Ancient Murrelet

Synthliboramphus antiquus (Gmelin, JF, 1789)

≈24 cmLength42 cmWingspan218 gWeight

It has a gray back and white belly, with white stripes added to the adult's black head in summer.

Busiest months: November · Most records: United States, Canada, Japan

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Gray back and white underparts
Short, stout yellow bill
Small, rounded black tail
Adult has a black head with white stripes in summer

Where and when it's recorded

Ancient Murrelet has been recorded at 85 of the 8,171 birding hotspots we track, in 8 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Pt. Pinos – seawatch onlyUnited States2,349 records
St. Paul IslandUnited States1,466 records
Southeast Farallon IslandUnited States1,050 records

More places

Clover PointCanada650 records
Point No PointUnited States589 records
GambellUnited States572 records
Discovery ParkUnited States347 records
Edmonds WaterfrontUnited States209 records
Oak Bay – Cattle PointCanada201 records
Rocky Point Bird ObservatoryCanada197 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United States Canada Japan China South Korea Finland Russia Thailand

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The ancient murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus) is a bird in the auk family. The English term "murrelet" is a diminutive of "murre", a word of uncertain origins, but which may imitate the call of the common guillemot.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Ancient Murrelet?

The Ancient Murrelet is about ≈24 cm long, with a wingspan of 42 cm and weighs around 218 g.

Where does the Ancient Murrelet live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic, North America: temperate northwest to northeastern North Pacific coasts: patchily Kamchatka, Sea of Okhotsk, Sakhalin, Kuril and Commander islands (eastern Russia); Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea, Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska to western British Columbia (southwestern Canada). It is most often recorded in United States, Canada and Japan.

When is the best time to see the Ancient Murrelet?

At the hotspots we track, it is recorded most in November (Northern Hemisphere).

Is the Ancient Murrelet endangered?

The IUCN Red List classifies the Ancient Murrelet as Least Concern.

What does the Ancient Murrelet eat?

Main food: Fish, shrimp & shellfish.

What family is the Ancient Murrelet in?

It belongs to the family Auks (Alcidae), order Charadriiformes.

At a glance

Length: ≈24 cm
Wingspan: 42 cm
Weight: 218 g
Habitat: Ocean
Diet: Fish, shrimp & shellfish
Lifestyle: On the water surface
Migration: Migratory
Conservation: Least Concern

More measurements

Wing: 136 mm
Tail: 36 mm
Bill: 24 mm
Tarsus: 26 mm

Averages from the AVONET dataset; length from field guides where available.

Range

Palearctic, North America: temperate northwest to northeastern North Pacific coasts: patchily Kamchatka, Sea of Okhotsk, Sakhalin, Kuril and Commander islands (eastern Russia); Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea, Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska to western British Columbia (southwestern Canada)

Breeding range, IOC World Bird List 15.2