Marbled Murrelet

Overview

Marbled Murrelet: Small, chubby seabird with dark brown mottled upperparts and paler, white-tipped brown feathers on underparts, giving a wavy-barred appearance. Bill is dark. Legs and feet are brown. Feeds on fish and crustaceans. Swift direct flight low over the water on rapid wing beats.

Range and Habitat

Marbled Murrelet: Breeds from the Aleutians Islands south to central California. A few winter along breeding coasts, but main wintering area is unknown. Preferred breeding habitat is in coastal rain forests and inland waters.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Marbled Murrelet was once known as the "Australian Bumble Bee" by fishermen and as the "fogbird" or "fog lark" by loggers.
Though it was first described in 1789, a nest site wasn't discovered until 1961 by ornithologists in Asia; a North American nest was not found until 1974.
The egg, however, was known in 1898, when a bird was shot that contained a complete egg in its oviduct.
A group of auks has many collective nouns, including a "colony", "loomery", and "raft" of auks.

The Marbled Murrelet has a small range, confined to the United States and Canada, to which it is native. This bird prefers forest, wetland, and marine ecosystems. The global population of this bird is still large, but recent rapid population declines necessitate inclusion on the IUCN Red List. For this reason, the current evaluation status of the Marbled Murrelet is Endangered.