murre

plural murres

1. Any seabird of the genus Uria in the family Alcidae (the auks).

   1997, Robert Wayne Campbell, Neil K. Dawe, The Birds of British Columbia, Volume 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal birds of prey through woodpeckers, page 296, About 2,800 pairs of Common Murres breed in the province, most of which are in the Scott Islands off northwestern Vancouver Island.

   2 more examples

   It may be that in one year alone, the Farallon murre population was reduced to the level at which it stood during the mid-1990s

   1990, David G. Ainley, Seabirds of the Farallon Islands: Ecology, Dynamics, and Structure of an Upwelling-System Community, page 252

   2000, Susan Allport, The Primal Feast: Food, Sex, Foraging, and Love, 2003, paperback, page 52, Staking out a spot involves not only the appropriate level of murre aggression (some murres are so aggressive that they throw their mates off the ledge) but, even more fundamentally, the ability to find food efficiently.

   Synonyms: guillemot