Marbled Murrelets

Lighthouse Marine Park and Stanley Park are the best vantage points from which to
view Marbled Murrelets foraging for small fish and crustaceans alongside Common
Murres. Marbled Murrelets can also be seen in pairs or small groups in the shallow,
protected waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. Their "barrel-roll" flight style dis-
tinguishes them from similar-looking Ancient Murrelets, which have a "bee-line"
style of flight.
For over a century, the Marbled Murrelet baffled North American ornithologists who
strove to discover where it nested. Finally, in 1974, an attentive amateur discovered a
nest high up on the mossy limbs of a mature coniferous tree—an unexpected nesting
site for a bird so well adapted to life on the open water!

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