{"id":1507,"date":"2023-03-31T20:25:27","date_gmt":"2023-03-31T20:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/?p=1507"},"modified":"2023-03-31T20:25:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-31T20:25:27","slug":"solving-the-murrelet-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/2023\/03\/31\/solving-the-murrelet-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"Solving the murrelet mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Marbled Murrelet on its nest. Photo: Brett Lovelace\/OSU<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not easy to find a marbled murrelet\u2019s nest in Oregon. It wasn\u2019t until 1990 that researchers even located the first one in the state. The elusive breeding behavior of this threatened species has made it challenging to protect through conservation efforts and strategic management of coastal forests. It\u2019s clear the population of this small seabird has declined from historic levels \u2014 but the reasons why are murky. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s why a team of College of Forestry researchers launched Oregon\u2019s first large-scale, long-term study of murrelet breeding biology. This collaborative project, initiated in 2016, drew immediate support from a diverse group of stakeholders across the state. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMurrelets are a listed species, so there\u2019s a lot of interest in recovering this population,\u201d said Jim Rivers<\/a>, an assistant professor of wildlife ecology who\u2019s leading the research effort. \u201cBut we haven\u2019t had the information we need to understand what\u2019s constraining reproductive output.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For phase one of the project, the research team turned to existing data to better understand why the birds travel inland to nest some years, but not others. Murrelets rely on the sea for their food, including forage fish like anchovy, herring, and smelt, and commute as much as 50 miles inland to nest in old-growth and late-successional forests, where they lay a single egg. The researchers learned when it\u2019s a bad sea year and ocean temperatures are too high, the birds forego breeding, unable to get food to feed their young.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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A small radio tag is affixed to a marbled murrelet so it can be tracked to its nest site. Photo: Jaymi Heimbuch<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

For the next phase of research, the team studied the murrelet\u2019s breeding behavior, tracking them from sea to nest. Venturing out on a research vessel, the team boarded inflatable boats to catch murrelets, install radio tags and release the birds back into the wild. When breeding season hit, the team patrolled the coast with airplanes, listening for beeps from radio tags to narrow down potential nesting sites for the
ground crew and tree climber to locate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But because murrelets nest in older forests, just getting to the vicinity of a nesting tree usually involves scaling piles of blowdown and bushwhacking through thick growth for miles. And murrelets are sneaky nest-builders \u2014 and sitters. They don\u2019t use twigs and branches to build their nests like other birds. Instead, they find a mossy branch where they lay a single egg and take turns incubating it. They trade spots once every 24 hours, sitting so still that their only movement may be just the blink of an eye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And when they\u2019re moving in and out of the nest, they\u2019re really moving. Murrelets have been clocked at nearly 100 mph and their typical cruising speed is 60-70 mph. They usually fly at dawn and dusk, so it takes an eagle eye to spot these birds and find their nests, a large reason there were only 29 active nests recorded in Oregon before this project. The team of OSU researchers more than doubled that number, also installing cameras at each nest to monitor success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re learning a lot about where murrelets are nesting, how successful they are and what causes them to fail,\u201d said Rivers. \u201cThis information has been a long time coming, and it ties back to how challenging it is to do this fieldwork.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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A version of this story appeared in the Spring 2023 issue of <\/em>Focus on Forestry<\/a>, the alumni magazine of the Oregon State University College of Forestry.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not easy to find a marbled murrelet\u2019s nest in Oregon. It wasn\u2019t until 1990 that researchers even located the first one in the state. The elusive breeding behavior of this threatened species has made it challenging to protect through conservation efforts and strategic management of coastal forests. It\u2019s clear the population of this small… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3455,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110163,1292536],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1507","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-focus","category-research"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3455"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1507"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1511,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1507\/revisions\/1511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/collegeofforestry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}