Sentences with word «murre»
A "murre" is a type of seabird that lives in the northern regions of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It has a dark-colored body, a sharp beak, and can swim and dive well. Full definition
Seabird biologists will continue to evaluate the future of the common murre colony at Prince Island.
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San Miguel Island in the Channel Islands National Park is a prime example of a breeding area that is attractive for the breeding common murre colony.
Next week: Researchers outline theories about how warmer - than - usual ocean temperatures led to the die - off of common murres in Alaska.
In general, Thick - billed Murres favor cold - water fish, whose availability in a changing climate has proved vexing to modelers.
Historically, common murres nested on Prince Island, but this colony disappeared nearly a century ago, likely a result of human disturbance and egg harvesting.
Watch Tufted Puffins at Haystack Rock through mid-summer and observe crowded colonies of Common Murres on Bird Rocks off the north end of Cannon Beach.
Seabirds called common murres appear to use preening as a way to negotiate whose turn it is to watch their chick and who must find food.
Common murre eggs are pointed at one end; when pushed, they roll around in a circle, preventing them from rolling off the nesting ledge.
«The fascinating part of this study is the inference that communication between mates allows murres to negotiate the level of effort that each member of the pair puts into the breeding effort,» says John Piatt, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Anchorage, Alaska.
Flying out to sea to fish is energetically costly for murres because they aren't very aerodynamic.
To study murres nesting in northern Canada, the researchers carried shotguns loaded with rubber bullets to ward off the local polar bears and lived in a cabin surrounded by an electric «bear fence.»
Thousands of the penguin - like murres can be seen in spring and summer, with the greatest concentrations on Bird Rocks near Chapman Point at the north end of Cannon Beach.
Habitat Common murres favor cool ocean waters, both near and far from shore.
The area is a nesting nexus for a variety of species, and breeding looks dismal again this year for kittiwakes, fulmars, puffins, and murres as well as terns.
FAMILY AFFAIR Common murres take turns brooding their chick and foraging for fish.
Murres usually mate for life, but pairs can «divorce.»
Iceland is home to 23 species of Atlantic seabirds, including Atlantic puffins (pictured), black murres, kittiwakes, and great skua — but those populations, like those across the North Atlantic, are in serious trouble.
On the wing, murres burn energy at 31 times their rate at rest, the highest known ratio in a bird, the team reports today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Murres fare better in the water, where they're more efficient than many other birds, but they could still use a few tips on their stroke.
The researchers found that compared with penguins of the same size, murres expend far more energy while diving, indicating that giving up flight raised their efficiency.
Between surprise visits from bears, the scientists lassoed murres and injected them with tracer molecules to track their energy usage.
Good flyers like sandpipers and murres tend to lay eggs that are more elongated and more asymmetrical — a bit like the shape of a Zeppelin — likely because lots of time in the air requires lightweight, compact bodies.
After the chick leaves the nest, the father murre will accompany it for almost a year, teach it how to fish.
While not related to penguins, common murres share a lot of the same habits.
The variation in egg color and markings allows parent murres to recognize their own eggs when they return from sea.
Reproduction Common murres first breed at 4 to 5 years of age.
Introduction In July, 2011, researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and National Park Service discovered that California common murre chicks had hatched for the first time since 1912 on the Channel Islands.
Common murres dive for sardines, Elephant Seals haul out, and sea birds flock on the rocky islands.
A few other cool highlights on today's trips, as we watched Common Murres surfacing after dives with Herring in their beaks.
Like penguins, murres use their wings to «fly» deep underwater, but unlike penguins, they also fly in the air.
The sounds of a feeding frenzy were all that could be heard as we drifted and spun in the tide currents; Common Murres gargled and cheeped, the gulls squawked overhead and Humpback Whales exhaled at the surface.
With a range of fliers, from majestic peregrine falcons and bald eagles to delicate murres, Lincoln City is definitely for the birds.
Forecast winds and storms were nowhere to be found in the morning, so we spent some time just cruising through scattered humpbacks feeding with sea lions and common murres just below the surface.
Kaler and other experts say there've been many such mortality events involving murres in recent decades.
The grand total of recorded species was 262, and there were many outstanding rarities including White - faced Ibis, American Avocet, Marbled Godwit, both Common and Thick - billed murre, Clay - colored Sparrow, and Dickcissel.
Next, the researchers plan to study murres in years when jellyfish numbers are down.
They are commonly spotted at Agate Beach (particularly when they feast on murres nesting offshore of Yaquina Head in the summertime) and Ona Beach.
Birdwatchers can observe crowded colonies of common murres on the aptly named «Bird Rocks» off the north end of Cannon Beach and many other varieties of nesting seabirds.
Even so, flight allows murres to flee predators and zip between nest and foraging grounds.
For murres, «we were able to show that flight costs were much greater than expected... [and] demonstrate the cost of not being flightless.»
The near - shore and offshore rocks along Cannon Beach are part of the Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge and some of nature's greatest seabird displays can be observed including nesting Tufted Puffins and crowded colonies of Common Murres.
Top ten bird sightings according to Senior Field Ornithologist Simon Perkins were: white - faced ibis, California gull, ruff, Lapland longspur, American golden - plover, common murre, pomarine jaeger, dickcissel, Kentucky warbler, and short - eared owl
Video of 16 pairs of murres, documenting a total of 198 role swaps, showed that sometimes both birds appeared indecisive.
By withholding preening and delaying the switching ceremony, a murre in poor condition may be trying to negotiate with its partner to have the easier job of brooding.
Common murres (Uria aalge) lay only one egg each breeding season.
Last summer, he went back to Alaska and outfitted eight thick - billed murres (Uria lomvia), 45 - centimeter - long black and white birds that nest on island cliffs, with the avian equivalent of a GoPro camera and a device that tracked their movements.
They also outfitted the murres with sensors to learn how deep they dove and how much time they spent in air, underwater, and on land.