Hi,
The first 2 items below are recent reports of live or dead beached
murre chicks this summer in Oregon. There may be additional reports.
The 3rd item gives a time perspective with a report about 1978-1990
summer murre mortalities along the Oregon Central Coast, with a high
count of 1,236 dead murre chicks found along just a 4.6 mile (7.5 km)
beach during June-Sept. 1982 by Bob Loeffel and his team of
volunteers. Loeffel's team found an average of 420 per summer, with a
low count of 33 during the 1983 El Nino when murre nesting success was
poor. At that time, Bald Eagles were not a factor affecting Common
Murre nesting success and timing of nesting like in recent years.
The 4th item is a link to the 2007-2017 reports by the Oregon State
University Seabird Oceanography Lab about murre nesting success at
Yaquina Head. This does not include beached murre chick numbers but
it documents the low nesting success of murres in recent years and the
effects of eagle and other bird disturbance of murre nesting.
Coastal Observation and Seabird Survey Team (COASST)
(http://depts.washington.edu/coasst/) has beached bird surveys for the
past 17 years, but I haven't found a way to view their data about dead
beached murre chicks in summer.
It is interesting how things have changed, but murre chicks continue
to wash ashore in Oregon during the summer as reported since at least
1914 (see #3 excerpt).
=========================================================================
1) "Young common murres washing ashore in Cannon Beach could point to
a healthier colony. Strandings often typical this time of year"
http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News/20180831/young-common-murres-washing-ashore-in-cannon-beach-could-point-to-a-healthier-colony
By Brenna Visser The Daily Astorian. Published on August 31, 2018 8:16 AM
First 3 paragraphs: "CANNON BEACH — Since the beginning of August,
volunteers with the Haystack Rock Awareness Program can expect a
beachgoer to approach them at least once a day with a report of a
stranded young seabird.
While it is normal to see some birds wash ashore both dead and alive
this time of year, more than 23 stranded baby common murres have been
documented, a finding that has piqued interest.
“The reason for concern is just that there has been a large number in
a small amount of time,” Melissa Keyser, the awareness program’s
director, said. As of Wednesday, the Wildlife Center of the North
Coast had about 30 baby common murres in its care, said executive
director Josh Saranpaa, the majority of which came from Cannon Beach.
[See rest of article for more information.]
================================================================================================
2) "Common Murre Chicks Flood West Coast Wildlife Rehabilitation
Centers" by Oregon Coast Aquarium
https://aquarium.org/common-murre-rehab/
Sept. 5, 2018
First paragraph of article:
"Newport, Oregon— The Oregon Coast Aquarium is treating an unusually
high number of common murre (Uria aalge) chicks this season. The
chicks, which are often mistaken for baby penguins, are being found
all along the West Coast abandoned, deceased or in very poor health.
Just this week, the Aquarium received 3 chicks in addition to the 12
that were admitted in the last month, totaling 31 murres this year. In
comparison, only one murre chick was admitted each summer in 2016 and
2017. International Bird Rescue in California and The North Coast
Wildlife Center in Astoria are seeing a similar trend this summer—with
over 100 combined cases since mid-July.
“A lot of these birds are coming in pretty thin from lack of food,”
said Charlee Beck, Aviculturist II at the Oregon Coast Aquarium.
“Since these chicks are supposed to be cared for by their parent, if
they get lost or separated, then they are pretty helpless and will
eventually starve or wash ashore.”
[The rest of the article discusses various possible causes. Includes photos.]
==========================================
3) 1991 Report about Murre Chick Die-off during the Summers of 1978-1990:
"Persistent Summer Mortalities of Common Murres Along the Oregon Central Coast"
by Bayer, Roy W. Lowe, and Robert E. Loeffel
at https://sora.unm.edu/node/104456
1991. Condor 93 (3):516-525.
Abstract. Common Murres (Uria aalge) were found dead on Oregon central
coast beaches every July-September from 1978 through 1990, but the
magnitude of the mortality varied yearly. Many more hatching-year (HY)
than after-hatching-year (AHY) murres usually were found dead. In some
years, most HY murre mortalities happened shortly after HY murres had
departed their natal colony, but, in other years, most mortalities
occurred after HY murres had been at sea for some time and had grown
substantially. These summer mortalities are not a recent phenomenon
and, in spite of these mortalities, the total number of AHY murres
censused at 15 Oregon colonies did not decrease between 1979 and 1988.
Shooting, oiling, or entanglement in fishing gear appeared to cause
few HY mortalities. The greatest number of beached HY murres occurred
just before the 1982-1983 El Nino, and the fewest were found in 1983
during the El Nino. [Few chicks were produced during the 1983 El
Nino, so few could die and be washed ashore.]
Another excerpt that murre chick die-offs in summer is not a recent
phenomenon: "In Oregon, dead murres were found along beaches in August
1914, 1923, 1926, and 1928 (S. G. Jewett, unpubl. field notes); in
August 1934 when over 500 dead murres were counted (Jewett 1934); on 8
August 1937 when 26 HY murres were noted along 1.6 km of beach (Bayer
and Ferris 1987: 101); in September 1967 (Crowell and Nehls 1968); and
in July 1969 (Scott et al. 1975)."
[See rest of free PDF for more information. Table 1 on p. 518 gives
annual totals during 1978-1990 along a 4.6 mile beach as found by Bob
Loeffel and his team. Bald Eagles were not a factor affecting murre
nesting success like they are today.]
======================================
4) Oregon State University Seabird Oceanography Lab Reports "COMMON
MURRE REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY AND FORAGING ECOLOGY" including 2007-2017
reports in Suryan, R.M. et al. 2007-2017. Yaquina Head Seabird Colony
Monitoring. End of season summary report to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management.
These are at
https://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/research-labs/seabird-oceanography-lab/research/foraging-reproductive-ecology/oregon
[These do not include beached bird reports, but they do include murre
nesting success. In some summers few dead murre chicks may be found
on beaches, but that could be because few chicks were produced and
left the colony, so few could die at sea and be washed up on beaches.]
========================
Range Bayer, Newport
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