Marbled Murrelet
Brachyramphus marmoratus

In the fertile waters around Vancouver Island, a mottled brown seabird dives for small fish. At the end of the day, it laboriously lifts off the water, and flies, toward the shore. Finding its way to a creek mouth, it follows the valley upstream, dropping into the forest canopy many miles inland. Maneouvering between myriad massive trunks, and giant branches, it flies unerringly to a heavy limb, laden with moss. There, it lands, and gives the fish to its single, downy chick, over a hundred feet above the forest floor.

It is only in the last few years that the enigma of where the Marbled Murrelet nests has been solved. Its apparent dependence on mature forests for nesting places it squarely at odds with clearcut logging, and as a result it has been listed as vulnerable by the B.C. government.

Marbled Murrelets may be seen in many areas around Vancouver Island, and the Gulf of Georgia.