Now You See It....Perhaps You Shouldn't

Amateur photographer, Heidi Carlson, snapped this marvelous photograph of a marbled murrelet diving off Lowell Point in Alaska's Resurrection Bay this summer. Heidi gave me permission to publish this photo here. I love this view of the murrelet--the boat-shy, cryptic, camouflaged, crepuscular, high-speed flier, tree-nesting enigma of the Pacific. It was this view of the bird that lead early birders to nickname the marbled murrelet the "kiss-me-ass" bird.

This is as much of the marbled murrelet as most of us will ever see. Funny to weigh this partial, fleeting, and ultimately unsatisfying encounter of a species against the enormous effort to protect this bird and its habitat. It is a challenge for us humans to work to protect something we do not directly benefit from--be it an endangered bird, an endemic plant, or an entire forest. It is more challenging to protecting something we should never see.

I say should because there are few places on the planet we cannot see. Throw enough money and time into it and the planet becomes a playground. Let's take our old-growth forests, tropical or temperate. We can't bring ourselves to completely and permanently close them off to let the other animals and plants exist without us. Sure, we can make logging, mining, development, and road-building illegal but...but...but what about a hiking trail or a few eco-tour excursions? We can't just ignore all this beauty and biodiversity can we? If we can't make money by extracting resources from the forest, we have to figure out a way to make money by luring "leave-no-trace" tourists who will somehow benefit from the experience of the forest.

It seems mean spirited to surround our forests with No Trespassing signs. No one likes an Unwelcome mat at the entrances to the wilderness. We want to get in there to see how pristine it is, to take photographs, to mark our life-lists, to tell our friends they must go and do the same. Instead, let's learn how to take comfort in and be satisfied knowing that forests can exist without us and our inevitable trace.

Washington State Murrelets

Very very unlikely, actually impossible that you will see a Marbled Murrelet like this one, but this downy chick was just too cute not to share.

After my talk at Nisqually NWR last night, several people asked me where they can see Marbled Murrelets in Washington State. Many seemed ready to head out into the old-growth forest to pitch a tent or lawn chair for a Dawn Stakeout.

So, here is some guidance to where the birds are. Make sure you visit the "About the Bird" page of my website where you can hear the murrelet's distinctive "keer" call. This is important as it will help you spot them as they fly overhead at high speeds, looking not unlike a dark meteor.

Right now (mid-August) the birds are nearing the end of the chick-rearing stage in the forests; many chicks have already fledged or will be doing so until late September. Until the chicks fledge, the adults will be making regular daily flights in from the sea carrying small fish to feed their chicks. The adults make most these feeding visits--from 1 to 8 visits a day--early in the morning, usually before sunrise. Other visits are made around dusk. These are low-light times and afford the murrelets protection from diurnal predators such as hawks and falcons.

Marbled Murrelets are widely distributed in coastal areas of Washington and are closely associated with old-growth coastal forests. Luckily, we still have these forests within Olympic National Forest, Olympic National Park, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie NF, Gifford Pinchot NF, North Cascades NP, Mt. Rainier NP, the Makah, Lummi, and Quinault Reservations, and Department of Natural Resources lands.

They inhabit the calm, shallow coastal waters and bays and are concentrated in the southern and eastern end of the Stariti fo Juan de Fuca, Sequim, Disovery and Chuckanut Bays, the San Juan Islands, and Puget Sound. The Skokomish Delta along Hood Canal is a good spot; guided birding tours are offered by Skokomish Dept. of Natural Resources on the second Saturday of every month (http://www.skokomish.org/). Twanoh State Park, also along Hood Canal, is a 182-acre state park with coniferous forests.

During the breeding season (late April through September) your best bets are on the Olympic Peninsula and San Juan Islands. Tongue Point (at Salt Creek Recreation Area on Hwy 101) and Discovery Creek Recreation Area (between Sequim and Port Angeles off Hwy 101). Areas of high concentration include the south shore of Lopez Island, the southwest shore of Lummi Island, and Obstruction and Peavine Passes between Orcas and Blakely Island in the San Juan Islands. Try Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. My adventure on the radio-tagging boats began at Ediz Hook in Port Angeles; birds will be flying off the water there and heading into the Olympic NF and NP forests.

Birders in Olympia tell me they have seen Marbled Murrelets as close in as Boston Harbor (on the water). Our common local alcid in South Puget Sound is a relative of the Marbled Murrelet, the Pigeon Guillemot; they are out on the water now with their young.

If you're in the forest looking for Murrelets, it's best to pitch your tent or folding chair where you can see a large patch of sky through the trees. Make sure you're alert, focused, mindful, and very quiet 45 minutes before sunrise. Tip your head back and scan the sky for small, high-speed silhouettes. If you're like me (oh no!) you'll hear the murrelets calling well before you will be able to spot them. It takes some practice to hear the call and turn your head toward quickly enough to see it before it vanishes into the forest. For the next two hours (until 75 minutes after sunrise) keep gazing at the sky, turning your body around, making little crop circles with your feet. If you are lucky, you'll hear and see the birds. If you don't see or hear any, you are still lucky. You've spent a morning in Murrelet Country.

Please contact me through my website if you've been successful or have new places to add to this list.

Murrelet Madness: A Lecture at Nisqually NWR

Illustration by Paul Harris Jones

Next Wednesday, August 12, I will be speaking about Marbled Murrelets at the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. The talk is part of their wonderful summer lecture series at the refuge visitor center. Doors open at 6 p.m.; those in the know arrive early, reserve their seat with a jacket or program, then take an hour's walk around the refuge to watch birds and track the progress of the restoration of the salt marsh.

I spent this morning at Nisqually with filmmaker Bill Ruth (no relation) who is making a film about glass artist Joseph Rossano. Joe is the Mt. Vernon artist whose 250 hand-blown and mirrored glass murrelets hover above one of the outdoor reflecting pools at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma. The film features the creation of these stunning birds and explores the idea of nature's fragility and reflective qualities. Bill Ruth is planning to include an footage of yours truly and ideas presented in my book, Rare Bird, and interviews with murrelet biologists. Bill shadowed US Forest Service biologists on the water, in the forest, and in the air during radio-tagging studies on the Straits of Juan de Fuca and the Olympic Peninsula. Bill will be filming part of my talk at Nisqually to capture, in his words, some of my "enthusiasm" for the marbled murrelet.

Enthusiasm does not being to describe it. As soon as I start describing their nesting behavior and the journey of the murrelet chick from its nest to the sea, I become a hyperventilating OMG murreleteer. I can't help it. Marbled Murrelets are OMG awesome.

For more information and directions to Nisqually NWR click here: http://http//www.fws.gov/Nisqually/events/summer_lecture.html