Corrigendum

In the past several days, several European friends have pointed out that I "misremembered" the differences in the names of Guillemots and Murres in Europe and the United States/

In Europe they have Guillemots only. The Common Guillemot in Europe is the bird we call the Common Murre. The European Brünnich’s Guillemot is known in the States as the Thick Billed Murre. The Black Guillemot is the same on both sides of the pond. The Pigeon Guillemot, which is a common bird in the Pacific Northwest (and the bird after which we named the Guillemot), resembles the Black Guillemot, but is only found on the Pacific side, while the Black Guillemot is found on the Atlantic side (and the Arctic ocean shore of Alaska), but not in the Pacific Northwest.

Got it? If you are in Europe, think Guillemots. Here in the States, it could be either Guillemots or Murres.

To make all this sweeter, we were out on the Puget Sound this afternoon and saw 10 Common Murres - which of course were Guillemots to our friend Martine who is from France and was out with us today.

Thanks to Mark S and Martine R for reminding me about the differences between here and Europe.