88 



D. A. MANUWAL AND R. W. CAMPBELL 



Common Murre (Uria aalge) 



Common murres are common in southeast- 

 ern Alaska and the coast of Washington but 

 breed only in small numbers in British Colum- 

 bia and are absent in the San Juan Islands. 

 Since this species usually prefers cliffs or the 

 tops of inaccessible rocks, they are probably 

 limited by island topography in British 

 Columbia, and are most certainly so limited in 

 the San Juan and Gulf Island groups. 



In Alaska, common murres breed in un- 

 known numbers in Glacier Bay and in large 

 numbers on St. Lazaria, Forrester, and the 

 Hazy islands. No data on population changes 

 are available for any of the three regions. 



Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) 



The pigeon guillemot is common through- 

 out the region from Cape Fairweather to 

 Washington. Even though it is not truly colo- 

 nial, it may be locally abundant where there 

 are suitable nest sites. Since these nest sites 

 are usually difficult to find, population esti- 

 mates are seldom accurate, usually being con- 

 servative. It is evident that guillemots appear 

 to be small in number when compared with 

 other seabirds nesting at major colony sites in 

 the north Pacific region (Table 10). This dis- 

 parity may be exaggerated by the difficulty of 

 censusing guillemots. 



Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus 

 marmoratus) 



Since the marbled murrelet has been found 

 to nest in coniferous forests (Binford et al. 

 1975), traditional census techniques are un- 

 suitable. This species is common in southeast- 

 ern Alaska (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959), in 

 British Columbia (Drent and Guiguet 1961), 

 and in Washington (Jewett et al. 1953). 



Kittlitz's Murrelet (Brachyramphus 

 brevirostris) 



The difficulties in assessing breeding popu- 

 lations of Kittlitz's murrelet are the same as 

 those for the marbled murrelet. This species 

 nests on the ground at high elevation near the 

 coast (Bailey 1973). The largest concentra- 

 tions are in the vicinity of Glacier Bay Na- 

 tional Monument (Gabrielson and Lincoln 

 1959). They are not found breeding in Wash- 

 ington or British Columbia. 



Ancient Murrelet (Synthliboramphus 

 antiquus) 



Ancient murrelets appear to be locally com- 

 mon throughout southeastern Alaska. Their 

 presence is probably strongly dependent upon 

 a suitable soil in which to excavate burrows. 

 The only available population estimates are 

 those by Willett (1915) for Forrester Island 

 (Table 1). Censusing this species is especially 

 difficult because its burrows are easily con- 

 fused with those of Cassin's auklet. There are 

 no studies of this species in southeastern 

 Alaska; however, it has been well studied in 

 the Queen Charlotte Islands to the south by 

 Sealy(1975). 



Cassin's Auklet (Ptychoramphus 

 aleuticus) 



A synthesis of literature and unpublished 

 observations led Gabrielson and Lincoln 

 (1959) to conclude that Cassin's auklet has 

 greatly decreased in numbers and is not abun- 

 dant anywhere in Alaska. They also con- 

 cluded that the colony on Forrester Island 

 (Table 1) was the only well-documented colony 

 in southeastern Alaska. Fishermen in the 

 southeastern Alaska area occasionally see 

 this species (M. E. Isleib, personal communi- 

 cation), but it is apparently still uncommon 

 though more widespread than just Forrester 

 Island. The nocturnal habits and burrowing in 

 dense vegetation makes censusing this 

 species very difficult. Nothing is known about 

 the ecology of this species in Alaska. 



Rhinoceros Auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata) 



Rhinoceros auklets seem to be found breed- 

 ing only on islands where there is a well-de- 

 veloped soil in which to excavate their exten- 

 sive burrows. From the limited evidence avail- 

 able, it appears that the largest rhinoceros 

 auklet populations probably are to be found in 

 southeastern Alaska. Willett (1912) found a 

 very large population on Forrester Island 

 (Table 2), and the species has been found in 

 the summer in the Barren Islands east of 

 Kodiak Island (E. P. Bailey, personal com- 

 munication). More intensive surveys of the 

 Alexander Archipelago will probably reveal 

 other populations of this species. 



This species is less common in British 

 Columbia than either Alaska or Washington. 



