Learn about the Mysterious Murrelet

Friends of the San Juans Endangered Marine Species & Habitats Lecture Series continues with a presentation about Marbled Murrelets on Wednesday October 26 at the Grange in Friday Harbor and on Thursday October 27 at the Lopez Library. The talks begin at 7:00 pm and are free and open to the public.

The Marbled Murrelet remains one of the most poorly known birds. The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is steadily gaining knowledge about its movements, nesting habits, and population trends. At-sea surveys for the bird have been conducted throughout the San Juan Islands and Puget Sound for the past 10 years; providing solid estimates of the population size of murrelets inhabiting Washington’s waters. Surveys indicate that numbers of birds in the San Juans increase dramatically from May to August but the reasons are not clear. This increase may reflect better feeding conditions and may also result from temporary birds that visit our area before dispersing further south.

Over the past two years nearly 70 murrelets have been captured and fitted with radio transmitters. The birds are located each day by searching from a small aircraft outfitted with antennas and a receiver. This work has shown that murrelets cover a very large area and are able to fly long distances. For example, two birds captured near Port Angeles nested on Vancouver Island and regularly flew round trips of 120 miles each day to attend the nest.

The murrelet is federally listed as a Threatened species. The primary reason for its threatened status is loss of its nesting habitat. Murrelets nest on the mossy limbs large old trees, most often in large intact patches of forest. Over the past 10 years, the USFS has developed a much better understanding of the bird’s habitat requirements. The USFS has determined that the amount of potential nesting habitat is the primary driver of at-sea population size, so that conservation and restoration of suitable habitat remain the primary means to recover this fascinating bird.

Speaker Martin G. Raphael is a Chief Research Wildlife Biologist and Team Leader with the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Research Station in Olympia, Washington. He was Project Leader with the Rocky Mountain Station from 1984 to 1989 and has been a Team Leader with PNW Research Station since 1989. He is actively involved in the development of monitoring plans for the northern spotted owl and marbled murrelet in the Pacific Northwest. His research includes habitat relationships of forest wildlife, ecology of the marbled murrelet and American marten, and investigations into the roles of riparian habitat for terrestrial and aquatic organisms. He is currently leading an effort to synthesize information on alternative approaches to the conservation of rare and little-known species. He has published over 120 papers and co-edited 5 books on wildlife habitat relationships and conservation biology. Martin G. Raphael received his B.A. (1968) from California State University at Sacramento, his B.S. (1972), M.S. (1976) and Ph.D. (1980) degrees from the University of California, Berkeley.