Common Murre

The Common Murre, also known as the Common Guillemot or Foolish Guillemot, is a large member of the auk family. This bird is characterized by its black head, back, and wings with contrasting white underparts during its breeding plumage. Its bill is thin and dark, and it possesses a small, rounded dark tail. In winter, the face whitens with a distinctive dark spur behind the eye. The Common Murre is a robust bird, with a body length ranging from 38 to 46 cm and a wingspan of 61 to 73 cm.

Identification Tips

When observing the Common Murre, look for its sleek black-and-white appearance and its fast, direct flight just above the sea surface. The bird's wings are relatively short and pointed, contributing to a high wing loading that makes take-off laborious. In flight, the wingbeats are rapid, and the flight speed can reach up to 80 km/h. During the non-breeding season, the face becomes white, making the dark eye spur more pronounced.

Habitat

The Common Murre is found in low-Arctic and boreal waters of the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It prefers to breed on rocky cliff shores or islands, where it can be seen in large, densely packed colonies.

Distribution

This species has a circumpolar distribution and is a resident in some regions, while northern populations migrate southward to open waters during the non-breeding season. The Common Murre can be found near New England, southern California, Japan, Korea, and the western Mediterranean, with some populations undertaking long-distance migrations.

Behaviour

Common Murres spend most of their time at sea, only coming ashore to breed. They are adept divers, using their wings to propel themselves underwater to depths of 30-60 m, and occasionally even deeper. After the breeding season, both males and females moult and become flightless for 1-2 months. During winter, they reduce flying time and can forage nocturnally.

Song & Calls

The Common Murre communicates with a variety of sounds, including a soft purring noise that can be heard within the bustling colonies.

Breeding

Breeding takes place in colonies where space is at a premium, and nesting pairs may be in bodily contact with their neighbours. They lay a single egg directly on the bare rock ledge, which is incubated for approximately 30 days. The chick is born downy and is capable of regulating its body temperature after 10 days. Around 20 days post-hatching, the chick leaves the nest, gliding towards the sea with the male parent, while the female remains at the nest site for about two weeks more.

Similar Species

The Common Murre can be confused with the Thick-billed Murre or Brunnich's Guillemot, which has a white bill-stripe but no bridled morph.

Diet and Feeding

The diet consists mainly of small schooling forage fish, such as polar cod, capelin, and sand lances. Common Murres are also known to consume molluscs, marine worms, squid, and crustaceans. They are efficient foragers, often seen carrying a single fish in their bill while flying back to their chicks.

Conservation Status

The IUCN lists the Common Murre as Least Concern. However, populations are subject to threats from hunting, pollution, oil spills, and climate change. A notable die-off in the northeast Pacific in 2016 raised concerns about the species' vulnerability to environmental changes.