Konyukhov and Kitaysky 



Chapter 2 



The Asian Race of the Marbled Murrelet 



on 3 September; (2) near the western point of Baydukov 

 Island (50 birds on 5 km on 25 July, and 89 birds on 1 8 km 

 on 1 August); and (3) in Schastye Bay, where the species 

 congregates in great numbers every fall. The observers did 

 not detect any between-year differences in the number of 

 birds. Shibaev (1990) described it as relatively common in 

 the Amur Liman, though apparently not many birds are along 

 the Primorye coast (Elsukov 1984) during the breeding season. 



On Sakhalin Island, Marbled Murrelets breed in different 

 areas of the island, but are very patchy in distribution. Overall, 

 Nechaev (1986, 1987) considered the species to be uncommon 

 here, but he also stated that during the breeding season it 

 often flies over forest and mountain peaks. For example, on 

 Shmidt Peninsula, during the peak of breeding season, voices 

 of 1-2 birds could be heard frequently. 



One bird was taken at least inland 60 km from the sea in 

 the mouth of the Maya River (ca. 54 30'N, 134 20'E), west 

 of the Low Amur river area. 



Despite the fact that Gizenko ( 1 955) and Nechaev ( 1 969) 

 wrote that the murrelet is rare in the Kurils, later publications 

 indicate differently. Marbled Murrelets at least breed on all 

 of the forested Kuril Islands: Shikotan, Kunashir, Iturup, 

 and Urup (Velizhanin 1977). Nechaev and Kurenkov (1986) 

 said that calls have been heard from time to time all over 

 Kunashir Island in June and July. Several pairs and separate 

 birds were detected over the forest near Korotky Stream at 

 dawn on Kunashir Island on 17 July 1983 (Gluschenko 

 1988). The species has not been recorded in the northern 

 Kuril Islands (Podkovyrkin 1955). Since it also can nest in 

 treeless areas (Hirsch and others 1981, Johnston and Carter 

 1985, Simons 1980), and breeds both on the southern Kurils 

 and on Kamchatka Peninsula where it is common, we think 

 that murrelets may nest on all the larger islands through the 

 Kuril chain (fig. 1). 



Near Magadan, this species is quite common in waters 

 of Khmitievsky Peninsula, Tauyskaya Bay (Kondratyev and 

 others 1992; Konyukhov, unpubl. data), and the Koni 

 Peninsula (Leito and others 1991). The murrelet also is very 

 common in Tauyskaya Bay in June through August. There 

 we have found about 4 pairs per kilometer of coastline in 

 June-July of 1991-1992. More than 200 birds were recorded 

 in Nagaeva Bay (near Magadan) in June 1992 during a one- 

 hour vessel trip along shore. In contrast, their abundance is 

 very low along the northern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk 

 (Kistchinsky 1968a, Yakhontov 1979). 



On the Kamchatka Peninsula the murrelets are quite 

 common. It has been recorded within the inshore waters of 

 the eastern coast, north to Karaginsky Bay, where they were 

 more numerous in the larger bays. Eleven pairs were observed 

 during a 50-km transect from Zhupanovo village to the 

 Zhupanovo River, at a distance of 1-2 km from shore, on 27 

 June 1973 (Lobkov 1986). Additional records are as follows: 

 two in Asache Bay on 10 August 1972, four birds in Russian 

 Bay on 13 August 1972; 52 birds in the southern half of 

 Kronotzky Bay, from a ship over a 40-km transect on 16 

 June 1974; and two pairs were seen daily in Ukinskaya Bay 



during May and early June (Vyatkin 198 1 ). Many specimens 

 have been taken from Avacha Bay, near the city of 

 Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy. 



It is possible that the species nests on the Komandorskie 

 (Commander) Islands. Dementiev and Glagkov (1951) and 

 Kuzyakin (1963) have mentioned that Dybovsky had found 

 an egg on Medny (Copper) Island, which has been ascribed 

 to the Marbled Murrelet. The size of the egg (62.5 x 41.2 

 mm) was about the same as Marbled Murrelet eggs that have 

 been described recently. One individual was also collected 

 near that island in the spring. Later, Kartashev (1979) 

 suspected that he had there a chick of the Ancient Murrelet 

 (Synthliboramphus antiquus). He wrote: "The chick of the 

 Ancient Murrelet, completely covered with down and with 

 contour feathers beginning to erupt their sheaths, was found 

 in a narrow crack of a cliff face near the southernmost tip of 

 Medny (Copper) Island on 8 July 1960." One of us 

 (Konyukhov 1 990) had thought that this was a chick of the 

 Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris), but because 

 of the possibility of nesting Marbled Murrelets on land in 

 crevices (Johnston and Carter 1985), and absence of records 

 of enclosed Kittlitz's Murrelet nests, the senior author now 

 thinks that the chick found by Kartashev was that of a 

 Marbled Murrelet. Recent studies have shown presence of 

 this species in that area during the breeding season. One bird 

 was observed in Lisinskaya Bay, Bering Island, about 300 m 

 from the shoreline on 17 June 1993 (Artyukhin, pers. comm.). 



Besides the nests noted previously, a breeding male was 

 collected in Tayozhneya Bay in northern Primorye (Elsukov 

 1984) and a female with a developing egg was collected 200 

 km to the southwest of Okhotsk City (Yakhontov 1979). 

 Adult birds carrying fish were recorded in the Amur Liman 

 by Shibaev (1990), in the Tauyskaya Bay, and in the Tauy 

 Liman (Kitaysky, unpubl. data). A fledgling with remains of 

 downy feathers on its back was also observed by Kitaysky 

 (unpubl. data) inshore of Zavyalova Island, in the northern 

 part of the Sea of Okhotsk. An unidentified murrelet fledgling 

 (perhaps B. m. perdix) was observed near Talan Island 

 (Kondratyev, pers. comm.). 



Forest Habitat 



On Sakhalin Island, the species breeds in coniferous and 

 mixed forests, both on the plains and in the mountains as 

 follows: in the interior of the island, Nechaev (1986) recorded 

 birds in flocks of 2-3, and sometimes four, in the upper 

 reaches of the Onor River (30 km from the Sea of Japan) on 

 29 June 1977; near the foot of Lapatin Mountain (30-40 km 

 from the Sea of Okhotsk, at 600-700 m elevation) on 16-17 

 July 1977; near the top of Krasnov Mountain (20-30 km 

 from the Sea of Japan, at 500 m elevation) on 21-22 July 

 1987; and on the northern slopes of Nabil Mountain in the 

 Shmidt Peninsula on 4-7 August. 



In the lower Amur River area, where Marbled Murrelets 

 are numerous, the seaward slopes of the mountains are covered 

 with coniferous forests, while the boggy level shore is covered 



28 



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



