Guadalupe Murrelet

Synthliboramphus hypoleucus

Southern subspecies (S. h. hypoleucus)
Photo by Glen Tepke
Pacific southwest of Santa Barbara, California, USA, September 2007

Identification

Length 9.75 inches (25 cm), wingspan 15 inches (38 cm)

Similar Species

Distinguished from two other murrelets in range, Craveri's and Marbled, by white wing linings, shorter bill and less black on face than Craveri's, longer bill and more solidly black upperparts than Marbled.

Distribution

Nests on six of the Channel Islands (Santa Barbara, San Miguel, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, Santa Catalina, and San Clemente) in southern California, USA, and on Los Coronados, Guadalupe, and San Benito islands off the coast of Baja California, Mexico.

Outside of the breeding season, it ranges along the continental shelf from Baja California north, frequently to northern California and more rarely to British Columbia.

Northern subspecies (S. h. scrippsi)
Photo by Glen Tepke
Pacific west of Carmel, California, USA, August 2003

Taxonomy

Subspecies^[1]

Two subspecies, which are generally separable in the field:

• S. h. scrippsi: has much smaller white eye arcs

• Channel Islands and islands off westerhn coast of Baja California

• S. h. hypoleucus: has white crescent in front of and above eye

• San Benito Island and Guadalupe Island (off Baja California)

Some taxonomists consider the northern form a separate species, Scripps's Murrelet (S. scrippsi).^[2],[3]

Habitat

Nests on arid, rocky islands; otherwise pelagic in warm waters. Rarely seen from shore.

Behaviour

Diet

The diet includes tuna, anchovies, sardines and rockfish.

Breeding

They nest in small crevices or under thick bushes on dry islands in loose scattered colonies. The adults only visit the nest at night. The clutch consists of 2 eggs which are incubated for about a month. The chicks leave the nest after two days of hatching joining up with the adults on the water.

References

1. Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
2. Avibase
3. Birdforum thread discussing the taxonomy of this species and the proposed split
4. Wikipedia

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Guadalupe Murrelet. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 3 June 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Guadalupe_Murrelet

External Links

With a populations estimated to total only 5,600 birds and a very small breeding range, Xantus's Murrelet is considered to be at high risk of extinction on several bird conservation lists:

BirdLife International: Vulnerable - http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/species/index.html?action=SpcHTMDetails.asp&sid=3311&m=0

Audubon WatchList 2007: Red - http://web1.audubon.org/science/species/watchlist/profile.php?speciesCode=xanmur

American Bird Conservancy WatchList 2007: Red - http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/science/watchlist/xantus_murrelet.html

U.S. Endangered Species Act: Candidate - http://ecos.fws.gov/species_profile/servlet/gov.doi.species_profile.servlets.SpeciesProfile?spcode=B098

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