Bird Symbiotic relationship - marbled murrelet
The Marbled Murrelet is a small sized seabird from the coasts of the North Pacific. Although it is considered rare in much of the country, there is a thriving populations of Marbled Murrelets in Glacier Bay. The Marbled Murrelet is different from many other seabirds because instead of choosing to make it's nest in a communal cliff face as is typical for seabirds, it will fly as far as 59 miles inland to build it's nest in old growth forests, usually at the top of large conifers such as Spruce and Hemlock. The Marbled Murrelet lays only one egg, and when the time comes for the chick to fledge, the parents leave and never return. One interesting thing about the Marbled Murrelet is that it looks almost exactly the same as it's close relative the Long-Billed Murrelet, except that it lacks the pale white throat of the Long-Billed Murrelet.
Marbled murrelet and symbiosis
The Marbled Murrelet has a very close symbiotic relationship with the large old growth conifers it makes it's nest in. Instead of nesting near the shore, the birds prefer to fly inland to old growth forests and build nests high up in spruce trees and hemlock trees. This relationship is an example of commensalism, because the tree is not being helped or harmed and the Marbled Murrelet is benefiting from being able to have a safe place to build it's nest.