Common murre: Where It Lives, Map & Facts

Where the common murre lives – recorded in 23 countries, with quick facts from Wikidata and an introduction from Wikipedia.

Scientific name	Uria aalge
Group	Waders, gulls, terns & auks
Status	Least concern (Wikidata, IUCN category label)
Found in	23 countries
Continents	Asia, Europe, North America
Mass	108 g (birth weight)
Class	Bird
Order	Charadriiformes
Family	Alcidae

Where does the common murre live?

Open-licence (CC0 / CC BY) wild records published on GBIF place the common murre in 23 countries and territories across Asia, Europe and North America. Wikidata gives its range as: Africa.

Countries with at least a handful of records (a minimum share of the species’ records, to leave out vagrants and escapes). Records with coordinates only; captive and fossil records excluded.

How big is a common murre?

Wikidata records the following for the common murre: mass 108 g (birth weight).

Is the common murre endangered?

The common murre’s conservation status recorded in Wikidata is “Least concern” (an IUCN Red List category label). Source: Wikidata.

What kind of animal is the common murre?

The common murre (Uria aalge) is a bird in the order Charadriiformes and the family Alcidae, genus Uria. (Taxonomy from Wikidata.)

About the common murre

The common murre or common guillemot (Uria aalge) is a large auk, one of several species called murre or guillemot. It has a circumpolar distribution, occurring in low-Arctic and boreal waters in the North Atlantic and North Pacific. It spends most of its time at sea, only coming to land to breed on rocky cliff shores or islands.

Common murres are fast in direct flight but are not very agile. They are highly mobile underwater using their wings to 'fly' through the water column, where they typically dive to depths of 30–60 m (100–195 ft). Depths of up to 180 m (590 ft) have been recorded.

Text in “About” is quoted from the Wikipedia article Common murre (revision 1376996157), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: lead section excerpted verbatim, formatting removed. Quick facts, taxonomy and status: Wikidata Q21062 (CC0). Countries and pin: GBIF.org occurrence records (CC0 / CC BY 4.0).