Foraging distances of radio-marked Marbled Murrelets from inland areas in southeast Alaska

We radiotagged seven female and two male Marbled Murrelets (Brachyramphus m armoratus) of undetermined breeding status and followed their movements thr ough the inner passages of northern southeast Alaska during the breeding se ason (May-July) in 1998. Six of the nine murrelets were detected inland in the early morning hours from 24 June to 17 July. Inland visits for each ind ividual were consistent to a particular location, but short in duration, wh ich precluded locating nest sites. We recorded 46 Locations at sea up to 12 4 km ((x) over bar = 78 +/- 27 km) from inland sites during the period 19 J une to 16 July. We detected murrelets at inland sites and at sea on the sam e day on 20 occasions with a mean distance between these locations of 75 +/ - 42 km. The majority of murrelets were located at sea in western Icy Strai t, a productive feeding area at the mouth of Glacier Bay, Alaska. This stud y provides the first direct evidence that Marbled Murrelets in southeast Al aska are consistently traveling considerable distances between potential ne sting and foraging areas. These findings have important implications for mu rrelet conservation and management efforts in southeast Alaska.