We constructed an 80-m-long above-ground tunnel to reach 8 blinds in a colony of Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) and American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), and secured specimens by use of a light-weight telescopic rod with attachments. We visited the tunnel-and-blind system every third day during the breeding seasons of 1994-96 and collected 16 cormorant and 8 pelican eggs, 67 pelican and 61 cormorant carcasses, and 77 live cormorants without leaving the system. Nest abandonment due to investigator disturbance was concentrated in an area within about 20 m of the tunnel entrance. We believe the above system could be useful in other studies of ground-nesting colonial waterbirds, especially those requiring repeated access to a large number of nests and collection of specimens.