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If the weather is too severe to take a boat to Castle Rock, Golightly partners with the U.S. Coast Guard to travel by helicopter. Microphones pipe audio to the mainland so students can eavesdrop on the activities of species that feed at night (check it out: http://tinyurl. com/watchseabirds). Twice a year, Golightly ferries student researchers to Castle Rock to perform maintenance on the cameras. A skilled Zodiac pilot, Golightly drives his boat to within a foot of the island and, as the craft rises on a wave swell, passengers leap onto the rocks. “Driving a Zodiac is tricky and Rick is one of the few people who does it well,” says U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Gerry McChesney. “You don’t want to bang against the rocks because these boats are inflatable and can pop.” Golightly occasionally has others drive so he can go onto the island. During one such visit, Golightly leaped from the boat but missed. “He short-stepped the landing and ended up in the drink,” Nelson says with a chuckle. “It didn’t faze him.” The Castle Rock project was inspired by a seabird restoration Golightly assisted with on Devil’s Slide, south of San Francisco. The island’s common murre colony had been wiped out by gill net fishing and an oil spill. Researchers wanted to revive the colony, but murres are highly social and will only nest if others of their kind are present. So Golightly, McChesney and colleagues used wooden murre decoys, mirrors and audio players that broadcast common murre calls to fool the birds into returning. Golightly’s latest seabird project is even more ambitious. Last summer, he and renowned HSU redwood expert Steve Sillett hoisted a camera up to a marbled murrelet nest in the redwood canopy – 270 feet aboveground. The camera has provided never-before-seen images of the birds. Murrelets are challenging to study because they fly at speeds over 50 miles per hour, spend much of their lives at sea and nest far above the eyes of researchers. “It’s not an easy bird to get your hands on,” Golightly says. Watch real-time video of seabirds at Castle Rock: http://tinyurl.com/watchseabirds (The video stream will be live as soon as weather allows Golightly to make the ocean crossing to place the cameras.) To find the nest, Golightly and colleagues traveled offshore at night to net murrelets. They outfitted the birds with transmitters and used electronic receivers to track the little black speeding bullets back to their nests. Kitchen credits Golightly with pioneering many of these techniques. “In terms of using equipment and technology he is a cut above.” 20 HUMBOLDT MAGAZINE | Spring 2010
Clockwise from top left: Grad student Mike Cunha on the boat. “Driving a Zodiac is tricky and Rick is one of the few people who does it well,” says biologist Gerry McChesney | Adjusting the antenna that transmits the video signal from Castle Rock, allowing observation of bird behavior. Solar panels power the microphones and cameras | Common murres roost below the camera. Photos courtesy of Stephanie R. Schneider HUMBOLDT STATE UNIVERSITY | humboldt.edu 21
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