Marbled Murrelets Biome

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.

Marbled murrelets biome.

A strange mysterious little seabird. It has a dark brown to black dorsum and a white venter and throat. Marbled murrelets are long lived seabirds that spend most of their life in the marine environment but use old growth forests for nesting. The marbled murrelet brachyramphus marmoratus is a small seabird from the north pacific.

It is a member of the auk family. The marbled murrelet is a very small chubby sea bird that seems to lack a neck. It nests in old growth forests or on the ground at higher latitudes where trees cannot grow. 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. In the pacific northwest now known to nest high in trees in old growth forest several miles inland from coast. 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. Even where numerous it is usually seen on the water in pairs or aggregations of pairs not in large flocks.

The nonbreeding plumage includes a strip of white between the back and the wing thus the name marbled. Key tree species for nesting are douglas fir alaska yellow cedar western redcedar western hemlock mountain hemlock sitka spruce and coast redwood. Throughout their range marbled murrelets are opportunistic feeders and utilize prey of diverse sizes and species.