The common murre is resident in the northern and western Gulf of Alaska from Pinnacle Rock, Kayak Island, westward. East of Cook Inlet colonies are located at Wingham Island, the Martin Islands, Middleton Island, Porpoise Rock in Hinchinbrook Entrance, Barwell Island/Cape Resurrection, the Chiswell Islands, the Barren Islands, and Chisik Island.
For some reason, the islands of the Kodiak-Afognak Archipelago do not host any known major murre colonies. There is also a rather large gap between the Chisik Island colony and the next major colony at Oil Creek west of Puale Bay. Directly west of Oil Creek is another colony at Cape Unalishagvak. Both of these latter colonies are Class V and they are the first colonies of this size to be encountered in the Gulf of Alaska. West of these colonies the next large colony is at Atkulik Island. To the south, midway between the last-named colonies, lies the major composite murre colony in the Semidi Islands. These sites make up the only Class VI colony in the Gulf of Alaska. Westward, the next major colony, a Class V, is at Spitz Island south of Mitrofania Island. In the Shumagin Islands one Class V colony is at Karpa Island, and lesser colonies with large murre components are found at the Haystacks, Castle Rock, and Bird Island. Only minor murre colonies are found between the Shumagin Islands and the end of the Alaska Peninsula.
Gabrielson and Lincoln (1959) were aware only of the colonies at Cape Resurrection (which Gabrielson considered to be large), at the Chiswell Islands, and at Chisik Island for the area from Cook Inlet east. Gabrielson visited the Barren Islands on 13 June 1940 and apparently did not notice the present murre colonies, both Class IV, at East Amutuli (an island which he visited) and Nord Island.
Gabrielson (Gabrielson and Lincoln 1959) found a few small colonies at Kodiak, mostly on small offshore islands. Gabrielson found common murres to be abundant in the Semidi Islands and stated that there were no notable colonies in the Shumagins, although on his return to the Shumagins in 1949 he did find a fairly large colony at the Haystacks. That size description would fit the colony that is there now. He obviously did not see the other colonies. Rausch (1958) reported murres from Middleton Island.