# Event Details - **Event Name**: Nature NL Public Talk: Exploring the "lost years" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels - **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 15 Jan, 2026 at 11:00 pm - **Event Description**: Talk title: Exploring the "lost years" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels Eleanor Gnam will be joining us to talk about her work with Leach's Storm-petrels. Eleanor is a PhD candidate in Memorial University of Newfoundland's Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program. She is supervised by Dr. David Wilson. Before coming to MUN, she worked with Leach's storm-petrels and other seabirds in Maine and Oregon. She recently completed the second year of her PhD work, which investigates pre-breeding behaviour in young Leach's storm-petrels. This research primarily takes place in the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve and the Baccalieu Island Ecological Reserve. Eleanor has a particular love for Leach's storm-petrels, but she is broadly interested in why long-lived seabirds tend not to breed for their first several years of life, and in how their behavior during these years contributes to their eventual selection of a breeding site and their lifetime reproductive success. Talk description: Newfoundland's islands host nearly a third of the world's breeding population of Leach's storm-petrels, but these cryptic, nocturnal seabirds are rarely seen and remain mysterious. Despite being barely larger than a robin, these birds can live for more than thirty years, and they often return to the same nesting burrow throughout their lives. Like other long-lived seabirds, Leach's storm-petrels reach their full size within their first year of life, but typically wait to begin breeding until their fourth or fifth year. What young birds do and where they go during these pre-breeding years are largely mysteries. Our recent work has shed light on how Leach's storm-petrels behave in their first few years of life. First, we track their movements as they fledge to reveal their behaviour as they leave their burrows for the first time. These nocturnal inaugural flights are of special interest because fledgling Leach's storm-petrels can become disoriented by artificial light, which can cause them to strand on the mainland. Second, we study their movements and behaviour when they return as adolescents to visit island colonies prior to selecting a site at which to breed. This colony attendance behaviour sometimes involves travelling to multiple colonies, brings young birds into contact with colonies' social communities, and gives them the chance to investigate multiple potential breeding sites. Join the talk here: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86130359635?pwd=av0qb9k2U3UvxTeJ4BEjgaBTrGYOAQ.1 Meeting ID: 861 3035 9635 Passcode: 851614 Your support allows us to provide free programming for people in our province: Membership is not required to attend our public talks, but we do encourage people who enjoy our public events to support us with a membership ($25/year). Memberships can be bought through Paypal, credit card, or debit at naturenl.ca/membership. You can also support us by donating on: https://naturenl.ca/donate/ - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/st-johns-newfoundland-and-labrador/nature-nl-public-talk-exploring-the-lost-years-of-life-in-young-leachs-storm-petrels/200029357156329 - **Event Categories**: nonprofit, meetups, it - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 95 ## Ticket Details ## Event venue details - **city**: St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador - **location**: Online event - **full address**: Online event, 21 Merrymeeting Rd, St John's, NL A1C 2V6, Canada, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Nature NL Public Talk: Exploring the "lost years" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events6/banners/56b783e9c9d52a063335c18cc4d462699e1f5618d647ac408b3ab185d32e6225-rimg-w1080-h1080-dcffffff-gmir?v=1768143491 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Nature NL Public Talk: Exploring the "lost years" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels being held? - **A:** Nature NL Public Talk: Exploring the "lost years" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels takes place on Thu, 15 Jan, 2026 at 11:00 pm to Thu, 15 Jan, 2026 at 11:00 pm at Online event, 21 Merrymeeting Rd, St John's, NL A1C 2V6, Canada, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. - **Q**: Who is organizing Nature NL Public Talk: Exploring the "lost years" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels? - **A:** Nature NL Public Talk: Exploring the "lost years" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels is organized by Nature Newfoundland and Labrador. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Nature NL Public Talk: Exploring the "lost years" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events6/banners/56b783e9c9d52a063335c18cc4d462699e1f5618d647ac408b3ab185d32e6225-rimg-w1080-h1080-dcffffff-gmir?v=1768143491", "startDate": "2026-01-15", "url": "https://allevents.in/st-johns-newfoundland-and-labrador/nature-nl-public-talk-exploring-the-lost-years-of-life-in-young-leachs-storm-petrels/200029357156329", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Online event", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "21 Merrymeeting Rd, St John's, NL A1C 2V6, Canada", "addressLocality": "St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador", "addressRegion": null } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Talk title: \nExploring the \"lost years\" of life in young Leach's storm-petrels\n\nEleanor Gnam will be joining us to talk about her work with Leach's Storm-petrels.\n\nEleanor is a PhD candidate in Memorial University of Newfoundland's Cognitive and Behavioural Ecology program. She is supervised by Dr.", "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Nature Newfoundland and Labrador", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/nature-newfoundland-and-labrador/25948394" } ] } ] ```