Speich and Wahl 



Chapter 30 



Marine Habitat Preferences, Variability in Washington 



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Kelp-Cobble/SJF Kelp-CobbleAVS Kelp-Cobble/WC Kelp-Cobble/SJI Cobble-Rock/SJF Cobble-Rock/SJI Sand-Mud/AS 



MARINE HABITAT TYPES/LOCATIONS 



Summer 



Fall 



Winter 



I Spring 

 Habitats: Kelp and Cobble; Cobble and Rock; Sand and Mud. 

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



Figure 7 Seasonal abundance of Marbled Murrelets, shorelines with narrow shelf. 



Kelp-Cobble/SJF Kelp-Cobble/WC Cobble-Rock/SJF Sand-Mud/AS 



Kelp-CobbleAVS Kelp-Cobble/SJI Cobble-Rock/SJI 



MARINE HABITAT TYPES/LOCATIONS 



Summer 



Fall 



Winter 



i Spring 



Habitats: Kelp and Cobble; Cobble and Rock; Sand and Mud. 



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



Figure 8 Seasonal presence of Marbled Murrelets, shorelines with narrow shelf. 



The percent of censuses that Marbled Murrelets were 

 recorded in each of the habitat types, by month, followed the 

 same pattern as shown by densities according to Wahl's 

 unpublished observations. Overall, though, sample size is 

 small, with highest occurrence recorded during the winter, 

 spring, and summer periods. Interestingly, over a period of 

 23 years, murrelets were recorded on every census in Grays 

 Harbor Channel in February, March, November, and 

 December. They were also recorded in the habitat area from 

 Grays Harbor Channel to 20 m depth in February, March, 

 and November. Even though the proportion of censuses on 

 which murrelets were recorded was often high, densities 

 were often low (e.g., February). 



Point Grenville Inshore Waters 



During the spring and summer periods of 1984 and 1985 

 Marbled Murrelets were irregularly observed in the inshore 

 waters near Point Grenville (Speich and others 1987). These 

 data, previously reported in Speich and others (1992), showed 

 that they were absent from about 25 to 30 percent of all 

 censuses, mainly in April. In both years peak densities were 

 recorded in July, and in August 1985. 



Continental Shelf Waters 



Earlier, Speich and others (1992) suggested that the 

 Marbled Murrelet population on the Pacific Ocean Coast of 

 Washington was largely found north of Point Grenville with 



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



