Qualifies for the list as a Red List Species

Photo: Mike Danzenbaker

Craveri’s Murrelet breeds on a total of 10 islands in the Gulf of California and off the Pacific Coast of Baja California. It winters off the coast to southern California and south as far as Guatemala. There are about 5,000 breeding pairs but, including pre-breeding birds, as many as 15,000-20,000 birds in total. Numbers are presumed to be declining rapidly, due to the presence of introducted mammalian predators on the islands; recently, with the development of a management plan and implemention strategy, these predators have been eliminated from several islands that are present, past or potential breeding sites.

Management plans have been developed for all 10 breeding islands, nesting areas have been posted against trespass, environmental education programs have been developed, and enforcement of existing regulations has been increased. Additional threats to the species are from oil pollution from offshore wells and from ships and mortality from gill-nets. Craveri’s Murrelet and Xantus’ Murrelet are very similar and it can be difficult to tell the two apart when seen at sea.