Marbled Murrelet - Behavior and Breeding

Behavior and Breeding

The Marbled Murrelet feeds at sea both in pelagic offshore areas (often associating with upwellings) and inshore in protected bays and fiords. It feeds principally on sandeels, also taking herring, capelin and shiner perch. The bird has not been known to wander from the Pacific coast of North America, all inland and eastern Brachyramphus records being of the closely related Long-billed Murrelet.

The nesting behaviour of the Marbled Murrelet is unusual, since unlike most alcids it does not nest in colonies on cliffs or in burrows, but on branches of old-growth and mature conifers such as Western Hemlock, Sitka Spruce, Douglas Fir and Coastal Redwood, as far as 80 km inland. It lays one egg on a platform of lichen or moss on these branches (less often on the ground). In northern populations, murrelets nest on the ground among rocks, as do other related murrelet species. The egg is incubated for a month, then fed for around 40 days until the chick is able to fledge. The chick then leaves the nest and flies unaccompanied to the sea. Breeding success is low and chick mortality high.