Marbled Murrelets Biome

Even where numerous it is usually seen on the water in pairs or aggregations of pairs not in large flocks.

Marbled murrelets biome.

In the pacific northwest now known to nest high in trees in old growth forest several miles inland from coast. It nests in old growth forests or on the ground at higher latitudes where trees cannot grow. The marbled murrelet brachyramphus marmoratus is a small seabird from the north pacific. These plants only grow in moist forests usually where winter rains are plentiful and fog is common.

Epiphytic moss is important for marbled murrelets nesting. It has a dark brown to black dorsum and a white venter and throat. The nonbreeding plumage includes a strip of white between the back and the wing thus the name marbled. Its habit of nesting in trees was suspected but not documented until a tree climber found a chick in 1974 making it one of the last north american bird species to have its nest described.

It is a member of the auk family. 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. The marbled murrelet is a very small chubby sea bird that seems to lack a neck. Key tree species for nesting are douglas fir alaska yellow cedar western redcedar western hemlock mountain hemlock sitka spruce and coast redwood.

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