Name: Common Murre
Information: Now stable in California sanctuary waters, the penguin-like birds were in serious trouble back in the 1980s when their numbers dwindled dramatically because of the effects of oil spills and entanglement from gillnets before they were banned. They spend a lot of time floating on the water and can succumb to human impacts. Today, federal and state efforts are underway to get their numbers healthy again. Medium size, dark brown-black head, neck and back, and a white underbelly, common murres typically nest on cliff edges among other species such as puffins, cormorants, and gulls. Murres are surface divers regularly reaching a depth of about 100 feet, but have been recorded at depths of over 550 feet. They are found from Alaska to Southern California and from Labrador to Maine. FWS