Common Murre – The Turre, or Guillemot
The Largest Auk, Agile Swimmer of Northern Oceans
May 2, 2009
The Common Murre, Uria aalge, is one of the auks, related to puffins, razorbills, and dovkies. It’s called the turre in Newfoundland, and the guillemot in Europe. A bird of northern oceans, the Common Murre is native to temperate and arctic coastlines throughout the Northern Hemisphere, with a total population that may exceed 18 million birds. The largest numbers breed in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the coasts of Newfoundland and Labrador. During the winter most remain at sea, from about eight kilometers (five miles) offshore to the edge of the continental shelf, though they may be found feeding at some locations near land.
About the Common Murre
A crow-sized bird with a black or chocolate brown back and a white front, the Common Murre’s claim to fame is its swimming and diving ability. The bird uses its small wings to move and maneuver in water, diving as deep as 170 metres (560 ft), although the average dive is 18 to 49 metres (60 - 160 ft). Common Murres eat fish and other small ocean life, and can dive repeatedly and swallow fish while still underwater seeking more.
Because of their small wings, this species has to remain fairly small in order to fly. They run along the water’s surface or jump off cliff faces to launch, and must fly fast, beating their wings rapidly to stay in the air. On land, they are awkward and slow.
Common Murre Breeding
Beginning at about three to five years of age, Common Murres return to the same colony each year to breed with the same partner. Some colonies are home to hundreds of thousands of breeding pairs. The female lays a single egg on a cliff ledge or on a low flat island without building a nest. Parents take turns guarding and incubating the egg while the other parent forages for food at sea.
After a little more than a month, the egg hatches and the parents feed the chick fish for about three weeks until it is ready to go to sea. Typically, most of the chicks in a colony leave at once. Still unable to fly, they glide down to the water below or make their way across grassy or rocky flatter terrain, accompanied by the male adult. This generally happens late in the day, and the young swim away from the colony, where predators lurk, under cover of darkness. The father guides and feeds them for several more weeks.
Threats to Common Murres
Common Murre populations are not thought to be seriously declining. A relatively small number of adults and eggs are taken as food by humans. Other birds die when they are caught in fishing nets or lose body heat when oil from spills and shipping soils their feathers. In spite of intense fishing in northern waters, murres seem able to find enough food, though this, as well as climate change may be a problem for them in the future.
Sources:
"Bird Fact Sheets: Murres." Hinterland Who’s Who.
Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds. Perrins, Christopher ed. Buffalo: Firefly Books, 2003
Sea & Coastal Birds of North America. Leslie, Scott. Toronto: key Porter, 2008
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