Thick-billed Murre  ( Guillemot de Brünnich )      This species is on the OBRC review list for northern Ontario. All sightings should be documented and reported.

Back to Checklist
Uria lomvia

General Notes

This is a stocky little duck-like seabird that breeds in dense colonies on islands and cliffs along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. When not nesting, it is a bird of the open ocean, and is almost never seen inland.  The single record from Timiskaming is based on a specimen collected in December of 1908, and likely represents an individual blown far off course by a violent early winter storm blowing in from the east coast.

 Abundance:

Out of range

Documented Observations

 

The following was contained in a letter from W. Earl Godfrey, Curator of Ornithology, National Museum of Canada, dated January 29, 1959:

"Thick-billed Murre. A male found in dying condition in snow in early December, 1908, near Heaspeler [probably Heaslip was intended] near the upper end of Lake Timiskaming. It was mounted. Alfred Kay, 1910, Ottawa Naturalist 24(2): 43."

The specimen mentioned in this letter has reportedly been lost.