BIOLOGY AND CONSERVATION OF THE COMMON MURRE 51 



Table 2.3. Summary of museum egg specimens 8 of common murres in Oregon. 



an acre in extent. The 600 or 700 pairs of murres 

 were closely grouped for protection from the 

 western gulls, which eat murre eggs whenever 

 they are exposed." 



Cascade Head Area 



Island Rock 



Port (Moid 

 Brookings Area 



3 



3 



8 

 2 



109 

 1 



06/15/30 

 07/20 to 22/17 



5/18 to 19/30 

 06/15/30 

 6/6 to 7/49 

 07/07/49 



L. T. Stevens. B. F. Walker 



U. G. Kubat 



U. G. Kubat 



W. E. Griffee. U. G. Kubat 



U. G. Kubat 



L. T. Stevens. W. E. Griffee 



A. and K. M. Walker 



A.Walker 



A.Walker 



J. C. Braly 



J. C. Braly 

 F. J. Smith 



J. T. Fraser 



J. C. Braly 



L. T. Stevens. L. R. Howsley 



L. T. Stevens 



Two Arches Rock 



Two Arches Rock 



Two Arches Rock 



Noted: "between 2.000 and 3.000 murres in 



the colony" 



Redfish Rocks 



Egg Island Colony numbers 270-1 15 to 270- 



123 



Noted: "several hundred murres nested here" 



Noted: "several thousands nesting" 



' Specimen information was obtained from Western Foundation of Vertebrate Zoology. Camarillo. California: Santa Barbara 

 Natural History Museum. Santa Barbara. California: San Diego Natural History Museum. San Diego. California: and National 

 Museum of Natural History. Washington. D. C. 



In 1967, 28 large islands along the Oregon coast 

 were included in the National Wildlife Refuge System. 

 From 1966 to 1977, the Bureau of Sport Fisheries and 

 Wildlife conducted aerial surveys from fixed-wing 

 aircraft and visually estimated numbers of murres 

 attending colonies throughout the Oregon coast. From 

 1966 to 1974, an average of 122,673 murres was 

 estimated. In 1975 and 1976, 162,350 and 202.960 

 murres (respectively) were estimated but numbers of 

 birds estimated at each site varied significantly. At Three 

 Arch Rocks, estimates were from 25.000 to 107.000 

 murres. Even at the small colony at Goat Island, estimates 

 varied significantly (range. 800-3.000) between years. 

 Such large variations have not been noted since aerial 

 photographic survey techniques have been employed, 

 except during severe El Nifios. 



The first comprehensive survey of breeding 

 seabirds in 1979 employed the first use of aerial 

 photographs at murre colonies in Oregon (Varoujean 

 and Pitman 1980). A total of 259,993 murres were 

 counted at 63 colony sites. Unfortunately, count data 



from 1979 aerial photographs are considered inaccurate 

 and were not used for trend analyses because ( 1 ) U.S. 

 Coast Guard Sikorsky helicopters were operated at great 

 distances from seabird colonies to minimize 

 disturbance, making photographs difficult to count 

 accurately and flushing large numbers of murres at 

 certain colonies; and (2) at 28 (44%) of 63 colonies, 

 counted photographs were taken on 16 July 1979, by 

 which date up to 75% of murres had already departed 

 the colony (based on comparison to other photographs 

 in May or June 1979). Thus, murre numbers at colonies 

 in Oregon were probably underestimated using July 

 1979 data. 



Current Population Size and Distribution of 

 Breeding Colonies in Oregon 



By 1995. 75 locations attended by murres had been 

 documented in Oregon (Figure 2.7; Appendix E). We 

 have designated these locations as follows: (1) 49 

 regularly-attended colonies averaging more than 100 

 birds per count; (2) 14 regularly-attended colonies 



