Richard Rowlett recently asked about the origins of some footage of a
Marbled Murrelet at its nest that he saw on a local news program. I
haven't seen the story but I am somewhat familiar with some of the
footage. A handful of active nests were located this past breeding
season in California and Washington by various researchers (I don't know
about Oregon or parts North). Some of these nests had remote
surveillance video cameras installed to learn more about the species
nesting behavior.

One of these installations was here in Olympic National Park. The camera
(at the nest) and associated recorders (down on the ground) taped
activity many hours each day all through the growth of the chick to its
fledging. I believe it was the Washington State Department of Fish and
Wildlife that coordinated the taping at this nest. It was a great setup
because, once the camera was installed there was very little disturbance
in the area of the nest (versus having someone going to and from a blind
up in the canopy).

The video tape was fascinating to watch (sometimes that is -- there were
also HOURS of tape with the chick just sitting motionless on the branch).
Seeing and learning about the natural history of such an elusive species
was exciting. Such as when and how the parents would feed the chick to
the behavior of the parent/chick when predators (ie. ravens) were known to
be in the area made it worth sitting through the dull parts.

It might have been interesting to post selected images on a web site for
the public to follow the progress of the nestling (as with the peregrines)
but the whole operation was kept low-key out of concern for the safety of
the nest and chick (and the research).

From what I understand, this particular nest monitored in Olympic N.P. was
the only one (of the closely monitored nests) that had a successful
fledging this past year.

Roger Hoffman
Olympic National Park