Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Common Murre Lifer

I am linking up with Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

While hubby and I were vacationing on the Oregon coastline we stopped at the Cape Meares Scenic viewpoint. Cape Meares provide a view of the largest colony of nesting Common Murres. Another lifer for me the Common Murre is also known as the Common Guillemot. The Common Murre is in the family commonly called Alcids. The Thick Billed Murre is also in the Alcidae "Alcids"  family.


The Common Murre is an Alcid that dives for their prey. They use their wings and their feet for propulsion and steering. The Common Murre has a thin bill. It has a black head, back and wings and white underparts.The face is white with a dark spur behind the eye.


The Pyramid and Pillar rocks are part of the Oregon Island National Wildlife Refuge. I was able to zoom in few a few closeups. But the photos of the Common Murre are fuzzy.


The Common Murre breed in colonies in high densities, nesting pairs maybe in bodily contact with their neighbors. They do not make a nest, their egg is incubated on a bare rock ledge.







The Three Arch Rocks provide habitat for more than 200,000 nesting seabirds, primarily the Common Murre.


The vertical seacliffs support nesting seabirds such as the Tufted Puffin, Common Murres, Pigeon Guillemots, Pelagic Cormorants, Peregrine Falcons and the Bald Eagle.



A fuzzy shot of a few of the Common Murre in the ocean.
It was an amazing sight to see so many of these Common Murres in one spot. Zooming in on any one spot on the rock I could see how close the birds were to each. The Murres and other birds were sitting on just about on every spot of the rock. It was an amazing sight to see, if you are in the area I highly recommend visiting Cape Meares.

To see more wonderful birds and photos please visit Wild Bird Wednesday and Nature Notes

50 comments:

  1. Lovely pictures!So much birds Eileen!Thanks for sharing them with us!Wish you a nice day!
    Dimi..

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  2. Hi Eileen!
    It's amazing to see so many of this bird! Great photos too!

    Thanks for answering me about your webreader and my blog!
    Greetings Pia

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  3. Incredible! I am so glad that there are still spots on this earth which are taken over by animals and that people care about it! Christa

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  4. It's amazing how they all fit on there. From Findlay

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  5. Great series, Eileen. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.

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  6. A great WBW post. So much to see!

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  7. Oh my gosh, if I saw that in real time, I think I'd pee my pants with excitement...seriously!!! Wow Eileen.

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  8. Well done with a lifer, beautiful and a hard thing to photograph.

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  9. Fascinating post Eileen!
    Their numbers here are mindboggling. I can only imagine what it was to see this in person.
    I can't help but wonder how the eggs don't roll off the rocks. It's evident with this manner birds in one spot though that their way of nesting is working. :)

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  10. Beautiful, Eileen! I've just discovered your lovely blog, and am now following!
    Best,
    Anne

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  11. Beautiful pictures!!! would you like to follow each other?
    Besos, desde España, Marcela♥

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  12. Great photos. An amazing site to see that many birds all together.

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  13. Wonderful to learn about this Common Murre. Great shots Eileen.

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  14. Looks like they enjoy each others' company. A LOT! ;)

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  15. They really don't seem to need a whole of space do they? It's always amazing to see so many at once.

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  16. cool, this is one of the birds I saw in Scotland. They look like little penguins. :) Isn´t it fun to watch them all like that? I already miss taht part of Scotland. Nice shots Eileen.

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  17. i think your images are gorgeous!! i must go!!!

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  18. Thank you so much for your visit!!! I follow you now!
    Have a good week!
    Besos, Marcela♥

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  19. can not imagine all the birds there. so little space. i bet loud too. ha. ha!! (:

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  20. What a great group of those birds! I love seeing huge numbers of birds in one place...even though I often have no idea what I am seeing!

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  21. Wonderful shots and so interesting. They almost look like they are part of the rocks.

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  22. I don't even care that they're fuzzy. It is truly exciting to see things like this and I can only imagine what you both were feeling watching all these birds together. I have fall break coming up and may take a road trip for a bit. This looks incredible.

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  23. Now that's a lot of birds! Really enjoyed your photos.

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  24. Piguine sind so nette Vögel, mag ich zu gerne anschauen...

    Lieben Gruß
    CL

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  25. These are great birds - I love watching breedings sea birds like this! I used to know this species as the Guillemot in the UK.

    Thanks for linking to WBW

    Stewart M - Australia

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  26. What an amazing post! Loved going through your photos! And your header shot is a stunner!!

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  27. Great shots Eileen, neat to see so many together.

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  28. Indeed quite a sight to behold! I like your latest header.

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  29. Thank you for sharing the photos and information about these birds. - http://mary-goingnative.blogspot.com/

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  30. I was so surprised this was Oregon...it reminded me of Alaska or even Newfoundland or Greenland/Iceland! Just amazing to get to see these wonderful birds!

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  31. What a fantastic sight! Great captures.

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  32. Great pictures, neat to see these colonies, but hard to photograph and you did very well.

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  33. Hi,
    Very nice series ;-)
    Céline & Philippe

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  34. Congrats on another lifer Eileen and it looks a fine place to go birding. You got some great shots considering the birds were way out on those stacks.

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  35. Eileen, what a wonderful experience!

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  36. I had not even heard of this bird before...it looks like it was a great place to see them. Thank you for linking up and for your thoughts regarding my Mother's illness..thank you..Michelle

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  37. Amazing. I wonder how they tell their own eggs from the others?

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  38. Dearest Eileen,
    Wow!!! Common Murres in Cape Meares; I just cannot imagine how wonderful being able to see these birds with my own eyes♡♡♡ Haha, they seem so crowded.
    Thank you very much for sharing these gorgeous pictures, my friend.
    Sending you lots of love and hugs from Japan, xoxo Miyako* 

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  39. I guess I should make an effort to do some birding on the Oregon coast.
    Great series, Eileen.

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  40. Gosh that is a lot of birds. It must be bedlam to hatch out of an egg on the rock with all those adults there.

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  41. Great pictures / collages showing.
    Do not think I've seen / heard of Common Murre.
    Thank you for telling / showing them.
    Hanne Bente

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  42. Looks like you had a marvelous visit and brought back some cool photos to prove it, Eileen. Stunning sunflower header!

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  43. What beautiful shots, so filled with nature's wonders.

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