Wildlife
Thick-billed guillemots are one of the most numerous birds of the Arctic coast, moving southwards in the winter where the waters remain ice-free. They breed in large, noisy colonies, with each female laying a single egg on a narrow cliff ledge. In pursuit of a meal, thick-billed guillemots perform short shallow dives, but they are more than capable of reaching depths of 100m or more to reach favoured fish and squid.
At a glance it is difficult to distinguish these guillemots from closely related common guillemots. Their bills, as you would expect, are thicker and shorter with a white gape and they can also be darker in colour. The thick-billed guillemot is also known as Brünnich's guillemot after the Danish zoologist.
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Baby flight school
It's a long way down for the fledging guillemot chicks.
It's a long way down for the fledging guillemot chicks.
The Thick-billed guillemot can be found in a number of locations including: Arctic, Asia, Europe, North America. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.
The following habitats are found across the Thick-billed guillemot distribution range. Find out more about these environments, what it takes to live there and what else inhabits them.
Discover what these behaviours are and how different plants and animals use them.
Additional data source: Animal Diversity Web
Least Concern
Year assessed: 2009
Classified by: IUCN 3.1
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.
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Helpless young
Migration
Adapted to swimming
Carnivorous
Colonial
Adapted to flying
Acoustic communication
Moulting
Egg layer
Parental investment
Predator
Chemical communication
Visual communication