Common murre

Uria aalge (Pontoppidan, 1763)

The common murre (Uria aalge), also called the guillemot or common guillemot, is a bird of the family Alcidae in the order Charadriiformes. It is a small, migratory, marine bird and an aquatic predator, with an adult body mass of 991.9 g and a wingspan of 70.7 cm.

Photo: Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the common murre

It lays 1 egg per clutch and 1 clutch per year, the egg is incubated for 31.7 days, and it reaches sexual maturity at 5 years. The IUCN Red List assesses the common murre as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category, and its geographic range covers 1,547,000 km².

Weight: 991.9 gsrc for Weight
Length: Not recorded
Wingspan: 70.7 cmsrc for Wingspan
Lifespan: 29.6 years – 42.8 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet: Aquatic predatorsrc for Diet
Main food: Not recorded
Habitat: marinesrc for Habitat
Egg incubation: 31.7 dayssrc for Egg incubation
Young per litter or clutch: 1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity: 5 yearssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year: 1src for Litters or clutches a year
Reproduction: Eggssrc for Reproduction
Lifestyle: Aquaticsrc for Lifestyle
Migration: Migratorysrc for Migration
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record: Not recorded

How big is the common murre?

At 70.7 cm, the recorded maximum wingspan of the common murre is about 42% of the height of an adult human (1.7 m, a fixed reference used for scale).

Photos of the common murre

Only freely licensed photos are shown. Each carries its creator and licence.

Common murre (Uria aalge) — Przemyslaw Skura · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Where does the common murre live?

Not recorded

What is the common murre?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

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.
Common murres breed in colonies at high densities. Nesting pairs may be in bodily contact with their neighbours. They make no nest; their single egg is incubated between the adult's feet on a bare rock ledge on a cliff face. Eggs hatch after ~30 days' incubation. The chick is born downy and can regulate its body temperature after 10 days. Some 20 days after hatching, the chick leaves its nesting ledge and heads for the sea, unable to fly, but gliding for some distance with fluttering wings, accompanied by its male parent. Male guillemots spend more time diving, and dive more deeply than females during this time. Chicks are capable of diving as soon as they hit the water. The female stays at the nest site for some 14 days after the chick has left.
Both male and female common murres moult after breeding and become flightless for 1–2 months. Some populations have short migration distances, instead remaining close to the breeding site year-round. Such populations return to the nest site from autumn onwards. Adult birds balance their energetic budgets during the winter by reducing the time that they spend flying and are able to forage nocturnally.

From the Wikipedia article “Common murre” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Common_murre&oldid=1384611764), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the common murre endangered?

The common murre is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

LCLeast Concern
NTNear Threatened
VUVulnerable
ENEndangered
CRCritically Endangered
EWExtinct in the Wild
EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the common murre classified?

kingdomAnimalia
phylumChordata
classAves
orderCharadriiformes
familyAlcidae
genusUria
SpeciesUria aalge (Pontoppidan, 1763)

Synonyms Uria aalge troile, Uria alga, Uria troile

Other names and names in other languages (103)

(southern and northern) guillemotEnglish
Common guillemotEnglish
Common guillemotEnglish
Foolish guillemotEnglish
GuillemotEnglish
GuillemotEnglish
Northern guillemotEnglish
Thin-billed murreEnglish
مور شائعArabic
غلموت شائعArabic
Capucete marinoAragonese
AruAsturian
ArauAsturian
aráuAsturian
Тъпоклюна кайраBulgarian
Тънкоклюна кайраBulgarian
Erev beg hirBreton
SomorgollaireCatalan
somorgollaire comúCatalan
alkoun úzkozobýCzech
gwylogWelsh
GwylogodWelsh
lomvieDanish
Almindelig LomvieDanish
dumme LummeGerman
TrottellumeGerman
TrottellummeGerman
Λεπτόραμφος ΚέπφοςGreek
Longbeka urioEsperanto
ordinara urioEsperanto
Arao comúnSpanish
lõunatirkEstonian
pikknokktirkEstonian
MartinBasque
Martina arruntaBasque
etelänkiislaFinnish
lomvigaFaroese
LomvigiFaroese
Guillemot bridéFrench
guillemot à capuchonFrench
guillemot de TroïlFrench
Guillemot marmetteFrench
LuumNorthern Frisian
SkoetWestern Frisian
Éan AilleIrish
Petite mauvegcf
forachaScottish Gaelic
eòin dubha an sgadainScottish Gaelic
eun dubh an sgadainScottish Gaelic
langachScottish Gaelic
langaichScottish Gaelic
Arao dos consGalician
StronnagManx
אוריהHebrew
אורייה מצויהHebrew
lummaHungarian
vékonycsőrű lummaHungarian
LangvíaIcelandic
langvîaIcelandic
UriaItalian
ウミガラスJapanese
Appa SigguttooqKalaallisut
바다오리Korean
KyddawCornish
Kyddaw lagas gwynCornish
laibasnapis narūnėlisLithuanian
Garknābja kairaLatvian
tievknābja kairaLatvian
Mus Geddumu RqiqMaltese
LummLow German
zeekoetDutch
dunsnavelige zeekoetDutch
lomviNorwegian
Âne dé ménrm
nurzykPolish
nurzyk (zwyczajny)Polish
nurzyk podbielałyPolish
airoPortuguese
airo-comumPortuguese
Arau-comumPortuguese
VrielRomansh
Alcă nordicăRomanian
тонкоклювая кайраRussian
CuitScots
LáŋgáNorthern Sami
čohkanjunčielkkisNorthern Sami
SkárfacielkkisNorthern Sami
skárfačielkkisNorthern Sami
Alka tenkozobáSlovak
norec tenkozobýSlovak
lumnaSlovenian
Tankokljuna njorkaSerbian
sillgrisslaSwedish
Alka domo-jembambaSwahili
AlkTurkish
bayağı dalıcımartıTurkish
Кайра тонкодзьобаUkrainian
Тонкодзьоба кайраUkrainian
ZeêkoetZeelandic
崖海鴉Chinese
崖海鸦Chinese
普通海鴉Chinese
普通海鴉〔崖海鴉〕Chinese

Catalogue of Life Wikipedia iNaturalist TAXREF Wikidata WoRMS IUCN Red List

Relatives of the common murre

Other species in the same genus Uria.

Thick-billed murre

Uria lomvia

AlcidaeNo free photo yet

Uria onoi

AlcidaeNo free photo yet

CompareCommon murre vs Thick-billed murre Common murre vs Uria onoi

Common questions

Each answer is written from the sourced facts on this page, and only where they hold the answer.

What kind of animal is the common murre?

The common murre is a bird in the family Alcidae, order Charadriiformes.

How heavy is a common murre?

An adult common murre weighs 991.9 g, with reported values from 985 g to 997.2 g.

What does the common murre eat?

The common murre is an aquatic predator and a carnivore.

Is the common murre endangered?

No. The IUCN Red List lists the common murre as Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.

How long does a common murre live?

The common murre has a lifespan of 29.6 years, and our sources report values up to 42.8 years.

How many eggs does a common murre lay?

The common murre lays 1 egg per clutch and has 1 clutch per year, with an incubation period of 31.7 days.

Does the common murre migrate?

Yes, the common murre is migratory. Its habitat is marine.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds · CC BY 4.0 · v7
Tobias, J.A. et al. (2022) AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds. Ecology Letters 25: 581–597. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13898. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.16586228.v7
Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Common murre (Uria aalge). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-murre

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BibTeX

@misc{common_murre_2026,
  title = {Common murre (Uria aalge)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/common-murre},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}