Cryptic seabirds can hide from this scientist but not the spy network she leaves behind
ON SHORE, THE LANDING sounds straightforward enough. When we reach Green Rock on this blustery late-September morning, Jonathan Felis will nose the Zodiac up to the island, bump it lightly, and the person poised at the bow will jump onto terra firma. “It’s all about the timing,” he tells us. Bump. And jump.
After cutting four miles north through waves pounding the Northern California coast, we see the island’s formidable cliffs. Suddenly the bump-and-jump notion seems downright daunting. The inflatable boat heaves, plummeting six feet below the landing spot—a slippery, barnacle-covered surface supposedly ideal to launch oneself onto from this puny, lurching vessel. Emma Kelsey doesn’t look fazed; on an upswell she leaps with the powerful grace of a gymnast and sticks the dismount. I jump next, clumsily grasp some sharp protrusions, and haul myself to my feet. Photographer Jim McAuley, gear strapped to his back, goes last. He hits low on the rock and slowly slides down, unable to get purchase. He slips into the water.
While I fight the urge to laugh, U.S. Geological Survey scientists Felis and Kelsey respond professionally. This is, after all, a government operation, we’re all wearing flotation jackets, and the pair had prepared us for this situation—and worse (“If everyone goes overboard…”). As McAuley bobs, Kelsey shouts instructions. Seconds later Felis plucks him out of the Pacific Ocean, drenched but unharmed. “I think,” says McAuley, “I’ll take photos of this island from the boat.”
Man down, I follow Kelsey as she scrambles to an alcove above our landing spot, passing empty cormorant nests and stepping over the desiccated remains of Common Murre chicks. After poking around, Kelsey calls, “Got it!” She’s crouched before a sandwich-size, guano-covered box containing an acoustic sensor, a device that has recorded thousands of hours of calling seabirds, barking sea lions, and crashing waves since she placed it here in March.
Visual counts of Ashy Storm-Petrel breeding
