Cape Thompson: Gathering Murre (Uria aalge) Eggs

Observation by Janet Mitchell:

Every year, the people of Kivalina and Pt. Hope traverse over 50 miles on their ATV Hondas or skiffs to the Cape Thompson cliffs to gather murre eggs (aqpa). The migration of the murre birds is getting earlier and earlier as it used to be in mid-July when they made this trip for the eggs. Even the murre are adjusting to the changing climate, which goes to show that even animals/birds are aware of the changes and adjust to them.

Kathy Kuletz, Seabird Coordinator with US Fish and Wildlife Service, writes:

That is an interesting observation, and its very possible that murres are laying earlier, as has been observed for other birds. For colony-based information the best folks to contact directly are the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge (AMNWR). What I know about breeding chronology of murres is mostly from reports and publications. The AMNWR monitors selected colonies around Alaska. Based on their 2018 report, laying date isn't typically observed, but rather hatch date. In recent years at the monitored colonies, murre hatch dates have generally been later than long-term averages. That doesn't necessarily mean the laying date was later than in the past, because the incubation period for murres can range from 33 to 37 days, and the laying period among birds in a colony can be spread out over 40 days, presumably depending on conditions that affect food availability for the parents trading off incubation duties. Historic records for Cape Thompson indicate that the main laying period is 9-31 July, but first egg sightings have been as early as 20 June to 8 July, so murres show flexibility. For seabirds in general, birds that lay eggs early tend to have more success hatching and raising a chick to fledging, so it could be a good sign if birds have enough energy early in the season to start laying. However that flexibility has limits, especially in the north, where daylight and food availability puts greater restrictions on birds than farther south.

Heather Renner, Supervisory Wildlife Biologist with the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, writes:

The Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge has an annual seabird monitoring project at Cape Lisburne to the north, and we make short visits there most years (the 2017 report is included in the documents section). In 2018, we did not visit Cape Lisburne, but instead we actually visited Cape Thompson, which has been rarely visited by Refuge staff in recent decades. In 2018 there was almost no murre egg/chick production at Cape Thompson, which was true at most murre colonies in the Bering and Chukchi Seas that year. So that would be a hard year to gauge timing. In general at Cape Lisburne and most other colonies, we have not observed timing of laying/hatching getting earlier, except for kittiwakes in the Pribilofs which definitely are. Here is a link to our summary report, which summarizes trends in timing, productivity, and populations at all monitored Alaskan colonies.I would be happy to try to answer any specific questions. The 2018 Cape Thomson report is nearly final.