WILDLIFE : Birds of a Feather : The ‘Seabird Stories’ program encourages visitors to the Channel Islands park center to become participants in avian rituals.

If you haven’t seen a group of rational people pretending to be wild sea birds, check out a program at Channel Islands National Park Visitor Center at the Ventura marina on Saturday.

In a program called “Seabird Stories,” ranger Jean Van Tatenhove coaches her audience to perform an avian ritual as a dramatic highlight of the tale of the robin-sized Xantus’ murrelet.

Acting the part of parent birds, the group raises a chorus of shrill peeping, which, the lecturer said, tends to draw every visitor at the center to the scene. Then, in response to the cries, a volunteer atop the three-story observation tower tosses fluffy yarn murrelet “chicks” into the amphitheater below.

It’s the ranger’s favorite story, representing a true adventure of 2-day-old murrelets plunging from 200-foot cliffs along Santa Barbara Island into the ocean.

There they climb onto their parents’ backs and begin a sea bird’s life, returning to land only at the next nesting season.

“I have never seen (the birds leap),” Van Tatenhove admitted. “They do it in the middle of the night, probably as protection against predators.”

“Seabird Stories” is one of a series of presentations that describe wildlife, history and ecology of the five-island chain that make up Channel Islands National Park.

Other lectures cover themes such as the ancient Island Chumash, whales and keeping ocean water clean.

“Most of our visitors don’t actually get to go out to the park,” Van Tatenhove said. “We try our best to bring the park to them.”

The naturalist has spent many hours observing the islands’ more than 200 species of nesting birds. She has drawn upon a specialty in ornithology to develop the sea bird program, which describes five representative species at each presentation.

Her choices include the familiar California brown pelican, which nests in the park in the largest bird colony in the world, as well as the murrelet, and the equally obscure Cassin’s auklet.

In the program, Van Tatenhove describes the auklet’s habit of burrowing into sand tunnels to make its nest.

Rangers have built a series of tiny underground bird condos with trapdoors, which the birds adopt.

Then the observers gently open the doors, remove the chicks and band them for monitoring purposes.

“The chicks are really a lot of fun to hold,” Van Tatenhove said.

The ranger said she involves her audience in her lecture, inviting questions that she works into the narrative.

“You never know what they are going to ask,” she said. “It makes the program different for me every time.”

The program lasts between 30 and 45 minutes. “It depends on how carried away we get, and how much fun we’re having,” Van Tatenhove said.

Fellow Ranger Candy Derbyshire, who has observed “Seabird Stories,” is impressed with her colleague’s presentation.

“She’s fantastic,” she said. “You learn a lot of good stuff.”

* WHERE AND WHEN

Channel Islands Visitor Center is located at 1901 Spinnaker Drive, Ventura Harbor. In addition to the exhibits, free directed programs take place each Saturday and Sunday at the outdoor amphitheater beginning at 2 p.m. Allow plenty of time for parking because the lot is shared with beach-goers. May program subjects include:

* Sea birds, May 9 and May 30

* Ocean trash, May 10

* Reproduction in the sea, May 17

* Whales, May 23

* The Island Chumash, May 24.

Call 658-5730 for complete information. The visitor center is open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.