THICK-BILLED MURRE

Thick-billed murre

Dan Roby, Rosana Paredes, Rachael Orben, Rob Suryan

Latin name: Uria lomvia

Thick-billed murres are a circumpolar seabird species found in Arctic and sub-arctic regions.  They are incredibly deep divers - using their wings to reach depths up to 200 meters (656 ft). Though they can fly, it consumes a lot of energy. We studied the foraging ecology of thick-billed murres during both the summer and winter to better understand how this species will respond to a changing climate. 

Publications: 

Journal Article

Harding AMA, R Parades, R Suryan, D Roby, D Irons, RA Orben, H Renner, R Young, C Barger, I Dorresteijn, & A Kitaysky. (2013) Does location really matter?  An inter-colony comparison of seabirds breeding at varying distances from productive oceanographic features in the Bering Sea. Deep-Sea Research Part II, 178-191. 

Paredes, R, RA Orben, DD Roby, DB Irons, R Young, H Renner, Y Tremblay, A Will, AMA Harding, A Kitaysky. (2015) Foraging ecology during nesting influences body size in a pursuit-diving seabird. Marine Ecological Progress Series, 533:261-276. 

Orben, RA, R Paredes, DD Roby, DB Irons, SA Shaffer. (2015) Body size affects individual winter foraging strategies of thick-billed murres (Uria lomvia) in the Bering Sea. Journal of Animal Ecology, 84(6): 1589-1599. 

Young, RC, R.A. Orben, A Will, A.S. Kitaysky. (2017) Seasonal connectivity in movement, behavior, and telomeres in a long-lived seabird. Marine Ecology Progress Series, doi.org/10.3354/meps12022.   

Benoit-Bird, K. J., Battaile, B. C., Heppell, S. A., Hoover, B., Irons, D. B., Jones, N., et al. (2013). Prey Patch Patterns Predict Habitat Use by Top Marine Predators with Diverse Foraging Strategies. PLoS ONE, 8(1), e53348. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0053348.t002 .Â