Synthliboramphus scrippsi
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
Scripps's murrelet (Synthliboramphus scrippsi) 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 vocalizations and genetics.
This species is a small black and white auk with a small head and thin sharp bill. It resembles the closely related Craveri's murrelet, with which it shares the distinction of being the most southerly living of all the auk species. It breeds on islands in the Channel Islands of California, the largest colonies being on the Coronado Islands [1] and on Santa Barbara Island, and also several islands off Baja California, including Isla Guadalupe. After the breeding season it disperses north at sea, usually to offshore waters, as far as British... Wikipedia →
Recording0:01
United States · 2023
© itazura · iNaturalist · CC BY-NC 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Channel Islands National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Los Angeles | 🇺🇸 United States |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Scripps's Murrelet sighting in Los Angeles on a given day, based on 32 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 384th most-seen of the 426 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Scripps's Murrelet in Los Angeles on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Scripps's Murrelet sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Only Los Angeles, in our data
Los Angeles is the only city on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Scripps's Murrelet sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Scripps's Murrelet is recorded against all the birds logged in Los Angeles (32 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
