Marbled Murrelets Biome

Although it is fairly common off the northern pacific coast its nesting behavior was essentially unknown until the 1970s.

Marbled murrelets biome. The marbled murrelet is a very small chubby sea bird that seems to lack a neck. The marbled murrelet brachyramphus marmoratus is a small seabird from the north pacific. A strange mysterious little seabird. The close association of the marbled murrelet and old growth coastal forests and the science and conservation work done make the murrelets truly an iconic bird in redwood national and state parks.

Epiphytic moss is important for marbled murrelets nesting. The nonbreeding plumage includes a strip of white between the back and the wing thus the name marbled. Even where numerous it is usually seen on the water in pairs or aggregations of pairs not in large flocks. In the pacific northwest now known to nest high in trees in old growth forest several miles inland from coast.

These plants only grow in moist forests usually where winter rains are plentiful and fog is common. Courtship foraging loafing molting and preening occur in near shore marine waters. And about that arcane nickname even though scientists didn t know that marbled murrelets lived up in the old redwood trees before the early 1970s locals knew something lived high in the canopy. Marbled murrelets are long lived seabirds that spend most of their life in the marine environment but use old growth forests for nesting.

It has a dark brown to black dorsum and a white venter and throat. Key tree species for nesting are douglas fir alaska yellow cedar western redcedar western hemlock mountain hemlock sitka spruce and coast redwood. It is a member of the auk family.