|Adults in breeding plumage| Alca lomvia Linnaeus, 1758 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. Since the extinction of the Great Auk
in the mid-19th century, the murres are the largest living
members of the Alcidae. The Thick-billed Mure and the closely
related Common Guillemot (or Common Murre, U. aalge) are
similarly-sized, but the Thick-billed still bests the other
species in both average and maximum size. The Thick-billed Murre
measures 40–48 cm (16–19 in) in total length, spans 64–81 cm
(25–32 in) across the wings and weighs 736-1481 g (1.6-3.3 lb).
The Pacific race (U. l. arra) is larger than the Atlantic race,
especially in bill dimensions. Adult birds are black on the
head, neck, back and wings with white underparts. The bill is
long and pointed. They have a sm