Discovery of Marbled Murrelet Nest
Rice WD and Spencer P. 1991. Discovery of Marbled Murrelet Nest. Paper presented at Alaska Bird Conference, Marbled Murrelet Workshop, Anchorage, AK, November 22. Seward, AK
On 29 June 1991 at 1600 hours Rice flushed an adult Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) from a nest site on the west side of Northwestern Lagoon (59°44'30"N, 149°59'W) in Kenai Fjords National Park. The nest site lies about one kilometer from the sea at an elevation of 30 meters above sea level (Figure 1). The nest was in a depression beneath a boulder on the northwest facing side of the outwash plain below Sunlight Glacier. The egg lay directly on gravel and sand. Dried alder leaves, apparently wind blown to the nest site, were scattered around beneath the boulder. The lime-green egg had chocolate brown splotches which were more dense toward the large end of the egg (Figure 2.). The adult flew toward the sea and did not return to the nest while we were in the vicinity.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Rice, William; Spencer, Page
- Date of Issue
- 1991
- Publisher
- Paper presented at Alaska Bird Conference, Marbled Murrelet Workshop, Anchorage, AK, November 22
- Units
- KEFJ
- Keywords
- Brachyramphus marmoratus, Kenai Fjords National Park, Marbled Murrelet, Nests, Sea Birds