Russian fur traders settled at Fort Ross on the rock-studded California coast in 1812, felling a grove of towering redwood trees for lumber to build a fort, homes and a church.
More than two centuries later, the fort is a state park, and the redwood grove has regained the shady, canopy feel of old-growth forest, with a fern-bedecked floor and a creek purling beneath.
But is this habitat close enough to old growth for the marbled murrelet, a quirky little seabird the size of a robin that comes ashore each year to lay an egg on a large, high branch deep in the redwood forest?
Researchers are trying to answer that question by using advanced technology, including artificial intelligence, to more easily locate the elusive birds, whose numbers have declined significantly in the region.
The bird looks for “an old-growth tree with a large-diameter branch with accumulated debris or moss built up on them,” said William O’Brien, a wildlife biologist with North Coast Resource Management, a consulting company conducting the study. “Nesting sites in the canopy are protected from high winds and extreme thermal ranges. They prefer nesting sites that are dark and moist.”
The marbled murrelet, nicknamed mamu, is the only seabird that nests in the forests of the lower 48 states.
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The post A Tiny Seabird Faces Growing Threats in the Forest appeared first on New York Times.
