Marbled Murrelet Capture by One-Million Candle Light
a first-hand account by Rick Merizon
The water was a shiny, metallic gray. The partial moonlight shone down on the scene unfolding below. The putter of a small little Boston Whaler slowly moving about was the only sound any of us could hear. The whaler had a one- million candlepower light that blazed over the flat water probing the depths of the night. The crew of three that operated the small craft were warmly nestled in their bright orange cold water survival suits desperately searching for any little object bobbing on the surface of the water.
We were in the heart of the San Juan Islands on the night of September 1, 1996, searching for the most elusive seabird, the marbled murrelet. Our catch method began by first spotting murrelets with a hand-held light. We then used a large net to pick them up out of the water. The purpose of our efforts was to capture as many of these birds as we could in hopes of learning more about them. Once caught we would take blood samples, weight, wing length, affix a band on their foot, etc., to help us understand the health and movement patterns of this important seabird (photographs of this event are also on-line).
As the whaler puttered through the quiet night all aboard the boat were focused on finding a murrelet bobbing over the water. Finally, a shriek from the bow of the boat, "A BIRD!!!" Like a well oiled, complex machine all aboard get ready in capture formation. The boat turns and all three crew members become intensely connected to the object on the water. As the boat approaches adrenaline starts coursing through our veins, our palms get mildly sweaty in the cold night air. As we are approaching with dip net ready we all realize our murrelet is not a murrelet but rather some foam on the water!!!
We were unsuccessful on that one attempt, however, we went on to safely
capture 7 marbled murrelets that night. In the course of our three-day capture
effort we not only caught 12 total murrelets but we perfected a night time
dip net capture technique doing it. Each member of our 7-person team all
brought their specialties to this project; from net design to safety techniques
to boat handling. By the end of the week we were not only all good friends
but a finely tuned team that would take most groups several weeks to achieve.
Thank you to all that participated that week. That experience has been engraved
in my mental scrapbook forever.
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