Thick-billed Murre (Uria lomvia) | Photos, Calls and ID

LCLeast ConcernFish

MarineScrapeLarge · 964 g

Thick-billed Murre (Uria lomvia), photo 8 — Photo: US gov · Public domain

What the Thick-billed Murre sounds like

Sonogram of the Thick-billed Murre: time runs left to right, pitch bottom to top, and the brighter the mark the louder the sound.

Recorded by steve · Call · Svalbard, Norway · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via xeno-canto

ID tip

Since the extinction of the great auk in the mid-19th century, the murres are the largest living members of the Alcidae. The thick-billed murre and the closely related common guillemot (or common murre, U. aalge) are similarly sized, but the thick-billed still bests the other species in both average and maximum size. The thick-billed murre measures 40–48 cm (16–19 in) in total length, spans 64–81 cm (25–32 in) across the wings and weighs 736–1,481 g (26.0–52.2 oz). The Pacific race (U. l. arra) is larger than the Atlantic race, especially in bill dimensions.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Thick-billed Murre

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 8 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is June, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Thick-billed Murre

Regular rangeRare visitor

The map shades 11 countries with regular records, and 5 more in a lighter tone where the bird turns up only as a stray. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

United States Canada Norway Iceland Russia Greenland Sweden Japan St. Pierre & Miquelon South Korea Faroe Islands

Recorded as a rare visitor in United Kingdom, Netherlands, Belgium, France, Denmark.

About the Thick-billed Murre

The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies Uria lomvia arra is also called Pallas' murre after its describer.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Common MurreUria aalgeThe common murre is 38–46 cm (15–18 in) in length with a 61–73 cm (24–29 in) wingspan.

Side by side: Common Murre vs Thick-billed Murre · Little Auk vs Thick-billed Murre

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