Common Murre
https://www.nps.gov/sajh/learn/nature/common-murre.htm
Also known as the Common Guillemot
Scientific:
Uria aalge
Order:
Charadriiformes
Family:
Alcidae
Genus:
Uria
Danish: Lomvie
Greenlandic: Appa sigguttooq
Length: 15.0-16.9 in (38-43 cm)
Weight: 28.2-39.7 oz (800-1125 g)
Wingspan: 25.2-27.9 in (64-71 cm)
The Common Murre breeds on the West Coast of Greenland, in multiple large colonies on small ledges on steep coastal cliffs of about 340 000 pairs. While Murres, can both walk and fly, the bird species travel much more naturally underwater. Murres can remain submerged for several minutes at a time. They have been recovered drowned in fishing nets set as deep as 180 m, and dives to 100 m appear to be common. Murres are able to eat almost any marine life up to the size of a 30-g fish. Common Murres do not create nests, but rather, lay their egg ontop of the rocky ledge.
However, some colonies in west Greenland were completely wiped out by from hunting in the twentieth century. There are now strict hunting regulations on the Common Murre, and populations are slowly increasing.
Ken Burton, XC328537. Accessible at www.xeno-canto.org/328537.
References :
Avibase The World Bird DataBase (2018). Uria aalge. Found at https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=39F29B55EF9A542F
Ainley, David G., David N. Nettleship, Harry R. Carter and Anne E. Storey. 2002. Common Murre (Uria aalge), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, USA.
Sibley, David Allen. 2014. The Sibley guide to birds, second edition. Alfred A Knopf, New York.