino, Mari Takada, Junji Yamashita, Ron Ditch, Russell McCullough, Irene Mazzocchi, Linda Wires, Chip Weseloh, Elisa Goya, Jose Carlos Marques, Adam Peck-Richardson, Megan Gensler, Don Lyons, Daniel Roby, Jim Steeby, Chris Nerrin, Larry Brown, Christoph Irmscher, Neil Bernstein, Bob Madison, Hugh Powell, Robert Prŷs-Jones, Jennifer Doucette, Anna Kirk-Smith, Carlos Valle, Elaine Hayes, Kevin De Ornellas, Nola Parsons, Terry Doyle, Brian Dorr, Rónadh Cox, David Oehler, Tony Amos, Gail Kern, and Shauna Hanisch. Andrea Barrett and my Uncle Frank gave early, undeserved encouragement. Thank you to the readers of the full manuscript whose expert feedback at different stages informed and enormously improved this book: Becky Kessler, Jan Hodder, Svati Narula, Timothée Cook, and editor Stephen Hull at University Press of New England, who so kindly supported and developed the project. I’m grateful for the great care, eye for detail, and far-reaching knowledge of production editor Peter Fong and copy editor Glenn Novak.

I received financial and institutional support in various stages from the Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport, the American Sail Training Association, Wesleyan University, the Overseas Research Scholarship, the University of St Andrews, and the Text and Academic Authors Association. Thank you to organizations that hosted me on various expeditions, notably IMARPE, PROABONOS, Bird Research Northwest, the National Audubon Society / Stratton Island, Sea Education Association, the RV Professor Multanovskiy, Ocean Classroom Foundation, and the film crew of Catch It!

I am indebted to various libraries and their staff, especially Shain Library at Connecticut College, Sawyer Library at Williams College, the University Library at St Andrews, the Blunt White Library at Mystic Seaport, and the Kemble Special Collections Library in Mystic. I owe a special and continual thank you to Alison O’Grady, interlibrary loan supervisor at Williams.

None of this could have been accomplished without the institutional, academic, logistic, and social support of colleagues and students at the Maritime Studies Program of Williams College and Mystic Seaport. For reasons unknown, the director, Jim Carlton, has remained a supporter of my cormorant studies in dozens of ways. He and mentor Mary K. Bercaw Edwards allowed me a year’s research leave.

The largest thanks goes to my wife and colleague, Lisa, of course. I’m looking forward to many new adventures with Alice Day, where you look at rocks and I look at birds.