>Hi, folks
>
>I got the following message from USFWS biologist in Newport, Oregon about
>the dismal nesting year and adult mortality the Oregon nesting Common
>Murre population was hit with this summer. Hopefully, this one-year event
>will not cause the 1/4 to 1/2 million bird population any major long-term
>decline.
>
>Roy indicated that murres were streaming North past the Columbia River
>mouth, and I am hoping (for personal interest as well as for
>'professional' interest) that the Coastal observers among us can keep the
>list posted on the status of murres moving along the coast into the Strait
>of Juan de Fuca and around the San Juans. Thanks.
>
>Jon Anderson

Remember that male murres take their half-grown chicks away from the
nesting colony and accompany them at sea until they can take care of
themselves. Observers can tally these adult-young pairs to monitor
breeding success. The size difference is obvious at the beginning of the
season, the plumage difference (adult in alternate [breeding], young in
juvenal, which looks like basic [winter]) into September. At some point in
late August or September, the adult has molted, and it's hard to tell the
juvenile from the adult, but by that time most of them have separated.

You can tell when there are adults with young, as the adults call "murre,
murre," and the young answer with a much higher-pitched quavering call. In
past years at Ocean Shores, the murre chorus has been deafening, many of
them presumably from the Oregon colonies, but I guess it won't be that way
this year.

Dennis Paulson, Director phone 206-756-3798
Slater Museum of Natural History fax 206-756-3352
University of Puget Sound e-mail dpaulson at ups.edu
Tacoma, WA 98416