BirdNote; Collecting Murre Eggs

BirdNote®

Collecting Murre Eggs

By Ari Daniel

On St. Paul, one of the tiny Pribilof Islands in the Bering Sea, there’s a 35-, 40-foot rocky cliff. A riot of nesting seabirds come here in summertime… including the murres — clean-cut black-and-white birds.

Ivan: You can smell the urine from the birds.

Ivan Melovidov has a special role here. Speckled murre eggs are tucked into the cliff face, and he collects them in the traditional Aleut way — by descending over the edge. He’s the only one on the island who still knows how to do it.

Ivan: When I go down, I have a line tied to me around my waist. If you let go of that line, you turn upside down.

Several people hold on, anchoring the rope. Ivan has to dodge fulmars — seabirds known for projecting foul-smelling stomach oil with remarkable accuracy.

Ivan: You gotta watch out for that. You get that in your face, it’ll blind you.

Once Ivan’s in position, he maximizes his egg-collecting by running along the cliff face.

Ivan: Once I get my pouch filled up as much as I could, I tell them “hoist me up,” and I just walk up the cliff.

Ivan harvests from only one area each year. He distributes the eggs to anyone who wants them — for baking or just frying up and eating. But he doesn’t want this tradition to end with him. So he’s working with a high-schooler, showing him the ropes. And Ivan’s hoping that he’ll pass the know-how along to his friends.

For BirdNote, I’m Ari Daniel.

To hear more about the Pribilof Islands and the challenges seabirds face, subscribe to “Threatened” wherever you get your podcasts.

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Producer: John Kessler

Production Manager: Allison Wilson

Editor: Allison Wilson

Producer: Mark Bramhill

Associate Producer: Ellen Blackstone

Field Recordings by Ethan Candyfire

© 2020 BirdNote November 2020 Narrator: Ari Daniel

ID# COMU-04-2020-11-24 COMU-04