ACS Monterey Bay Program for March 2008

Dispersal Patterns and Social Structure of Marbled
Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) in Central California

The Marbled Murrelet is an interesting member of the family Alcidae, a family of birds with several members who frequent Monterey Bay. Other members we might see here are Murres, the Pigeon Guillemot, other Murrelets, Auklets and Puffins.

Nesting high in the old growth conifers, feeding over the continental shelf and traveling in small numbers has made these enigmatic seabirds difficult to study. In fact, this species was one of the last North American species to reveal its nesting sites.

The current proposal is to remove this seabird from the federal threatened species list in spite of the fact that this population is challenged by logging, oil spills, gillnetting, declines in prey availability and increases in nesting area predators. The data collected in our speaker's study may well provide new information which could lead to reconsideration of the proposal to remove the Marbled Murrelet from this listing.

Laurie Hall is a Masters Candidate at Moss Landing Marine Labs with an anticipated graduation date this spring. She received her B.S. in Marine Science from Southampton College of Long Island University in New York. Among her Awards, Honors and Grants, Laurie received the Baldridge Award from our Chapter in 2006 for her work with Leatherbacks.

Please join us to find out more about Marbled Murrelets and the fight to effectively manage this seabird in the face of its many challenges.

References and related web pages:

• Bird Web of Washington State
• Audubon WatchList - Marbled Murrelet
• Laurie Hall's MLML report on sea turtles (pdf)
• Alan Baldridge

• Back to list of previous meetings.