Table 3. _Species composition, population estimates, and distribution of seabirds in British Columbia._[5][6] (+ = Present.)
Southwest Northwest West coast Straits of coast of coast of of Queen Georgia and Vancouver Vancouver Charlotte Bird species Juan de Fuca Island Island Island Fork-tailed storm-petrel + + 1,050 Leach's storm-petrel 10,000 + 1,800 Double-crested cormorant 1,058 0 0 0 Brandt's cormorant 370 0 0 Pelagic cormorant 2,174 336 3,350 1,456 Glaucous-winged gull 10,123 6,870 600 412 Common murre 16 3,000 0 Pigeon guillemot 1,029 204 250 358 Ancient murrelet 0 0 200 Cassin's auklet + 50,000 + Rhinoceros auklet 1,200 + 10,000 Tufted puffin 1 154 20,000 190 Total 14,385 19,150 77,200 15,466
East coast Prince Rupert of Queen to Queen Percent Charlotte Charlotte Total of Bird species Island Island birds total
Fork-tailed storm-petrel 97,100 + 98,160 31.3 Leach's storm-petrel 180 750 12,730 4.1 Double-crested cormorant 0 0 2,116 >1.0 Brandt's cormorant 0 0 370 >1.0 Pelagic cormorant 496 12 9,998 3.2 Glaucous-winged gull 866 540 29,534 9.4 Common murre 0 0 3,016 1.0 Pigeon guillemot 1,458 1,650 5,978 1.9 Ancient murrelet 42,150 4 42,354 13.5 Cassin's auklet 26,500 450 76,950 4.6 Rhinoceros auklet 300 200 11,700 3.7 Tufted puffin 0 42 20,388 6.5 Total 169,050 3,648 313,294 81.2
Table 4. _Breeding seabird population estimates for British Columbia_[7][8]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------- Population Percent Geographic location estimate of total --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Straits of Georgia and Juan de Fuca 14,385 9.2 Southwest Coast of Vancouver Island 9,575 6.1 Northwest Coast of Vancouver Island 38,600 24.6 West Coast of Queen Charlotte Island 7,733 4.9 East Coast of Queen Charlotte Island 84,530 54.0 Prince Rupert to Queen Charlotte Strait 1,824 1.2 Total 156,647 100.0
[Illustration: Fig. 4. Map of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State showing sites of major seabird breeding colonies: 1--Protection Island; 2--Carroll Island; 3--Destruction Island.]
In the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the two most important sites are Smith and Protection islands. Both are composed of glacial deposits and heavy sod that has developed under dense grassy vegetation (Fig. 7). Consequently, these two islands support most of the burrowing seabirds in the region. Unfortunately, both islands have historically been subjected to much human disturbance (Richardson 1961; Manuwal 1974).