Uria lomvia
Silhouette: PhyloPic
In 3 days >90%
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: Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Svalbard | 🇳🇴 Norway | |
| 2 | Kenai Fjords National Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Acadia National Park | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Boston | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | New York City | 🇺🇸 United States |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chimelong Spaceship | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Montreal Biodome | 🇨🇦 Canada |
Very likely
About 70% of wildlife watchers report a Thick-billed Murre sighting in Svalbard on a given day, based on 1,879 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 11th most-seen of the 48 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
May
In that month about 80% of wildlife watchers report a Thick-billed Murre in Svalbard on a given day, against about 30% in September, the lowest month. November to January have too few records to rate.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Thick-billed Murre sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is seen both by day and at night.
Yes
Of the 3 parks where we can rate Thick-billed Murre sightings, Svalbard has the highest daily chance: about 70%. Next come Kenai Fjords National Park (United States, about 10%) and Acadia National Park (United States, under 5%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Thick-billed Murre is recorded against all the birds logged in Svalbard (1,879 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
