How You Know You’ve Been On A Seabird Island For Too Long:

The researchers on Stratton gather up all the jettisoned balls found along the beach and created “ball buddies” to send out to the other interns on each of the Project Puffin seabird islands.

The seven islands monitored by Project Puffin are scattered from Casco Bay to the Penobscot Bay. Interns rotate between islands in order to sample the diversity between them. Often their contact with the mainland is limited, and supervisors rarely leave their island over the course of the summer.

Consequently the supervisors have taken to sending lots of inter-island mail via the rotating interns to cheer on their fellows.