Konyukhov and Kitaysky 



Chapter 2 



The Asian Race of the Marbled Murrelet 



B 



Figure 2 Basic plumage head patterns of the Marbled Murrelet subspecies: (A) Asian (or Long-billed) subspecies and (B) North 

 American subspecies. 



plumage, in the alternate plumage, the Asian race has more 

 pronounced white eye spots. Also the border between white 

 and dark brown on the head comes down to about the gape 

 in the Asian race. Its upper mandible is dark and the lower 

 is white. The chin is mainly white, but in some birds it is 

 light gray. 



In the North American race, some white is always 

 present on its upper mandible. In different birds, white on 

 the face extends up to before the eye, forming a crescent 

 patch. The chin, in contrast to the Asian race, is always gray 

 and more extensive. 



The two races also differ in color of their tail feathers. In 

 the Asian race, the outer vane of the outermost rectrix has a 

 narrow, white marginal stripe. This stripe is especially 

 pronounced in birds in fresh plumage. It might be absent in 

 worn plumage because of abrasion. It is absent in the North 

 American race. 



There are also similar differences in the Juvenal plumage. 

 In the first winter, the young look like adults, but the border 

 between dark and white coloring is not as sharp, and on the 

 entire ventral side a slight wavy pattern is present (Carter 

 and Stein, this volume). 



Breeding Distribution and Abundance 



The Asian subspecies is widely distributed around the 

 Sea of Okhotsk, on the Pacific Coast of the Kamchatka 

 Peninsula, and in the Kuril Islands (fig. I). The southern 

 limit for breeding is on the island of Hokkaido in northern 

 Japan. It is rare in eastern Hokkaido during summer, and 

 more common on the Sea of Okhotsk coast, especially near 



the Shiretoko Peninsula (Brazil 1991). Observations of the 

 murrelet from April- August in the area led to the assumption 

 that it breeds in the region. This was confirmed when an 

 incubating female and three eggs were collected on Mt. 

 Mokoto in 1961. In late August 1982, four fledged young 

 were collected close to shore near the foot of Mt. Mokoto 

 (Brazil 1991). 



The southern limit of this species in Russia is in the 

 southern Primorye Region where a bird was taken in Peter 

 the Great Bay during the breeding period at the end of May 

 (ZMZI 157639/6-971). Another location where murrelets 

 have been taken at least twice is the middle reaches of the 

 Bikin River (Gluschenko and others 1986). In the Primorye 

 Region, a nest has been found in the forest on the shore of 

 Olda Bay (Labzyuk 1987), and murrelets have been observed 

 on the water there over many years. Birds, both single and in 

 pairs, are found at sea there until the middle of June (Labzyuk 

 1975). According to these authors, the Marbled Murrelet is 

 quite uncommon near the southern limit of its distribution. 



At present, there are only a few areas where the Marbled 

 Murrelet is considered common. One area is the lower Amur 

 River area, on the southwestern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. 

 This coastline from Cape Lazarev to Aleksandra Bay was 

 inventoried for seabirds in the summer months of 1980-1982 

 and 1984-1986 (Babenko and Poyarkov 1987; Poyarkov, 

 pers. comm.; Poyarkov and Budris 1991). Densities of 

 murrelets averaged 0.5-2.0 birds per km of transect. Highest 

 densities occurred between Baydukov Island and Aleksandra 

 Bay. Lower densities were detected at the mouth of the 

 Amur River and in Tatar Strait. The highest densities were 

 found: (1) in Reynike Strait (300 birds on 2 km of transect) 



USDA Forest Service Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-152. 1995. 



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