Illustration © David Allen Sibley.
Learn more about these drawings.
Text © Kenn Kaufman, adapted from
Lives of North American Birds
Photo: Thomas Kallmeyer
Kittlitz's Murrelet
Brachyramphus brevirostris
| Conservation status | Total population is limited. Its rugged and remote range protects it from most direct human impacts, but climate change may be a serious threat: it often feeds near glaciers that come down to the sea, and those glaciers are receding. Would be vulnerable to spills and other pollution in coastal waters. |
|---|---|
| Family | Auks, Murres, Puffins |
| Habitat | Ocean, glacier waters; nests on barren slopes in coastal mountains. Found on cold sea waters, mostly in calm, protected bays and among islands. Usually fairly close to shore. Nests on islands and mainland, on steep barren mountainsides, talus slopes, rock slides, sometimes near glaciers. |
Photo Gallery
Feeding Behavior
Forages while swimming underwater. Does most feeding in cold waters fairly close to shore, probably where relatively shallow.
Eggs
One. Pale olive with brown and gray spots. Incubation probably by both sexes, but details (including length of incubation period) unknown. Young: Probably fed at nest site by parent(s) for at least 2-3 weeks. Some young then may travel along streams and rivers to reach sea, probably before old enough to fly strongly; others may fly directly from nest to ocean.
Young
Probably fed at nest site by parent(s) for at least 2-3 weeks. Some young then may travel along streams and rivers to reach sea, probably before old enough to fly strongly; others may fly directly from nest to ocean.
Diet
Not well known. Has a shorter bill than that of Marbled Murrelet, suggesting a different diet; known to eat small crustaceans, and possibly eats fewer fish than Marbled Murrelet.
Nesting
Solitary in breeding, on islands and mainland; few details known. Nest site is on ground on steep rocky slope with little vegetation, often 1000-3000' above sea level and several miles inland from ocean (can be more than 45 miles inland). Often at base of large rock, and may be fairly near stream flowing toward ocean. No nest built, egg laid on bare rock or ground.
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Songs and Calls
Low-pitched groaning call.How climate change could affect this bird's range
In the broadest and most detailed study of its kind, Audubon scientists have used hundreds of thousands of citizen-science observations and sophisticated climate models to predict how birds in the U.S. and Canada will react to climate change.
Read more: climate.audubon.org
Each map is a visual guide to where a particular bird species may find the climate conditions it needs to survive in the future. We call this the bird’s “climatic range.”
The colors indicate the season in which the bird may find suitable conditions— blue for winter, yellow for summer (breeding), and green for where they overlap (indicating their presence year-round).
The darker the shaded area, the more likely it is the bird species will find suitable climate conditions to survive there.
The outline of the approximate current range for each season remains fixed in each frame, allowing you to compare how the range will expand, contract, or shift in the future.
The first frame of the animation shows where the bird can find a suitable climate today (based on data from 2000). The next three frames predict where this bird’s suitable climate may shift in the future—one frame each for 2020, 2050, and 2080.
You can play or pause the animation with the orange button in the lower left, or select an individual frame to study by clicking on its year.
Kittlitz's Murrelet In the News More News
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Birdist Rule #86: Take Advantage of Our Incredible National Park System
It's National Park Week, so go make use of all those excellent birding destinations. There are a lot more than you think.
