Common Murre

Uria aalgeOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Auks, Murres and Puffins (Alcidae)

Codes: Common Name: COMU Scientific Name: URIAAL ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176974

Breeding Location:

Lakes, Seashore, rocky or sandy, Rocky places, Rivers

Breeding Type:

Monogamous, Colonial

Breeding Population:

Abundant

Egg Color:

White, green, blue or brown with dark brown spots

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

28 - 33

Egg Incubator:

Both sexes

Nest Material:

No nest materials.

Migration:

Nonmigratory

General

Common Murre: Medium-sized seabird with brown-black upperparts and throat, white underparts, and long dark bill. Tail is short. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has white throat, white side of face, and faintly mottled flanks. Juvenile is smaller with darker mottled head. Stands upright like a small penguin.

Range and Habitat

Common Murre: Breeds along the Arctic and subarctic coasts south to central California and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Spends winters south to southern California and Massachusetts; also in Eurasia. Preferred habitats include rocky coasts.

Breeding and Nesting

Common Murre: Lays one white, green, blue, or brown egg directly on a rock or rock shelf with no nesting materials added. Incubation ranges from 28 to 33 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Common Murre: Feeds on polar cod, capelin, sprat, sand eels, small Atlantic cod, and herring; also eats marine worms, amphipods, shrimp, and mollusks. Forages by diving from the surface; can remain underwater for up to one minute, reaching 100 feet deep and reportedly down to 550 feet. Uses strong wings to fly underwater.

Vocalization

Common Murre: Purrs softly; on breeding grounds also croaks, growls, and moans.

Similar Species

Common Murre: Thick-billed Murre is blacker above with a white point intruding into the black throat. In winter, Thick-billed has a darker face without dark line on the cheek.

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Common Murre

Common Murre: Medium seabird with brown-black upperparts, throat, white underparts, and long dark bill. Tail is short. Some Atlantic birds have a narrow white eye-ring and stripe extending past the eye. Can dive to depths of more than 240 feet. Feeds on fish and invertebrates. AKA Common Guillemot.

● Song: "murrrrr", "arrrrrrrrrrrrhh"

● Foraging & Feeding: Common Murre: Feeds on polar cod, capelin, sprat, sand eels, small Atlantic cod, and herring; also eats marine worms, amphipods, shrimp, and mollusks. Forages by diving from the surface; can remain underwater for up to one minute, reaching 100 feet deep and reportedly down to 550 feet. Uses strong wings to fly underwater.

● Breeding & nesting: Common Murre: Lays one white, green, blue, or brown egg directly on a rock or rock shelf with no nesting materials added. Incubation ranges from 28 to 33 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Common Murre: Thick-billed Murre is blacker above with a white point intruding into the black throat. In winter, Thick-billed has a darker face without dark line on the cheek.

Flight Pattern

Strong flight.

● Range & Habitat: Common Murre: Breeds along the Arctic and subarctic coasts south to central California and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. Spends winters south to southern California and Massachusetts; also in Eurasia. Preferred habitats include rocky coasts.

^BreedingMonogamous, Colonial

^PopulationAbundant

^MigrationNonmigratory

^Weight35.2 Ounces

Underparts

Belly, undertail coverts, chest, flanks, and foreneck.

Upperparts

Back, rump, hindneck, wings, and crown.

Face

The front part of the head consisting of the bill, eyes, cheeks and chin.

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Common Murre

Breeding Location:

Breeding Type:

Breeding Population:

Egg Color:

Number of Eggs:

Incubation Days:

Egg Incubator:

Nest Material:

Migration:

Recommended Products:

General

Range and Habitat

Breeding and Nesting

Foraging and Feeding

Vocalization

Similar Species

Common Murre

Flight Pattern