Status and Distribution of Breeding Seabirds of 

 Southeastern Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington 



By 

 David A. Manuwal 



College of Forest Resources 

 University of Washington 

 Seattle, Washington 98195 



and 

 R. Wayne Campbell 



Provincial Museum 

 Victoria, British Columbia, Canada 



Abstract 



Current breeding seabird population estimates, nest-site preferences, and 

 population changes are reviewed for southeastern Alaska, British Columbia, and 

 Washington. There are 19 species of seabirds and a minimum of 216,566 pairs 

 breeding in British Columbia and Washington. There are limited data on breed- 

 ing populations for southeastern Alaska. Species diversity ranges from 17 

 species in Alaska to 15 species in British Columbia and 14 species in Washing- 

 ton. Eighty percent of all British Columbia seabirds breed on the east coast of 

 Queen Charlotte Islands and the northwest coast of Vancouver Island. The three 

 most numerous species in British Columbia are the fork-tailed storm-petrel, 

 Oceanodroma furcata (31.3%); Cassin's auklet, Ptychoramphus aleuticus (24.6%); 

 and ancient murrelet, Synthliboramphus antiquus (12.5%). In Washington, 74% 

 (43,274 pairs) of the seabird population resides on the Olympic coast; the remain- 

 ing 26% are in the San Juan Island area. About 54% of this population consists 

 of the common murre (Una aalge) and rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata). 

 The rhinoceos auklet and glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) make up 97% 

 of the total seabird population of the San Juan Islands. About 68% of all sea- 

 birds on the northeastern Pacific coast are nocturnal, burrow- or rock crevice- 

 nesting species. Currently available population data are inadequate to determine 

 significant changes in population density for most species. Suggested topics for 

 future research are presented. 



The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Columbia (Drent and Guiguet 1961). Gabriel- 

 known distribution, habitat, abundance, and son and Lincoln (1959) summarized the avail- 

 status of breeding seabirds of the Alexander able literature on Alaskan birds up to about 

 Archipelago in southeastern Alaska, the 1958. Since then, no extensive surveys have 

 Province of British Columbia, Canada, and *"* Conducted in southeastern Alaska. The 



U. S. Department of the Interior (1972), in its 



the State of Washington. environmental impact statement for the 



Even though several studies of the breeding T^S. Alaska Pipeline, presented additional 

 biology of several seabird species in this area information on the seabirds of other parts of 

 have been published, there have been few pub- Alaska. In Washington, there are no pub- 

 lished surveys of known breeding colonies. In lished comprehensive surveys except those of 

 British Columbia the most extensive work Kenyon and Scheffer (1961) and unpublished 

 has been done by the British Columbia Pro- surveys by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service 

 vincial Museum and the University of British and the University of Washington. 



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