FIGURE 1 - uploaded by S. Kim Nelson
Content may be subject to copyright.
Southeast Alaska and northern British Columbia (World Geodetic System map), showing locations of Kittlitz's Murrelet records (bold italics), southern limit of the breeding range (heavy dashed line), and other locations mentioned in the text.
Source publication
Even though Kittlitz's Murrelets (Brachyramphus brevirostris) remain almost entirely within the species' breeding range throughout the year, 20 records were obtained south of the breeding range along the west coast of North America between 1969 and 2010. Eight records between southern British Columbia and southern California (1969–2010), within the...
Contexts in source publication
Context 1
... was obtained on 2 or 4 January 1974, when 1 bird in basic plumage (HY or AHY) was photographed at Friday Harbor, San Juan Island (Tweit and Paulson 1994; Wahl and others 2005). San Juan Island is slightly east of and geographically associated with 4 records from southern British Columbia, also approximately 1100 km from nearest breeding areas (Fig. 1). Three other rec- ords (1981, 1989 and 1998) were not accepted by the Washington Bird Records Committee (WBRC), but reasons for rejection were not provided (Tweit and Paulson 1994;Aanerud 2002). Another record (1994) apparently was not submitted to the WBRC for consideration for unknown reasons (Mattocks 1997); we did not consider it ...
Context 2
... region has relatively high observer effort, is approximately 1060 to 1130 km south of the nearest breeding areas, is approximately 220 to 290 km south of Johnstone Strait Area (southern extent of southern movements near the breeding range -see below), and has marine habitats and prey resources similar to nearshore waters in northern British Columbia and southern Southeast Alaska. How- ever, birds would have to travel relatively long distances over water (approximately 380 to 650 km) from the north end of Vancouver Island around either the east or west side of Vancouver Island to reach the central Salish Sea region ( Fig. 1 and Fig. 2). Only 3 records (1 confirmed; 2 unverified but credible) in Oregon and California (where there is generally high observer effort) may suggest different factors affecting vagrancy south of the Salish Sea (see below). ...
Context 3
... areas in northern Southeast Alaska suggest that these southern movements reflect a little-used and little-known part of the non-breeding range that extends to about 730 km south of the breeding range to the north end of Vancouver Island, within the southern Alaska Current region. The widely scattered distribution of records in this region (Fig. 1), with flock sizes of 1 to 4 birds, suggest wide movements by individuals or small flocks within these habitats. While most (75%) records in this region were less than 5 km from shore, 1 record was about 107 km from shore (Queen Charlotte Sound South -1997) and 2 records were 10 to 15 km from shore (Clarence Strait South - ...
Similar publications
Hymenophyllum wrightii is a filmy fern known primarily from Japan and Korea. In North America, it is known as a sporophyte only in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands), British Columbia, Canada. Rare independent, filmy fern gametophytes found from the late 1950s and onward at a handful of locations in British Columbia and southeastern Alaska were...
A study of morphological variation in the Salix lucida complex revealed three geographical races: one in northeastern North America, a second in western North America extending from Alaska to California, and a third in the southern Rocky Mountains, S. lucida ssp. lucida, Salix lucida ssp. lasiandra comb, nov., and Salix lucida ssp. caudata comb, no...
The Middle Devonian brachiopod genus Cyrtinoides, described from the southern Urals, is a senior subjective synonym of Mucroclipeus, previously known only from eastern and western North America. The Middle and Late Devonian cyrtinid brachiopod genus Komiella, previously known only from the Timan Range of eastern Europe, is identified from west-cent...
Citations
... We excluded from consideration land east of 1548W (~100 km east of Point Barrow) in northern Alaska because breeding Kittlitz's murrelets do not appear to use marine or terrestrial habitat along the Beaufort Sea coastline (Day et al. 2011). We did not include land in coastal British Columbia (south of 54.658N and east of~1308W; Figure 2) because Kittlitz's murrelets are extremely rare south of Alaska (Carter et al. 2011). We considered all remaining land in Alaska and interior Canada within 100 km of the Alaska coastline in our analysis, following Day et al. (2011; Figure 2). ...
The Kittlitz’s murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris is a small, noncolonial seabird endemic to marine waters of Alaska and eastern Russia that may have experienced significant population decline in recent decades, in part because of low reproductive success and terrestrial threats. Although recent studies have shed new light on Kittlitz’s murrelet nesting habitat in a few discrete areas, the location and extent of suitable nesting habitat throughout most of its range remains unclear. Here, we have compiled all existing nest records and locations to identify landscape-scale parameters (distance to coast, elevation, slope, and land cover) that provide potential nesting habitat in four regions: northern Alaska, Aleutian Islands, Alaska Peninsula Mountains and Kodiak Island, and Pacific Coastal Mountains (including nearshore interior Canada). We produced a final map classifying 12% (70,411 km²) of the lands assessed as potential Kittlitz’s murrelet nesting habitat, with dense but distinct patches in northern Alaska and a more uninterrupted, narrow band extending across the Pacific Coastal Mountains, Alaska Peninsula Mountains, and Aleutian Islands. The extent of habitat-capable parameter values varied regionally, indicating that the Kittlitz’s murrelet may be able to use a variety of habitats for nesting, depending on availability. Future nesting habitat studies could employ spatially random sampling designs to allow for quantitatively robust modeling of nesting habitat and predictive extrapolation to areas where nests have not been located but likely exist.
... The proportion of individuals in a population that become vagrants (see Fraser 1997), and whether all die or some establish new populations or even return to their original breeding populations, is a gap in our understanding of mortality and population changes in species. For the Long-billed Murrelet, the relatively high degree of long-distance vagrancy in North America, exhibited only since 1979, is remarkable in comparison with other alcids and likely reflects changes in weather patterns that assist movements across the North Pacific Ocean, as well as changes in breeding habitats and populations in eastern Russia (see Carter et al. 2011). In addition, the ability of vagrant Longbilled Murrelets to survive for long periods enhances the chances of discovering vagrants in North America and increases the likelihood of moving long distances across the continent. ...
From 1979 through 2009, 81 records of long-distance vagrancy in the Long-billed Murrelet (Brachyramphus perdix) in North America south of Alaska were examined to assess body condition and survival after first observation. Sixty-one records were of live birds, of which 38 (62.3%) were discovered at sea along the west coast of North America, 18 (29.5%) were encountered inland, and 5 (8.2%) were encountered along the Atlantic coast. Fifteen of the 20 individuals salvaged (19 adults, 1 juvenile) were discovered on lake shores (75.0%) and the other 5 (25.0%) on marine coasts; 85.0% were dead when initially found (15 dead, 2 shot), and 3 (15.0%) were moribund (2 died within one day, 1 later released). Of 10 sexed individuals, 5 were adult males, 4 were adult females, and 1 was a juvenile female. Eight of 10 murrelets observed foraging were diving on lakes, but 2 others surfaced with fish; two species of common freshwater fish were removed from stomachs of 2 birds shot by hunters. Most birds (72.1%, n = 61) disappeared after one observation, which suggests survival and moving on; one bird stayed at the same location for at least 25 days before disappearing. Dead or dying Long-billed Murrelets found on shorelines of fresh water may have been too emaciated to regain lost mass after arrival-they weighed less than those shot, presumably because they were not able to locate prey or too weak to capture it. Survival for weeks or longer on freshwater stopover sites better explains how Long-billed Murrelets move across North America, with some reaching the Atlantic Ocean. Long-surviving vagrants may establish a new breeding population of Long-billed Murrelet on the west coast of North America.
... The limited post-breeding movements of auklets (Aethia spp.), except for the Parakeet Auklet, may contribute to the infrequent vagrancy in these species, especially during the non-breeding season; a similar pattern has been noted in Kittlitz's Murrelet (B. brevirostris), although the number of murrelet records south of the normal non-breeding range between southern British Columbia and California has increased slightly in recent decades (Carter et al. 2011). ...
... On the other hand, individuals may have moved eastward the previous fall and survived until the following summer when recorded in the Atlantic. Overwinter survival at sea by vagrant Kittlitz's Murrelets and other seabird species outside their normal non-breeding ranges have been documented (Carter et al. 2011;also see Goetz et al. 1986;Waldon 1994). ...
... The direction of movements by vagrant alcids in the north Pacific Ocean and across North America has generally been from west to east, reflecting major global wind and storm patterns that likely assist many of these movements (Munyer 1965;Sealy et al. 1991;Mlodinow 1997). In the eastern north Pacific, there also is a tendency for a few vagrant individuals of certain alcid species to move south of their normal nonbreeding ranges (Sealy and Carter 2004b;Carter et al. 2011). Movements west across Asia or along the north coast of Asia are less likely, although Maumary and Knaus (2000) favored this route in their explanation for the occurrence of a Long-billed Murrelet in Switzerland. ...
Two specimens of adult Crested Auklet (Aethia cristatella) have been taken at sea in the North Atlantic Ocean: (1) near Iceland in August 1912 and (2) near Nuuk (formerly Godthåb), southwest Greenland between 1986 and 1972. An adult Parakeet Auklet (A. psittacula) was taken at Lake Vättern, Sweden in December 1860. These rare inter-ocean vagrants probably traveled from the Chukchi Sea east through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago to the Atlantic Ocean and may have arrived long before they were collected. Breeding distributions, limited post-breeding movements, weather patterns, timing and plumage of Atlantic and Pacific vagrants, small number of Atlantic vagrant records and the lack of inland records of these species east of Alaska in North America, support this route. Information about rare occurrences of auklets in the Atlantic Ocean enhances our knowledge of overall patterns of rare long-distance vagrancy versus more frequent vagrancy in alcids and other seabirds.
... By drawing attention to this species in southeastern Russia and Japan, we also hope that better information on its occurrence in this part of its range will be gathered in the future. Another paper has been prepared for similar observations in the northeastern Pacific Ocean (i.e., southern southeastern Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and California) south of the southern end of the breeding range in northern southeastern Alaska (Carter et al. 2011). ...
... Low observer e#ort (especially in o#shore waters), di$culties with identification of Kittlitz's Murrelets (especially confusion with other murrelets), and translation di$culties also have contributed to only 13 records known in this area, with 7 of 11 records in 1975῍2009 by two skilled observers (Ogi and Fujinami) who have observed seabirds from ferries and boats for many years. Few movements south of the breeding range associated with relatively low observer e#ort and identification problems also have led to few records south of the breeding range in the northeastern Pacific Ocean (Carter et al. 2011). ...
... If Ogi's impressions were correct and more regular occurrence in inshore waters o# eastern Hokkaido did occur prior to 1970, reduced occurrence in this region actually may have resulted in more recent decades. However, in the northeastern Pacific Ocean, greater observer e#ort occurred in the past yet no historical records were obtained; but since 1969, many more records of Kittlitz's Murrelets have occurred, suggesting an increase in occurrence south of the Alaskan breeding range (Carter et al. 2011). Additional verified observations are needed to better establish a baseline for measuring future changes to their occurrence in Japan and southeastern Russia. ...
Historical and recent records of occurrence of Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris in southeastern Russia and Japan were reviewed to better describe movements and vagrancy south of their breeding range in Russia. Small numbers have occurred recently and historically off the southeastern Kamchatka Peninsula at or near the southern end of the breeding range. We clarified that two 1828 type specimens were collected by F. H. von Kittlitz at either Petropavlovsk or northeastern Kamchatka. Only 13 specific records (10 confirmed, 3 unverified but credible) are available south of the breeding range, with 11 records since 1975. Near the south end of the Kamchatka Peninsula, only one confirmed record is known at Vestnik Bay (1972). At Sakhalin Island, three confirmed records were at Kholmsk (1986; 40 km offshore), Moneron Island (1986; 43 km offshore), and Chaivo Bay (1999). In the Kuril Islands, confirmed records were found for Paramushir Island (1928), Kunashir Island (2009), and an unspecified locality and date (<1890). For Hokkaido, early reports (<1890) were later found to be misidentifications or from the Kuril Islands; no other historical records were found prior to 1975. Five recent records (1975-2004; two confirmed, three unverified but credible) off northeastern Hokkaido were collated, with one record 65 km offshore (Tokachi/Kushiro Bay-March 1999). Very small numbers recorded in the Kuril Islands, Sakhalin Island and Hokkaido (within 1,500 km of nearest suspected breeding areas) apparently reflect individuals that moved further south than normal in certain years but still within cold waters projecting south to Hokkaido. One other confirmed 2004 record near Tokyo Bay (~950 km south of eastern Hokkaido) apparently was a long-distance vagrant, possibly related to unusual weather conditions. Future well-documented records are needed to develop a more solid baseline for monitoring changes in southern occurrences of the Kittlitz's Murrelet in eastern Asia.
