About

The marbled murrelet is a member of the auk family, which includes birds like auklets, guillemots, and puffins. These sea-birds are small—about the size of a robin—and get their name from the marbling pattern of black, gray and white that covers their backs during the non-breeding season. When they are breeding, they molt to a plain brown plumage. Their nesting habits were for many years confusing to the scientific community, as they leave their coastal homes and fly more than 30 miles inland in order to roost high in old-growth evergreen trees. These birds form life-long breeding pairs when they’re at sea feeding on small, schooling fish, such as herring. 

• Find out more about Oregon Wild's work to protect the old-growth marbled murrelets depend on!
  
• Check out more marbled murrelet photos

Why does it need our help?

Secure nesting habitat is imperative for the survival of these threatened birds. Years of old-growth logging in the Pacific Northwest has destroyed many of the important nesting trees, and local marbled murrelet populations have struggled as a result. Decline in numbers lead the their listing as a threatened species in 1992. With already high chick mortality, increased predation of chicks by crows, ravens and jays—species that become more abundant as forests grow more and more fragmented due to logging— contributes significantly to the 4-7% annual decline in population observed in the last few decades. There is still hope, though, for this elusive bird; the work that Oregon Wild and other groups are doing to protect old-growth forests plays a significant role in the recovery of this threatened species.

Did you know?

• The first marbled murrelet nest in North America was not discovered until 1974.
• Marbled murrelet flight speeds have been recorded at velocities as high as 100 mph.
• After a little more than a month in the nest, the marbled murrelet chick leaves the nest and flies to the ocean by itself.

More marbled murrelet photos

Photo by Rich Macintosh, courtesy of USGS

Sources: http://www.seattleaudubon.org and http://audubonportland.org