Whole-Colony Counts of Common Murres, Brandt’s Cormorants and Double-crested Cormorants at Sample Colonies in Northern and Central California, 1996-2004 Phillip J. Capitolo, Gerard J. McChesney, Harry R. Carter, Michael W. Parker, James N. Hall, Richard J. Young, and Richard T. Golightly Department of Wildlife, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California; and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Newark, California Final Report - March 2006 Whole-Colony Counts of Common Murres, Brandt’s Cormorants and Double-crested Cormorants at Sample Colonies in Northern and Central California, 1996-2004 Phillip J. Capitolo1, Gerard J. McChesney2, Harry R. Carter3, Michael W. Parker4, James N. Hall1, Richard J. Young1, and Richard T. Golightly1 1Department of Wildlife, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California 95521 USA 2U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex, P.O. Box 524, Newark, California 94560 USA 3Carter Biological Consulting, 1015 Hampshire Road, British Columbia V8S 4S8 Canada 4Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 27820 South Centennial Road, Lima, Montana 59739 USA Final Report Intergovernmental Agreement # MOA-2004-183/1274 (DOI/FWS Agreement Code CRA-2004-1971-1102) between National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Cooperative Agreement #14-48-0001-96502 between U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, and Humboldt State University Foundation March 2006 Suggested Citation: Capitolo, P. J., G. J. McChesney, H. R. Carter, M. W. Parker, J. N. Hall, R. J. Young, and R. T. Golightly. 2006. Whole-colony counts of Common Murres, Brandt’s Cormorants and Double- crested Cormorants at sample colonies in northern and central California, 1996-2004. Unpublished report, Department of Wildlife, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California; and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex, Newark, California. 40 pp. Data May Not be Cited Without Written Permission from G. J. McChesney. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES......................................................................................................................... iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 3 METHODS ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Regions and Murre Colony Complexes...................................................................................... 4 Colonies and Years Counted....................................................................................................... 5 Aerial Surveys............................................................................................................................. 8 Photograph Counting .................................................................................................................. 8 Incomplete Coverage/Estimating Numbers from Overviews..................................................... 8 RESULTS ....................................................................................................................................... 9 Northern California..................................................................................................................... 9 Castle Complex ........................................................................................................................9 False Klamath Complex.........................................................................................................14 Redding Complex...................................................................................................................15 Trinidad Complex ..................................................................................................................15 Cape Mendocino Complex.....................................................................................................16 Vizcaino Complex ..................................................................................................................16 Newport-Kibesillah Complex.................................................................................................17 Goat Complex ........................................................................................................................17 Casket-White Complex...........................................................................................................18 Irregular Attendance of Other Colonies................................................................................19 Central California...................................................................................................................... 19 Point Reyes Complex .............................................................................................................19 Points Resistance-Double Complex (Drake’s Bay) ...............................................................19 North Farallon Complex........................................................................................................20 South Farallon Complex........................................................................................................20 Devil’s Slide Complex............................................................................................................20 Castle-Hurricane Complex ....................................................................................................20 Brandt’s Cormorant Sample Colonies...................................................................................21 DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................... 22 Common Murre......................................................................................................................... 22 Brandt’s Cormorant .................................................................................................................. 25 Double-crested Cormorant........................................................................................................ 26 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................ 27 LITERATURE CITED ................................................................................................................. 27 Appendix 1.................................................................................................................................... 33 Appendix 2.................................................................................................................................... 40 iii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Seabird colonies in northern California Common Murre colony complexes counted for 1996-2004.......................................................................................................................6 Figure 2. Common Murre colony complexes and sample Brandt’s Cormorant colonies in central California, 1996-2004........................................................................................................7 Figure 3. Common Murre count subareas used at Castle Rock National Wildlife Refuge, 1989-2004 ..........................................................................................................................................13 Figure 4. Total numbers of Common Murres counted at all colonies in Mendocino County, California, 1989-2004. Data for 1993-1995 do not include Rockport Rocks. ND = no data..........24 Figure 5. Total numbers of Brandt’s Cormorant nests counted at sample colonies in northern California, 1989-2004 (see Table 2 for list of colonies). ND = no data; ID = incomplete data .......26 LIST OF TABLES Table 1. Raw whole-colony counts of Common Murres in northern California, 1996-2004 (updated from Capitolo et al. 2004a). Counts are also provided for 1989 (Carter et al. 1992) for comparison. Colony names in bold are sample colonies. Colony names in italics refer to locations without confirmed murre breeding in 1979-2004. NC = photographs not yet counted...............................................................................................................................................10 Table 2. Whole-colony counts of Brandt’s Cormorant nests at sample and non-sample colonies in northern California, 1996-2004. Counts are also provided for 1989 (Carter et al. 1992) for comparison. Colony names in bold are sample colonies. NC = photographs not yet counted.........................................................................................................................................11 Table 3. Subarea and whole-colony counts of Common Murres at Castle Rock National Wildlife Refuge, California, 1989-2004 (see Figure 3).....................................................................14 Table 4. Whole-colony counts of Common Murres in central California, 2002-2004. Colony names in italics refer to locations without confirmed murre breeding
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