Researchers Find Haida Gwaii's First Marbled Murrelet Nest in Over 30 Years

Researchers searching Haida Gwaii, an archipelago off British Columbia's coast, have found the first marbled murrelet nest recorded there in more than 30 years — only the second ever confirmed on the island. The discovery came during PhD research combining GPS tracking, diet analysis and environmental DNA to understand where the seabird forages, eats and nests, conducted in partnership with the Council of the Haida Nation and Environment and Climate Change Canada.

The marbled murrelet is unusual among seabirds: rather than nesting on cliffs or rocky islands, it flies inland each spring, sometimes more than 80 kilometers, to lay a single egg on a moss-covered branch high in an old-growth forest canopy, then commutes daily between land and sea to feed its chick. The loss of old-growth forest habitat and changing ocean conditions affecting the small fish it depends on have left the species listed as threatened under Canada's Species at Risk Act.

This year, researchers deployed GPS tags on 10 marbled murrelets in Naden Harbor, northern Haida Gwaii. Three birds repeatedly returned to inland locations, suggesting possible nest sites, but dawn surveys at two locations found nothing. At the third site, more than 20 kilometers inland, researchers hiked through the dark before dawn, arriving only minutes before sunrise, and saw a bird fly out of the canopy — confirming the nest.

The researcher documented the search process: the team used lightweight GPS tags attached with waterproof tape, designed to fall off naturally when a bird molts, and downloaded location data each morning to trace the birds' movements between marine foraging grounds and inland nest sites.