Radar Finds Birds Observers Missed Uncounted Marbled Murrelet Nests Lack Environmental Protection, Biologist Says

A University of Washington biologist who used radar rather than human sight to detect marbled murrelets in the forest says field observers are missing 90 percent of the federally protected birds.

Brian Cooper’s findings suggest that if huge numbers of the birds are being missed, then nesting sites are being logged in violation of federal law.

Because the murrelet is an endangered species, federal law mandates that its habitat be protected.

“So few birds are being seen that it’s likely birds are being missed in stands where they are, in fact, nesting,” said Cooper, who conducted the research for the UW’s Olympic Natural Resources Center.

“If there’s a stand with several birds, even if (field observers) miss 90 percent of them, they’re still counting some. But if there are only two birds, and they miss 90 percent, they’re probably missing all the birds in that stand.”

Cooper also found that some surveyors were identifying stands as occupied when in fact the bird was simply darting into the trees, checking out the right spot to nest.

“That’s important to know because ground surveyors hear these birds flying and may be assigning a bird to a stand inappropriately,” he said.

The radar research, however, does not suggest there are simply more birds than biologists realized.

Population counts are done at sea, where the birds are easily spotted.

The counts in the forest attempt to figure out how many are nesting.

The murrelet is remarkably hard to find.

The small bird forages at sea and then flies as many as 50 miles - often before dawn - to feed its young in loosely built nests high in the forest canopy. The first nest wasn’t found until 20 years ago, and even today nests are rarely spotted.

Because of the murrelet’s elusiveness, the Pacific Seabird Group, a group of government and private biologists, established the protocol for murrelet detection, now mandated by the federal government.

Trained observers are to go into the field 45 minutes before sunrise, looking for the bird as it darts into trees and listening for its distinctive call.

The observers are required to visit each forest stand in question four times a season for two consecutive years.

Some in the timber industry say Cooper’s findings could prove costly to commercial landowners.

In August, the state passed its first rule governing marbled murrelets on private timberland.

The regulation identifies the kind of forest habitat the birds are most likely to nest in.

Timber companies with that type of habitat are required to begin a regimen of murrelet surveys, and protect those stands where field observers find the bird.

If Cooper’s research bears out - and the rules by which birds are counted change - the effects on the timber industry could be far-reaching, said Tim Boyd of the Washington Forest Protection Association, the state’s largest timber industry group.

“I’m going to want to see the research,” Boyd said. “But it’s been pretty clear from previous research that the birds are likely to occupy stands throughout Western Washington, so the implications (of Cooper’s research) to private landowners are obviously serious.”

Biologists who helped put together the current protocol for finding murrelets say they’re not surprised by Cooper’s data.

Other researchers have made similar findings, said Eric Cummins, a biologist who manages the forest wildlife section at the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Because of the radar work, Cummins added, the wildlife agency realizes murrelet nests already have been destroyed in violation of the Endangered Species Act.

The new rule will go a long way toward protecting the bird, he said, but undercounting will continue to result in inappropriate logging.