Charadriformes Uria Aalge/ Common Guillemot

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The Guillemot Murre or Common Murre are more common names for the Charadriformes Uria aagle. Is a member of the Alcidae family.

iCommon Guillemot

Conservation status

Least Concern (LC)

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Alcidae
Genus:	Uria
Species:	U. aalge

Binomial name

Uria aalge
(Pontoppidan, 1763)

1 Physical Description
2 Feeding
3 Reproduction and Behaviour
4 Gallery
5 References

[edit] Physical Description

The Common Murre looks penguin like in appearence. The breeding adults are dark brown/ black on the head, neck and back wihite belly and white tipped feathers. With dark long, slender bills and darks grey legs and webbed feet. The adult winter plummage is the same but with white on the cheeks, throat and a dark spur from the eye. A bridled morph form found in the North Atlantic has a white eye ring. The chicks are downy in appearence with blackish on top and white below. They stand upright when on land, measuring 38 to 43cm in height and weighing 945 to 1044g when fully grown. The Common Murre's call is a soft purring noise. The wingspan stretches to 64-71cm. The bird is a fast, agile flier. The wings flap quickly and continously in a straight line along the sea surface. Spend most of its lifetime at sea only comng inland to breed on rocky cliff shores or islands. It is a pelagic species. The Guillemot is a stable species, its only threats are hunting (legal in Newfoundland), pollution and oil spills but has a stable population. Life span of twenty years.

[edit] Feeding

This species is Piscivorous(fish- feeding). They are surface divers and can be fully submerged underwater for up to one minute. The bird has been known to reach depths of over 200 feet, using their strong wings to swim underwater. Consuming up to 32g a day. They are often seen carrying the fish in their bill with the fishtail hanging out.

Feed on:

Polar cod,

Capelin,

Launches,

Sprat,

Sandrels,

Atlantic cod and Herring,

Some worms,

Amphids,

Shrimps,

Molluscs,

Artic Squid.

[edit] Reproduction and Behaviour

The Guillemot is a has a widespread population in Coastal areas in West and North Europe. Breeding populations are patchily distributed with populations on the Pacific Ocean expanding from West Alaska to Central California. And on the Atlantic Ocean streching between Labrador to Nova Scotia. In the Winter months (non- breeding season) the Common Murre can be found in South California and Maine, repectivally. The breeding population is very large with over two million pairs. The birds lay their eggs on bare rock/cliffs/ground, no nesting material is used. Eggs are laid between May and July for the Atlantic populations and March to July for those in the Pacific. Their eggs are pointed in shape a clever adaption to prevent the egg from rolling away. If it falls it will roll in a circle, increasing its chance of survival. Eggs can be threatend by gull predation. The eggs vary in colour and pattern to help the parents recognition, each egg is unique. Colours include white, green, blue, brown with spots or speckles in clack or lilac. Both parents incubate the egg for 28 to 34 days, swapping in twelve hour shifts. The chicks will leave the nest after 18 to 25 days. When the young chciks are ready to leave the nest the male teach them how to dive and catch fish for up to two months. The chicks learn to fly roughly two weeks after fledging. Up until then the male feeds and cares for the chick at sea. The Common Murre only breed when they reach four to six years old. The birds gather in large colonies known as a loomery on off-shore islands and display a number of courtship antics including bowing, billing and preening. The male points it head vertically and makes croaking and growl noises to attrct the females. The Guillemot's are monogamous. The colonies are dense with up to twenty pairs occupying one meter square at peak season. The islands can also be inhabited by other species.