A Thick-Billed Murre?

I did some birdwatching today, trying to gather some reference material for an upcoming show.  The show title is Fowl Play - homage to our feathered friends and will be held at Mars Hall Gallery in June.  I expect to have a few things in it.

This guy appears to be a Thick-Billed Murre.  The photos aren't really that good as it was out of range of my camera.  But according to my Peterson Field Guide, I'd have to say that's what it is. I also thought it might be a Loon,  but that white line on the bill makes me think otherwise.  However, sitting so low in the water does tend to say "loon" to me as well.  So I don't know. It was just too far out to get any real good photos.

I noticed it was different from all the other birds I was seeing and so I wanted to try to get a picture if I could.  It was quite a distance from shore.  All I could really see from my location was a different looking "dot" out on the water. Not a bad job considering it was beyond my camera's optical zoom capabilities and I had to resort to digital zoom.  I hate doing that and try to avoid it as much as possible.

Even among birds there's always a "ham."   On the way to the beach, I took a few shots of these characters.  Is it just me or does that pigeon in the upper left appear to be saying, "Don't look now but that guy behind you is taking pictures of us!"  And he seems to have a listening ear.