Birdsong field guide
Common Murre
Uria aalge
A large, pursuit-diving alcid of northern oceans, the Common Murre is noted for its penguin-like upright posture and dense cliff-side breeding colonies.
What it sounds like
A repetitive, guttural croaking or growling 'arrrr' or 'murrr' produced primarily at breeding sites.
Field notes
- Lays a single, highly pyriform (pear-shaped) egg that spins in a tight circle if bumped, preventing it from rolling off narrow cliff ledges.
- Capable of diving to extraordinary depths exceeding 150 meters (nearly 500 feet) to hunt for small forage fish.
- Chicks perform a 'leap of faith' from high cliffs into the sea at about three weeks old, long before they are capable of sustained flight.
- The 'bridled' morph, common in northern Atlantic populations, features a distinct white eye-ring and a line extending back toward the ear.
- Nests are never built; instead, eggs are laid directly on bare rock in colonies that can reach densities of 20 pairs per square meter.
Habitat
Precipitous coastal cliffs and rocky islands during breeding; open subarctic and temperate marine waters during winter.
Range
Circumpolar; found across the North Atlantic and North Pacific oceans as far south as California and Portugal.
Similar & commonly confused birds
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