Seasonal Movements of Marbled Murrelets: Evidence from Banded Birds

Abstract

Recent techniques for capturing Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) have created opportunities for studying them through systematic banding programs. One murrelet banded in breeding plumage during the summer of 1995 at Theodosia Inlet, on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, was recaptured in basic plumage in the fall of 1996 near Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands, Washington State, a distance of 220 km southeast from the original banding location. It was captured again at Theodosia Inlet in breeding plumage in the summer of 1997. This is the first evidence of long distance movement for the Marbled Murrelet. Seven color-marked individuals from the Theodosia Inlet population were located in the same geographic area outside the breeding season. Although our sample size is small, this suggests that both nonmigratory and migratory individuals occur within a single summering population.