Speich and Wahl 



Chapter 30 



Marine Habitat Preferences, Variability in Washington 



Steep-Sand/SJF Steep-Sand/SJI Gradual-Sand-Eelgrass/WS Gradual-Sand-Mud/SJl 



Steep-Sand/WS Gradual-Sand-Eelgrass/SJF Gradual-Sand-Mud/WS Gradual-Rock-Cobble/AS 



MARINE HABITAT TYPES/LOCATIONS 



1HI Spring Hi Summer ^H Fall b: :l Winter 



Habitats: Steep Slope-Sand; Steep Slope-Sand, Eelgrass; Gradual Slope-Sand, Mud; Gradual Slope-Rock, Cobble. 

 Locations: Strait of Juan de Fuca; Whatcom and Skagit counties; San Juan Islands; Assorted locations. 



Figure 3 Seasonal abundance of Marbled Murrelets, bays - steep and gradual slopes. 



f- 



on 



w 

 on 



O 

 O 



S 



cu 



0.8 - 



0.6 - 



0.4 - 



0.2 - 



Steep-Sand/SJF Steep-Sand/SJI Gradual-Sand-Eelgrass/WS Gradual-Sand-Mud/SJI 



Steep-Sand/WS Gradual-Sand-Eelgrass/SJF Gradual-Sand-Mud/WS Gradual-Rock-Cobble/AS 



MARINE HABITAT TYPES/LOCATIONS 



Summer 



Fall 



I] Winter 



^H Spring 



Habitats: Steep Slope-Sand; Gradual Slope-Sand, Eelgrass; Gradual Slope-Sand, Mud; Gradual Slope-Rock, Cobble. 

 Locations: Strait of Juan de Fuca; San Juan Islands; Whatcom and Skagit counties; Assorted locations. 



Figure 4 Seasonal presence of Marbled Murrelets, bays - steep and gradual slopes. 



in Puget Sound, occurrence on censuses is quite variable 

 (table l,fig. 6). 



Shorelines with Narrow Shelf 



This group is represented by three specific habitat types, 

 Kelp and Cobble, Cobble and Rock, and Sand and Mud. 

 Within this general habitat group, there is considerable variation 

 in densities (table l,fig. 7) and in the proportion of censuses 

 on which they are recorded (table 1, fig. 8). The highest 

 density (19.98 birds/km 2 ) determined for any habitat in Puget 

 Sound occurred in the fall in the Kelp and Cobble substrate in 

 the Whatcom County islands area, where birds were also 



recorded on half of all surveys. A relatively high density 

 (5.05 birds/km 2 ) was also determined for the fall period for 

 Kelp and Cobble substrate in the San Juan Islands. Otherwise, 

 with a couple of additional exceptions, densities of murrelets 

 in this habitat group were generally low (table l,flg. 7). 



Shorelines with Broad Shelf 



This group is represented by four habitat types, Eelgrass 

 and Sand, Kelp and Cobble, Cobble and Rock, and Sand and 

 Mud. Here again the variation in densities of Marbled 

 Murrelets between and within habitat types is apparent (table 

 1, fig. 9), although sample sizes in some cases are small 



318 



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



