Birds · Charadriiformes · Alcidae

Common Murre

Uria aalge

Least Concern

The species is abundant and widely distributed; it faces no significant short-term risk. See full glossary

The common guillemot is an auk that looks like a miniature penguin and breeds on the narrowest cliff ledges of the North Atlantic and North Pacific, in the densest colonies of any bird in the world: up to twenty pairs per square metre. It dives to more than a hundred metres, chasing fish with its wings. In Spain it bred on the Cantabrian and Galician cliffs and today the Iberian population is practically extinct.

Weight

850 g – 1.1 kg

Size

38 cm – 46 cm

Lifespan

42 years

Diet

Carnivore

Feeds mainly on other animals.

Activity

Diurnal

Active mainly during the day.

Social structure

Colony

Lives in large concentrations, often for breeding reasons.

Sighting difficulty

Easy

OceanPolarCarnivore Diurnal Colonial Bird Ocean Polar

24countries 31parks 2dive sites7same family

Fun facts

reproducciónIt lays a single, markedly conical egg on narrow rock ledges, a shape that makes it less likely to roll off the edge.
It builds no nest: it lays a single egg directly on the bare rock of a ledge. The egg is strongly conical, so that when it rolls it describes a circle instead of falling over the edge.
The chick jumps from the cliff before it can fly, when it is barely a third of adult size: it hurls itself into the sea from tens of metres up and finishes growing out at sea, accompanied by its father for weeks.

Life cycle & biology

Skeleton type: Vertebrate - internal bony skeleton (bird)
Habitat & environment: The open sea of the North Atlantic and North Pacific; it breeds on the ledges of vertical cliffs
Sexual maturity: 5 years
Gestation / incubation: 31 days
Litter / clutch size: 1

Sources consulted: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_murre