76 



D. A. MANUWAL AND R. W. CAMPBELL 



ALASKA 





BRITISH 

 COLUMBIA 



Fig. 2. Map of northern British Columbia showing 

 sites of major seabird breeding colonies: 1 

 Skedans Island; 2 Limestone Island; 3 Ag- 

 glomerate Island; 4 Bischoff Island; 5 Ramsey 

 Island; 6 Alder Island; 7 Rankins Island. 



PACIFIC OCEAN 



Fig. 3. Map of southern British Columbia showing 

 sites of major seabird breeding colonies: 1 Tri- 

 angle Island; 2 Cleland Island. 



ing seabirds. Many of these have not been cen- 

 sused and are too numerous to include in 

 Tables 3 and 4. 



More than half of the breeding seabirds in 

 British Columbia are found on the east coast 

 of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the fork- 

 tailed storm-petrel (Oceanodroma furcata) 

 comprises more than half of that total. How- 

 ever, new unpublished data (K. Vermeer) for 

 Triangle Island and the northwest coast of 

 Vancouver Island indicate that the popula- 

 tion figures in Table 3 for this area are under- 

 estimates. Nevertheless, these two regions 

 have nearly 80% of all the breeding seabirds 

 in the Province. This results from the very 

 large populations of the rhinoceros auklet and 

 tufted puffin on Triangle Island and the fork- 

 tailed storm-petrel, ancient murrelet, and Cas- 

 sin's auklet on various islands on the east 

 coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands 

 (Table 3). 



Continuing surveys of breeding seabirds are 

 being conducted by personnel of the British 

 Columbia Provincial Museum and the Cana- 

 dian Wildlife Service. 



Washington State 



General Environment 



For this report, we have distinguished two 

 major geographical areas in Washington 



where breeding seabirds are found the west- 

 ern coast of the Olympic Peninsula and the 

 San Juan Islands, including the Strait of Juan 

 de Fuca. 



On the Olympic Peninsula, seabirds breed 

 on the offshore rocks, islands, and precipitous 

 cliffs from Copalis Beach to Cape Flattery 

 (Fig. 4). The offshore rocks and islands 

 throughout this area (except Tatoosh Island) 

 are now included in the Washington Islands 

 National Wildlife Refuge. Most of the larger 

 rocks and islands have dense stands of sal- 

 monberry, salal, and grasses, and a few sup- 

 port stands of stunted conifers (Fig. 5); most 

 are inaccessible to man. The adjacent coast is 

 dominated by the Olympic rain forest where 

 the mean annual precipitation is about 

 337.1 cm (U. S. Weather Bureau 1956, 1965a, 

 19656). 



Because the San Juan Islands lie northeast 

 of the Olympic Peninsula and east of Van- 

 couver Island (Fig. 6) they are in a rain 

 shadow; however, because of highly variable 

 topography and aspect, most islands have a 

 diverse assemblage of plant communities 

 (Franklin and Dyrness 1973). Exposed south- 

 facing slopes are occupied by grassland vege- 

 tation and frequently by scattered trees, 

 usually Pseudotsuga menziesii and Arbutus 

 menziesii. Most of the seabird colonies are lo- 

 cated on rather small exposed islands with 



