Recent techniques for capturing Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus
) have created opportunities for studying them through systematic banding p
rograms. One murrelet banded in breeding plumage during the summer of 1995
at Theodosia Inlet, on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, was recaptur
ed in basic plumage in the fall of 1996 near Orcas Island in the San Juan I
slands, Washington State, a distance of 220 km southeast from the original
banding location. It was captured again at Theodosia Inlet in breeding plum
age in the summer of 1997. This is the first evidence of long distance move
ment for the Marbled Murrelet. Seven color-marked individuals from the Theo
dosia Inlet population were located in the same geographic area outside the
breeding season. Although our sample size is small, this suggests that bot
h nonmigratory and migratory individuals occur within a single summering po
pulation.