Long-billed Murrelet
Photo: MPF · CC BY 2.5

Auks, Puffins, and Murres

Long-billed Murrelet

Brachyramphus perdix

NTNear Threatened
Family
Auks, Puffins, and Murres (Alcidae)
Order
Charadriiformes

Overview

The long-billed murrelet (Brachyramphus perdix) is a small seabird from the North Pacific. The genus name Brachyramphus is from Ancient Greek brakhus, "short", and rhamphos, "bill". The species name perdix is Latin for "partridge" Pallas described this auk as Magnitudine Perdicis. "Murrelet" is a diminutive of "murre", a word of uncertain origins, but which may imitate the call of the common guillemot.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Breeds coastal strip up to 30 km inland in Kamchatka, Sea of Okhotsk, Sakhalin (eastern Russia), and northern Hokkaido (northern Japan); winters to coastal central Japan; prone to long-distance vagrancy to continental USA.

Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.