Plenty of parking nearby for multiple cars/trucks. Cache is aprox pill bottle size with log only BYOP, please place back as found. Below are facts on this bird species of the cache name.
This small marine bird belongs to the genus Synthliboramphus, a group of seabirds remarkable for the fact that they are the only seabirds which rear their young entirely at sea . Xantus's murrelet has striking black and white plumage: black on the upperparts, sometimes tinted faintly with grey as the feathers become worn, and snowy white on the underside. The flanks may be white or mottled grey and white, the legs are bluish-grey, and the feet bear black claws. Two subspecies of Xantus's murrelet are recognised: Synthliboramphus hypoleucus hypoleucus and Synthliboramphus hypoleucus scrippsi. The former can be recognised by the prominent white crescents above and below the eye, while the white patterning on the face of S. h. scrippsi is very indistinct . Female Xantus's murrelets are usually larger than the males, while juveniles may be distinguished by the scattered dark barring along the flanks . This seabird calls with a shrill whistle
. Xantus's murrelet is thought to be a monogamous bird which arrives at its island breeding colony around mid-February, about three weeks before it lays its eggs. The female lays two eggs, eight days apart, into a crevice in a cliff, at the back of a small cave, under a boulder, or occasionally, on bare ground beneath thick vegetation . Following the laying of the second egg, the male and female will take it in turns to incubate the eggs for the next 34 days. During this time, the eggs are highly vulnerable to predation by deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) . The chicks are very well-developed on hatching, with limbs that are already 98 percent of the size of adults' , and are taken to sea, just one to two days later, by their parents . Here, unique to Synthliboramphus, the remainder of the chick's development takes place . In April or May, Xantus's murrelet will move north and west, away from the breeding islands, travelling rather slowly to their wintering areas where they will remain until late November or early December . Xantus's murrelet feeds mainly on larval fish, as well as other small prey such as sandeels and crustaceans . Diving down to maximum depths of 21 metres and remaining underwater for up to 28 seconds, Xantus's murrelet uses its wings to propel itself through the water to pursue and capture its prey . During the breeding season, northern anchovies (Engraulis mordax) comprise a significant part of this murrelet's diet, and thus breeding effort has been noted to be lower when anchovy abundance is low .