Status of the Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris in Russia

Abstract

The Kittlitz's Murrelet Brachyramphus brevirostris is one of the rarest seabird species in northeastern Asia. The species is widely distributed in the Chukchi and Bering seas, where it is observed from de Long Strait to Kamchatsky Bay and also in the northern Sea of Okhotsk. However, the species' Asian breeding range is not well documented. All four nests found historically in the region were located in inland alpine habitats. The species' wintering areas are also poorly documented; the northern boundary of winter distribution lies along the Sireniki polynya near the southern coast of Chukotka Peninsula. Migrating and wintering birds have also been recorded near northeastern Sakhalin and the islands of northern Japan. We provide an overview of the known distribution and conservation status of the Kittlitz's Murrelet population in the Russian Far East. Our assessment is based on at-sea surveys conducted from the 1970s to the early 2000s, with a total survey distance of >10 000 km. These surveys covered the presumed main potential breeding area of the Kittlitz's Murrelet in our study area. In the Bering Sea, highest densities were observed in the coastal waters of the eastern and southern parts of the Koryak Highlands and southern Chukotka Peninsula. In the Sea of Okhotsk, the species occupies roughly 500 km of coastline from Amakhton Bay to Tavatum Bay, with a total estimate of roughly 500 breeding pairs. The Asian coast likely supports a larger proportion of the global population of Kittlitz's Murrelet than previously acknowledged, and an expansion of surveys, research and monitoring of this species in Asia will be important for its conservation.