Yaquina Head Seabirds

Yaquina Head is home to 60,000 – 80,000 common murres during the breeding season – one of the largest Common Murre colonies on the west coast.  The Common Murres share the headland with nesting Brandt's and Pelagic Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, Black Oystercatchers, and breeding Harbour Seals. The Bureau of Land Management manages the Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area, located only 6 miles from our marine lab here in Newport. We have conducted research at this colony continuously since 2007.  Dr. Julia Parrish (University of Washington) initiated 5-years of monitoring here from 1998-2002, thus we now have over 20 years of data from 1998 to the present.  

Our research here focuses on how changes in the marine environment affect murre reproductive success and foraging through “bottom-up”, food web processes, as well as “top-down” effects of  how predators, such as bald eagles, impact murre productivity and population dynamics. This seabird colony is adjacent to the Newport Oceanographic sampling line providing a perfect opportunity for integrating upper trophic level predators into marine ecosystem studies off Oregon. 

Collaborators & FuNDERS:

Bureau of Land Management

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

 

Publications and Reports:

Piatt JF, Parrish JK, Renner HM, Schoen SK, Jones T, Arimitsu ML, Kuletz KJ, Bodenstein B, Garcia-Reyes M, Duerr RS, Corcoran RM, Kaler RSA, McChesney GJ, Golightly RT, Coletti HA, Suryan RM, Burgess HK, Lindsey J, Lindquist K. 2020. Extreme mortality and reproductive failure of common murres resulting from the northeast Pacific marine heatwave of 2014-2016. PLoS ONE 15:e0226087

Horton, C.A. and R.M. Suryan. 2012. California brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus): A new disturbance source to breeding common murres (Uria aalge) in Oregon? Oregon Birds 38:84-88. 

Gladics, A.J., R.M. Suryan, R.D. Brodeur, L.M. Segui, L.Z. Filliger. 2014. Constancy and change in marine predator diets across a shift in oceanographic conditions in the Northern California Current. Marine Biology 161(4): 837-851, doi: 10.1007/s00227-013-2384-4.

State of the California Current Reports:

Thompson, A. R., et al. 2017. State of the California Current 2016-2017: Still anything but "normal" in the north and getting interesting in the south. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports 58:1-55. 

McClatchie et al. 2016. State of the California Current 2015-2016: Comparisons with the 1997-98 El Niño. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports 57:1-57

Leising et al. 2015. State of the California Current 2014-2015: Impacts of the warm-water “Blob”. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports 56:31-68.

Leising et al. 2014. State of the California Current: El Nino Looming. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports 55:51-87.

Wells et al. 2013. State of the California Current 2012-2013: No such thing as an “average” year. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Reports 54:37-71.

Bjorkstedt, E. et al. 2012. State of the California Current 2011–2012: Ecosystems respond to local forcing as La Niña wavers and wanes. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations Report 53:41-76.

Annual Yaquina Head Seabird Colony Monitoring Reports:

Porquez J, et al. 2018- 2021.  Yaquina Head Seabird Colony Monitoring.  End of season summary report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management. LINK TO PDFs, 2018, 2019, 2020,

Suryan, R.M. et al. 2007-2017.  Yaquina Head Seabird Colony Monitoring.  End of season summary report to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau of Land Management. LINK TO PDFs, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. 2015, 2016, 2017