In partnership with ECCC, Gwaii Haanas monitors five Marbled Murrelet colonies by using a radar station located offshore. As birds fly out to the ocean at dawn, and return at dusk, the radar data is used to estimate the number of birds per hectare of suitable nesting habitat. Sampling areas focus on estuarine areas where the watershed or catchment contains old growth stands likely to host nesting birds in June and July. Marbled Murrelets are unique among seabirds because of their nesting habits – non-colonial nesting on thick, moss-covered limbs of large, old growth trees. Because of this, the fate of this species (federally listed as Threatened) is linked to the availability of old growth rainforest habitat and marine health.