After 100-year absence, seabirds' return stuns scientists

Earlier this year, government scientists discovered a welcome bundle of joy: a nest of seabird chicks on the Channel Islands off California's coast. This is the first time baby birds of this species have been seen here since 1912.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Park Service (NPS) discovered the California Common Murre (Uria aalge californica) chicks last July. The football-size seabirds are members of the auk family (Alcidae) and resemble black-and-white species of penguins. Like penguins, murres use their wings to "fly" deep underwater, but unlike penguins, they also fly in the air.



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