Working to protect and restore old-growth forests in the Oregon Coast Range is incredibly rewarding for me, but it's not often that I get to see the threatened wildlife that benefit from these efforts. That's why I was so excited to be able to attend last week's annual Marbled Murrelet survey, sponsored by the Audubon Society. I both wanted to help this citizen effort to document murrelet presence in the forest and personally really wanted to spot one of these infamously elusive birds that split their time between the old-growth and the sea.

The event started with an informative training on the lives and times of marbled murrelets (MaMu for short) with expert Kim Nelson of OSU and Paul Engelmeyer with Audubon. The roughly 30 folks from all walks of life who showed up at the Yachats Commons paid rapt attention while we learned (among other things):

• We know relatively little about these birds, mostly because they are so secretive: They've got camoflaged plumage most of the year; they are quiet except at dawn when they fly inland to their nests; they zip by overhead at 60 mph; and their nests are small, high in trees, and covered with dense canopy. 
  
• The first MaMu nest wasn't found until 1974 in the California redwoods. (The first one in Oregon was found by  Paul, coordinating the training!)

• Listed under the Endangered Species Act as threatened in 1992, MaMu populations continue to decline due to multiple threats including: 1) Loss of nesting habitat (old-growth); 2) Eating less nutritious fish due to overfishing and other changes; and 3) Increased nest predation due to fragmentation and human presence in prime habitat (like campgrounds and state parks in California) - both attract jays and crows that prey on nests.
  
• In Oregon, most MaMus are found on the Central Coast. The Audubon "Important Bird Area" here is designated in part for this reason. This part of the coast has a lot of good nesting habitat in three Wilderness areas and the Audubon Ten Mile Creek Sanctuary.
  
•  MaMus return to the same forest stand that they were hatched, and return to the same home range each year to nest. As old-growth forests disappear and are fragmented, this faithfulness contributes to the bird's decline.
  
• MaMus need large limbs in large, old trees to nest. But they don't actually build a nest, they lay their egg in a mossy depression on these big limbs.

Now, let's get to actually seeing these "flying cigars" (as Paul E. describes them).

Four or five survey sites were designated along known corridors that murrelets use to fly from the ocean to their nests in the forest, so there was a good chance of seeing and hearing them. The idea was to count all the "detections" at each site for comparison with other years. This data gives an indication of the health of populations in these areas. 

Wake up call was 4:30am to make it out to the Ten Mile Creek site by 4:50am. The key, apparently, is to get to your survey site before the thrushes start to sing. Early. Then, you stand in your meadow/open area looking up at the dawn sky for fast birds of the right size and shape and keeping your ears peeled for a seagull noise amongst the general cacophony of morning bird song. Easier said than done.

At my site with 9 others, we saw our first MaMu a bit after 5:00am. Then more! We saw several pairs over the next hour and a half, most circling above us in formation and then heading back out to sea. It was so exciting! Unfortunately, ours weren't making any noise, so I still don't have the full identification experience.

After two hours, all the surveyors met up in Yachats for coffee and to debrief. Reports-back were positive from all the sites - great for the MaMu and bird enthusiasts alike.

From 10:00-11:00am, folks headed back out to see if the little birds could be spotted on the ocean. I stopped by one of the sites, but the expert spotter there wasn't having any luck, and the wind-swept shoreline was a bit chilly so I'll have to go back another time to try to see them at sea. All in all a great experience with great people.

Learn more about Marbled Murrelets and the history of their ESA listing, and search the Oregon Wild site for past news articles and updates on their status.