Figure 1. The Razorbill is on the left and the female Long-tailed Duck is on the right. Photographs by Sebastian Jones.

One of the highlights of winter birding in New England is the relative ease with which one can often observe a variety of alcids from land. There is, however, a difference between seeing a bird and seeing it well, and with many alcids, views are often poor. Many times, birds are distant, weather conditions are bad, light is terrible, and the birds are weaving in and out of wave troughs or diving underwater. In these circumstances, the trickiest of our winter alcids to identify are often the murres: Common (Uria aalge) and Thick-billed (Uria lomvia). This article discusses identification of both, as well as how to separate them from our most common large alcid, the Razorbill (Alca torda), which should always be eliminated prior to considering other options.