page_title: Scripps's murrelet
section_title: Behavior
hierarchical_section_title: Scripps's murrelet / Behavior
caption_attribution_description: English: Santa Barbara Island hosts the largest breeding population of Xantus' murrelets in the United States. The tiny chicks leave their steep hillside nests when only 48 hours old and tumble down into the crashing surf.
context_page_description: Scripps's murrelet is a small seabird found in the California Current system in the Pacific Ocean. This auk breeds on islands off California and Mexico. It is threatened by predators introduced to its breeding colonies and by oil spills.
  This species and the Guadalupe murrelet were considered conspecific and were known collectively as Xantus's murrelet until 2012. The two species are now considered distinct based on a lack of evidence of interbreeding at a shared nesting colony on the San Benito Islands, differences in facial pattern and bill shape, and differences in vocalizatons and genetics.
context_section_description: Scripps's murrelet feeds at sea (but on average not as far from land as Guadalupe murrelet), often in association with large pelagic predatory fish like tuna, on larval fish like anchovies, sardines and Sebastes rockfish. Like all auks it is a wing-propelled diver, chasing down prey under the water with powerful wingbeats. There is some speculation that it may feed cooperatively in pairs, as it is almost always observed in pairs, even during the non-breeding season. It flies well, and can take off without taxiing.
  It nests in loose scattered colonies on arid islands, typically in small crevices and caves and under dense bushes. It returns to the colony only at night, laying two eggs which are incubated for about a month. As in other synthliboramphine murrelet species (e.g. the ancient murrelet) the chicks are highly precocial, leaving the nest within two days of hatching and running actively towards the sea, where the parents call to them. Once at sea the family swims to offshore waters.
  Little is known about their time at sea due to difficulties in studying them in this habitat. A female shot at Isla Guadalupe at the end of June was moulting its primary remiges (flight feathers) and unable to fly.
caption: Scripps's murrelet chicks leave the nest for the ocean at just two days old.
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