The Call of the Marbled Murrelet

Click below to listen to the calls of the Marbled Murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus). You will here the classic "keer" call as well as the murrelet's impersonation of a duck playing a kazoo (that's what I call it). There are also a few squawks of Steller's jays toward the end of the recording. (Note: at about 1'20" the calls repeat until the end of the recording).

Track 3

This is a good time of year to start learning the calls of this unusual seabird before it moves closer to our Pacific Coast shores...and then into the mature and old-growth coastal coniferous forests to nest. If you are hiking in these forests, you are likely to hear Marbled Murrelets before you see them. They are fast-flying, camouflaged, and active in the early morning, around dawn when they fly to and from the ocean to their nesting branch high up (and out of sight) in the trees.

Help Feed Marbled Murrelets!

If you live in Washington State, please click here to support Senate Bill 6072 to support critically needed research on forage-fish populations in Washington State.

One of the critical information gaps in monitoring the Puget Sound’s ecosystem is in forage fish ecology and contribution. This important bill will help fund studies of populations of the small, foraging fish known as "forage fish," which includes sardines, anchovies, mackerel, herring, smelt, and others. These small fish are a critically link in our ocean food webs--webs that include the threatened marbled murrelet whose diet is based on these small fish.

Senate Bill 6072, sponsored by Senator Christine Rolfes, has passed through the Senate Committee on Natural Resources & Parks, and currently sits in the Rules Committee.

 It needs nudging now from citizens like you!

The bill would provide valuable insight into a crucial part of the ecosystem that is often overlooked. It would deliver important current information to decision makers  with up-to-date status of all forage fish. It would provide an important contribution to the science necessary to monitor healthy levels of fish and to restore the Puget Sound ecosystem to full health.

UPDATE: On February 25, this bill was placed on the Senate 'X files." This means that the bill will go no further in the process the current legislative session. We will have to wait until next year to see if the bill gets pushed out of the Senate.

Your To-Do List

Inaction of Shoes

by Ron Padgett (and posted on The Writer's Almanac)

There are many things to be done today
and it's a lovely day to do them in

Each thing a joy to do
and a joy to have done

I can tell because of the calm I feel
when I think about doing them

I can almost hear them say to me
Thank you for doing us

And when evening comes
I'll remove my shoes and place them on the floor

And think how good they look
sitting?... standing?... there

Not doing anything

"Inaction of Shoes" by Ron Padgett, from Collected Poems. © Coffee House Press, 2013.

C-SPAN Cities Tour...includes MaMu

Here is the web link to  C-SPAN's CIties Tour programming on Olympia. The many interviews are posted here individually and you can click on the photo Olympia's logging yard to learn about what's going on with the Marbled Murrelet in Washington State Forests.

For the full story of the fascinating Marbled Murrelet may I recommend you find your way to my book, Rare Bird:Pursuing the Mystery of the Marbled Murrelet. It is available from Mountaineers Books, the usual online sellers, and some interesting places that will not be crowded today (SuperBowl Sunday):  Orca Books in Olympia, the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge, Boston Harbor Marina.