Thick-billed Murre
Uria lomvia
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- KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
- PhylumChordata (Chordates)
- ClassAves (Birds)
- OrderCharadriiformes (Shorebirds and Allies)
- FamilyAlcidae (Auks, Murres, and Puffins)
- GenusUria (Murres)
- SpeciesUria lomvia (Thick-billed Murre)
About the Thick-billed Murre
The thick-billed murre or Brünnich's guillemot (Uria lomvia) is a bird in the auk family (Alcidae). This bird is named after the Danish zoologist Morten Thrane Brünnich. The very deeply black North Pacific subspecies Uria lomvia arra is also called Pallas' murre after its describer.
The thick-billed murre was formally described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other auks in the genus Alca and coined the binomial name Alca lomvia. Linnaeus specified the type locality as boreal Europe but this was restricted in 1921 to Greenland by the German ornithologist Ernst Hartert. The thick-billed murre is now placed together with the common murre in the genus Uria that was introduced in 1760 by the French zoologist Mathurin Jacques Brisson. The genus name is from Ancient Greek ouria, a waterbird mentioned by Athenaeus. The specific epithet lomvia is a Swedish word for an auk or diver. The English "guillemot" is from French guillemot probably derived from Guillaume, "William". "Murre" is of uncertain origins, but may imitate the call of the common guillemot.
Four subspecies are recognised: U. l. lomvia... Wikipedia →
Recent sightings of Thick-billed Murre in Vatnajokull National Park
LIVEiNaturalistClosest Relatives at Vatnajokull National Park
Common Murre
Uria aalge
Black Guillemot
Cepphus grylle
Atlantic Puffin
Fratercula arctica
Razorbill
Alca torda
Dovekie
Alle alle
Black-headed Gull
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Common Snipe
Gallinago gallinago
Arctic Tern
Sterna paradisaea
Common Redshank
Tringa totanus
European Herring Gull
Larus argentatus
European Golden Plover
Pluvialis apricaria
Great Black-backed Gull
Larus marinus
Global Distribution
Warmer areas are where this animal is recorded most often.
Parks Where Found
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kenai Fjords National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Vatnajokull National Park | 🇮🇸 Iceland | |
| 3 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Katmai National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 6 | Cape Breton Highlands National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Quick answers
What are the chances of seeing a Thick-billed Murre in Vatnajokull National Park?
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Thick-billed Murre sighting in Vatnajokull National Park, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data.
When is the best time to see Thick-billed Murre in Vatnajokull National Park?
March has the highest sighting rate for Thick-billed Murre in Vatnajokull National Park in our monthly data.