Species: Uria aalge
Common Murre
Species
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Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Aves
Order
Charadriiformes
Family
Alcidae
Genus
Uria
NatureServe
Classification
Other Global Common Names
Arao Común - Guillemot marmette
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Birds - Other Birds
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Aves - Charadriiformes - Alcidae - Uria
Ecology and Life History
Migration
true - true - true - Breeders from Newfoundland are resident or move only short distance to south. Males from Chukchi Sea colonies in Alaska drift toward Siberia with flightless young for a few weeks before flying rapidly south to the southeastern Bering Sea. Females from these colonies fly directly to the wintering grounds (Hatch et al. 2000). Unimak Pass probably most important corridor to and from eastern Bering Sea. See Brown (1985) for discussion of movements in Old World.
Non-migrant
true
Locally Migrant
true
Food Comments
Mysids and shrimp dominate winter diet in Alaska, mostly fish and some squid off California, mostly capelin off Newfoundland (Sanger 1987). Young fed herring, capelin, sprat, sandlance (Bradstreet and Brown 1985). Dives from surface to at least 180 m (Piatt and Nettleship 1985).
Reproduction Comments
Laying peaks in second half of June in southeastern Canada and in mid-June in western Gulf of Alaska. Mean laying date on the Farallon Islands, California, varies among years from early to late May (Sydeman and Eddy 1995, Condor 97:1048-1052). Both sexes, in turn, incubate 1 egg for 32-34 days (also reported as 28-35 days). May produce one or more replacement eggs if egg is lost during incubation. Young are fed at nest 18-25 days (also reported as 16-32 days) (average varies from about 19 to 23, affected by laying date, among other factors), then go to sea, tended by adult male for a few weeks. First breeds at about 3-5+ years. Breeding colonies may be large, with exceptionally high density; colony on Castle Rocks, California, had about 126,000 breeding birds in early 1980s (Spendelow and Patton 1988).
Ecology Comments
In Newfoundland, median potential foraging range (from breeding colony) was 37.8 km for incubating birds, 5.4 km for chick-rearing birds (Cairns et al. 1987). However, in northwestern Alaska, telemetry data from incubating or chick-rearing birds indicated that they regularly foraged up to 100 km from their colonies (Hatch et al. 2000). Annual adult survivorship greater than 85%. Up to 3900/sq km reported in winter on Grand Banks off Newfoundland. In California, Western Gull sometimes is an important predator on eggs and chicks (Spear 1993). High density breeding may reduce vulnerability to predators (J. Anim. Ecol. 60:721).
Length
45
Weight
1006
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
2003-04-25
Global Status Last Changed
1996-11-27
Other Status
LC - Least concern
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=S2&CA.LB=S5&CA.NB=S1&CA.NF=S5&CA.NS=__&CA.PE=__&CA.QC=S4&US.AK=S5&US.CA=SNR&US.ME=SX&US.MA=__&US.NH=__&US.NJ=__&US.OR=S5&US.WA=S4" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
H - >2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles) - H - BREEDING: along coasts of North Pacific from Bering Strait south to northern Japan, eastern Korea, and central California; and North Atlantic from western Greenland, Iceland, Bear Island, and Novaya Zemlya south to Newfoundland and northern France. NON-BREEDING: at sea mainly in boreal waters (AOU 1983).
Global Range Code
H
Global Range Description
>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)