Scientific name: Synthliboramphus antiquus
Aleut: Satax:Krizyunga
Japanese: Umisuzme (Sea Sparrow)
Russian: Starik (Old Man)

On Langara Island near the eastern end of its range, amid the moss covered, arched and twisted roots of hemlock, red cedar and Sitka spruce, are the nests of the Ancient Murrelet, "the old man of the sea." Its breeding range extends from the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia throughout the Aleutian chain to Kamchatka, the Kuril Islands, the Sea of Japan, and the coasts of Korea. Although the species winters in numbers in Japanese waters only a few scattered pairs are known to breed on Japanese islands. More than half the total population range in the Queen Charlotte Islands where up to half a million birds breed. ²⁰⁶

Numerous inland wanderings, even to the eastern United States have been recorded; the Ancient murrelet has been found in Illinois, Ohio, and as far east as Toronto Ontario.^{404, 624} All of these incidents, however, have been associated with Pacific Coast storms and high velocity winds. The great distances from the Pacific indicate that the birds may have been carried at rather high altitudes, although one may question why this species and not others were carried along, especially since the normal flight of the Ancient Murrelet is swift, direct, usually close to the water, and not usually prolonged. In the spring of 1990 an Ancient murrelet was seen to be surviving well by many bird enthusiasts at Lundy Island of the British Isles. How it arrived there no one has a clue.

Before the turn of the century, C. Bendire quotes, Chase Littlejohn who described its abundance and habitat on islands south of Sand Point in the Alaskan Peninsula.⁶² At that time the Ancient Murrelet nested under rank, matted grass and although it associated with Cassin's Auklets and petrels, the various species tended to select islands of their own on which to breed. He noted that on small adjacent islands of similar size and alike in every aspect, one would be occupied by Cassin's Auklets and the other completely controlled by the Ancient Murrelets. Littlejohn was amused by the apparent pleasure the murrelets gained from clawing their way up one slope of his tent, resting awhile on the ridge, then sliding down the other side.

In 1927, Cox Island near Langara was described as being "literally honeycombed" with burrows of the Ancient Murrelet.¹⁴⁷ Later the population in the area was described as astronomical, but no actual figures are given in these or earlier accounts. Between 1968 and 1973, the numbers counted at sea from one location near Langara were less than 8,000. From this figure, it was calculated that about 50,000 were nesting along 1.6 kilometers of coast.⁴²³ Cox Island is no longer honey-combed or perforated with burrows, and since the 1950s whole segments of colonies have been abandoned. It should also be pointed out that the 1968 to 1973 population estimates were made during the first two weeks of June; according to a detailed study made by Spencer Sealy the adults rapidly disperse from Langara in June.⁵³⁹ It is possible then, that in these years most Ancient Murrelets were able to get an early start at breeding on Queen Charlotte Island locations, and by the time the population estimates were made most of the birds had already gone, resulting in unusually low population figures. In order to be accurate, bird counts must be made at different times during the breeding cycle as has been indicated by studies of Atlantic Puffins.^{426, 433} We should be aware, too, that many of the early accounts could be exaggerations based upon first impressions. Since accurate figures are seldom recorded in the early literature, the accounts are probably of little comparative value. But, British Columbian islands still harbor the greatest population of Ancient Murrelets and recent estimates for Alaska indicate that there may be about 400,000 individual birds using more than 40 breeding sites.⁵⁷⁰

Ancient Murrelets visit their breeding grounds only at night. They arrive at staging areas on the sea not far from their nesting islands about three hours before, and they arrive at their nests about an hour after sunset, where they engage in breeding activities until two hours before sunrise. The first murrelets are observed at sea near Langara Island at the end of March and they first land on the breeding slopes about a week later. Spencer Sealy observed them in 1971 entering burrows for the first time on the night of 5/6 April. During the daylight hours they were observed at sea in groups of four to twelve. Only occasionally were they seen in pairs.⁵³⁹

In the staging area the Ancient Murrelet does not feed, but engages in various comfort displays such as preening, bathing, and wing-stretching. It also devotes time to mutual sporting involving short flights, group diving, and chasing.

Courtship behavior has not been studied in detail but apparently occurs on the nesting slopes and tree limbs at night where displays and vocalizations are constant during the pre-egg-laying and incubation stages. At least nine different vocalizations are produced including a chirrup call, chip, bubble-call,trill-rattle, chatter, long-whistle, short whistle, wheeze, and complex, variable songs often uttered by males from perches in the trees above the nest burrows. ³¹⁷ Copulation has not been observed, which reinforces the belief that it may take place in the burrow or at sea. The Ancient Murrelet has been seen to defend the approach to its burrow by chasing intruders away, and banding records show that mates and burrows are retained year after year by the same individuals.⁵³⁹

By the middle of May, 20 percent of the Ancient Murrelets found on the breeding slopes are nonbreeding, second-year, immature birds. These can be identified because two-year-olds have smaller bills, shorter wings than adults, no brood patches, significantly less weight and a different molt progression. Nevertheless, they come to the breeding grounds, in response to their developing reproductive urges, perhaps to learn the nature of breeding activities. On the slopes, these immature birds act aggressively, and their vocalizations consist of thin shrill whistles.

Adults feed mainly on euphausiids during the winter and pre-egglaying months and mostly on sandlance during the summer. Other fish in their diets, depending upon location, include capelin, walleye, pollock, and ganoids. ^{537, 635}

The mature Ancient Murrelet weighs on the average 206 grams with a range of 176 to 249 grams. Spencer Sealy found no significant difference between the males and the females in body weight, nor any apparent external sexual differences. He also discovered that weights vary with the time of the year, being slightly below maximum summer weight when it first arrives on the breeding slopes in the spring. During the egg-laying period he noted a five percent gain in weight which was lost again after the chicks hatched.⁵³⁹

Ancient Murrelets nest on the slopes within 500 meters of the sea where they choose sites between the roots of standing trees, under fallen moss-covered logs, and under grass tussock on otherwise rocky slopes. On the Queen Charlotte islands, the needles of Western Hemlock, leaves of salal shrubs or grass are used to form a mat on which to incubate two eggs. On islands to the north where tall rank grasses grow, the murrelets tunnel to a meteršs length into and under large tussocks. Here some eggs are laid on bare rock, soil, or even ice.

On Langara Island the egg-laying period is confined to a period from late April to mid-May. In Korea and Japan, the eggs are deposited from the middle of March to late April.²⁹³ The eggs are laid at night. The first egg is deposited and often left for as long as one week before the second egg is added to complete the clutch. The high energy demands of egg production, which requires this rather long period between eggs, is partially understood when the fresh egg weight is compared to the female body weight. Spencer Sealy has calculated that egg weight averages 21.9 percent of the female body weight. Since two eggs are laid, the annual demand on the female is over 40 percent of her body weight. (Compare the Xantus Murrelet, Chapter 10). A fresh egg contains 40 percent yolk and weighs about 45 grams. This reflects the high energy demands of the chicks. Weight loss during incubation, or at least until the first crack appears, averages 6 grams.⁵³⁰

Ancient Murrelet eggs lack gloss, are fine textured, are highly varied in color and are considered among the prettiest of alcid eggs. No two eggs, even in the same clutch, are ever alike in ground color or markings. Most nests contain two eggs but occasionally one, or more rarely, three eggs are noted; when three eggs are present it is suspected that more than one female has contributed to the set.

Incubation begins after the second egg is laid. In sixty-one observations made by Spencer Sealy both eggs hatch within an hour of each other. Occasionally, incubation may begin several days after the second egg is deposited; in any case, synchronization of hatching time is the primary aim. Both male and female share in the incubation duties with shifts varying from twenty-four to seventy-two hours. The normal shift is forty-eight hours.⁵³⁹

Island, British Columbia, the incubation period ranges from thirty-three to forty-seven days with an average of thirty-five days for thirty-four clutches. On Reef Island, B.C. Anthony Gaston and David Powell reported that undisturbed eggs were incubated an average of 30 days. They suggested that longer reported durations may have been due to disturbance by the investigators. ²¹² Both males and females develop a pair of lateral brood patches which show no refeathering until their chicks leave for the sea.⁵³⁹

For up to four days after hatching, the chicks are brooded constantly. Chicks are not fed while in the nest and consequently lose weight. In Sealy's study, twenty-six chicks averaged 30.7 grams upon hatching, fourteen one-day-olds averaged 27.7 grams, three two-day-olds 26.1 grams, and one three-day-old was only 22.2 grams.⁵³⁹

Various references give the time spent in the nest as from one to four days with the usual being two days. In being truly precocial, this compares very well with members of the same genus, the Xantus', Craveri's and Japanese Murrelets. The chick's body temperature is fully regulated and equal to the adult's body temperature by the time it leaves for the sea. Its legs and feet are almost adult size, a feature enabling it to swim and dive well once in the water. Species of seabirds which demonstrate this degree of precocity have several advantages: it provides the opportunity for more frequent feedings, it allows a wider feeding range, and it provides for an early learning of foraging techniques.⁵³⁹

At the Langara colonies, the first chicks of the season leave their nests in the last few days of May and the last ones have gone by the first few days of July. Ninety percent of the Ancient Murrelets have gone to sea with newly-hatched young by 15 June. Chicks leave their nests after dark about a half hour before adult birds begin coming in for the night. Spencer Sealy saw unaccompanied chicks on the water, some alone and some in groups of up to ten. Others were with parent birds. By dawn he reported that no young or adults could be found within ten kilometers of the shore: adults with half-grown young may be seen at sea, west of Vancouver Island, in mid-July. Sealy followed parent birds with chicks and noted that the adults became agitated and flew about thirty meters away, repeating rasping calls. The chicks retreated by using their feet to dive.⁵³⁹ It is not known at what stage of feather growth the chicks begin to use their wings for propulsion under water. By leaving at night for the sea, the young chicks avoid predation by gulls and crows. Black rats prey on a few nestlings but apparently, losses to rats are minimal. The major predator in the Queen Charlotte Island area is the Peregrine Falcon, which apparently prefers the Ancient Murrelet to petrels and auklets. Falcons hunt during the late evening and early morning when murrelets are actively moving between land and sea: it has been calculated that a single family of Peregrine Falcons consumes about a thousand murrelets during a single breeding season.⁴²³ On the Aleutian Islands, the most significant predators, next to the falcons, are foxes and men; and undoubtedly, some chicks are also lost to large fish at sea.

Survival rates at sea, however, have not been studied. Neither have diseases or parasites in murrelets been fully surveyed. Biocides have been blamed for killing off the euphausiid shrimp and other items in the Ancient Murrelet's food chain, but this, too, falls short of good reason for reported population fluctuations. In California, where we would expect pollution to be high, the euphausiid-eating Cassin's Auklet has apparently been doing well. Some researchers have suggested that changes in the salinity and ocean temperature cause declines since reproductive changes and abundance of food could very easily be affected by temperature or current variations of the sea. It is also possible that population changes could be due to yet uninvestigated causes or unidentified cyclic phenomena or even to our inadequate methods of estimating population densities.