Common Murre

Uria aalge (Pontoppidan, 1763)

38–46 cmLength71 cmWingspan992 gWeight

It propels itself through the sea with its wings, as if flying underwater.

Busiest months: September–November · Most records: United States, United Kingdom, Canada

Least Concern

How to identify

Field marks

Slender, dark bill with a pointed tip
Small, rounded black tail
Nominate subspecies has a black head, back and wings in breeding plumage
After the post-breeding molt, face white with a dark stripe behind the eye

Male, female and young

Sexes are difficult to distinguish in the field; first-winter juveniles have the same plumage as adults in winter plumage.

Voice

Adults mainly give a growling “murrrr”; juveniles give shrill whistles when begging for food.

Where and when it's recorded

Common Murre has been recorded at 364 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 31 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

Where it's recorded most

Southeast Farallon IslandUnited States15,974 records
Pt. Pinos – seawatch onlyUnited States14,448 records
St. Paul IslandUnited States4,374 records

More places

Rocky Point Bird ObservatoryCanada3,991 records
GambellUnited States3,676 records
Rodeo LagoonUnited States3,399 records
Bempton Cliffs RSPB ReserveUnited Kingdom3,192 records
Point No PointUnited States3,087 records
Pillar Point HarborUnited States2,928 records
Clover PointCanada1,983 records

Countries and regions with the most records

United States United Kingdom Canada Ireland Norway Iceland Denmark Isle of Man

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 common murre or common guillemot (Uria aalge) is a large auk, one of several species called murre or guillemot. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land to breed on rocky cliff shores or islands.

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

Questions

How big is the Common Murre?

The Common Murre is about 38–46 cm long, with a wingspan of 71 cm and weighs around 992 g.

Where does the Common Murre live?

Its breeding range: North America, Palearctic: subarctic to temperate (locally Arctic) northern coasts. It is most often recorded in United States, United Kingdom and Canada.