Nesting island of Xantus's Murrelet

This rocky islet near San Miguel Island in California's Channel Islands National Park is one place to find the uncommon Xantus's Murrelet, a species of Alcid very rarely seen from shore. The skipper of my boat told me he dropped off some researchers there during nesting season. They camped on the rock for three days of studying and banding the birds. It must have been quite a challenge to find a place to camp on such a steep and windy location. The story is that the sheep ranchers who lived on San Miguel a hundred years ago could not raise chickens because they were inevitably blown off into the ocean.