The Murre Bird
a report by:
Kendall, Erica, Tryn, Krista, and Melody

Habitat:

• Rocky coasts in Arctic waters

BioBytes: (from http://www.owl.on.ca/owl/murbird.html)

• There are as many as 60 million murres. They're one of the biggest groups of sea birds in the northern hemisphere. Murres don't build nests. They lay their eggs directly on rock ledges. •The eggs are cone-shaped so that they roll in small circles and stay on the cliff. •Murre eggs also grow heavier towards the pointed end as they mature. This makes them roll in even smaller circles. •The feathers on the murres' white undersides contain air-filled cells that help protect the birds from the cold when they float on water. •The black feathers on the murres' back absorb the heat of the sun.

The Murre
February 2,1999

Subject: What has been happening to the Murres:

• The Murre have been dying or disapearing in large numbers. Robert Pitkin a scientist has tracked the slackening of the wind by counting dead murres on the beach. In June of 1996, he did two surveys on 4 miles of beach and counted the remains of122 mures. They had starred to death. That is a lot of adult birds. Spot surveys of nesting colonies show that Oregon might have lost 20 percent of the about 720,000 murres that lived on the coast, at the beginning of the 1990's.

Subject: What Murres eat:

• Murres eat fish, that is why they have a narrow or pointed bill to seize fish, 8 for their kids they regurgitate there food & give it to their young.

Subject: Mating season

• During the mating season murres gather on rocky cliffs. The female hatches a single large pointed egg which lays on bare stone. She has 1 egg per year & can live up to 30 years that is 30 kids!

• Male murres gain ownership to a piece of land by the posture, they give loud trumpeting calls, & threaten one another by body position. The bird with their neck streched up, bill pointed down, wrists of wings pushed forward & eyes half closed is a bird of which others are wary. He is not asleep or at all or relayed. A resting bird takes a very different position, its neck is drawn in & the wings are tucked away.

The Murre
February 12,1999

Subject: Population

• The population of the Murre, over the years have been growing rapidly. In 1995 they breed more than 100,000 Murres. Lately they've been disappearing rapidly.

• Subject: About the Murres

A Murre is a type of sea bird that lives on rocky coasts of the North Atlantic and North Pacific. Murres can grow to be up to 16-17 inches long. It has short wings, a brownish-black upper body, and white on the breast & throat. The Murre has been disappearing quite frequently large numbers. Robert Pitkin a scientist, has tracked the slacking of the wind by counting the dead Murres on the beach. In June,1996 he did two surveys on 4 miles of the beach and counted the remains of 122 murres. They had starved to death. Spot surveys of nesting colonies show that Oregon might have lost 20 percent of more than 720,000 murres that live on the coast at the beginning of the 1900's. Robert Pitkin says that what happens to the Murres will eventually happen to us. The Murres are telling us they don't have enough to eat, which means the ocean is not healthy? Another question is wether the current in turn somehow mixed the coasts summer wind patterns & disrupted the ocean up welling.

Pictures from: http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/id/framlst/framlst.html#Alcidae