Nest Sites and Eggs of Kittlitz's and Marbled Murrelets

Fourteen known and three probable nests of Kittlitz' s Murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) and eight known and one probable nest of Marbled Murrelet (B.marmorutus) have been reported.Nests of Kittlitz' s Murrelet tend to be at higher elevations and farther inland than those of Marbled Murrelet.Kittlitz' s nests have much less vegetative cover than Marbled nests.Nests of both species are generally a short distance below a peak or ridge, Kittlitz' s on the ground and Marbled either in a tree or on the ground.The eggs of the two species are similar in color and their mean dimensions are not separable statistically.Our findings support the idea that Kittlitz' s fledglings commonly get to the sea by way of streams.The breeding habits of both Kittlitz' s and Marbled mm-relets (Brachyramphus brevirostris and B. marmoratus) have long been obscure, due primarily to the dispersed and cryptic nature of their nests.To date, only nine definite Kittlitz' s Murrelet nests have been reported, and we know of only six published records of definite Marbled Murrelet nests.We have found another nest of Kittlitz' s Murrelet, a chick on its way to the sea, and unpublished records of seven other known or probable Kittlitz' s Murrelet nests; we have also located three unpublished records of Marbled Murrelet nests.In this paper, we summarize and evaluate all definite and probable nest records of Brachyramphus murrelets known to us, and describe and compare characteristics of the nesting habitat and eggs of the two species.We have attempted to compile present information, correct errors in the literature, and compare the nesting biology of these two similar species.NEST RECORDS KITTLITZ' S MURRELET Nearly all the records are from Alaska, and the remaining one is from the USSR (Table 1).Details on the nest records at Pavlof Volcano (approximately 55"25' N, 161"5 l/W), Katmai National Monument, Wales Mountain (ap-proximately 65"35' N, 168"O l' W), Tin City (65"33' N, 167"5 l' W), Angmakrog Mountain (68"17' N, 165"33' W), Shelikhova Bay (approximately 6 l"OO' N, 156"30' E), Frosty Peak (55"12' N, 166"42' W), Humphrey Creek (58"22' N, 135"19' W), and East Amatuli Island (58"55' N, 152"OO' W) are straightforward.Details on the Goodnews Bay, "Hill Point," and Iron River records need clarification, as do the unpublished records from Tin Creek, Windy River, the Chukchi Sea, Atka Island, and Harris Bay.Goodnews Bay.D. B. Bull (La Mesa, CA; pets.comm.to G. E. Watson) collected a female incubating an egg in this area north of Cape Newenham, northern Bristol Bay; however, Friedmann (1934) never reported it as a nest record, only that a bird was collected.The egg was broken when the bird was collected and was not preserved."Hill Point," Wales.D. Tevuk collected a female with its egg at "Hill Point," near Cape Prince of Wales, Seward Peninsula (Ford 1936).A. M. Bailey (1943Bailey ( , 1948) ) later called this bird a male, rather than a female.We have been unable to locate the specimen, which was originally deposited in the Chicago Academy of Sciences (CAS #7 128; Bailey 1943); hence, the sex of this bird should be considered to be unknown.The exact location of "Hill Point" is uncertain, but Bailey' s (1943) discussion indicates that it was on the side of Wales Mountain, near the tip of the Cape.Tin Creek (65"27' N, 167"ll' W).R. J. Gordon (Juneau, AK; pers.comm.)found the nest of a murrelet on a mountain above this creek in the Lost River drainage, Seward Peninsula.