Pigeon Guillemot

Pigeon Guillemot; adult breeding plumage; Margo Dodd Park, California.

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Pigeon Guillemot; Farallon Is., California.

Pigeon Guillemot; Seward, AK.

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1. Cool Facts
2. Description
3. Similar Species
4. Sound
5. Range
6. Habitat
7. Food
8. Behavior
9. Reproduction
10. Conservation Status
11. Other Names

A seabird of the northern Pacific, the Pigeon Guillemot is found along rocky coasts from Alaska to California. It spends more time close to shore than other members of the puffin family.

Cool Facts

• The Pigeon Guillemot is one of the few members of the auk and puffin family to lay two eggs. Nearly all others lay only one egg, but the three guillemots of the genus Cepphus and the four murrelets in the genus Synthliboramphus usually lay two.
• The Pigeon Guillemot feeds in shallower waters than most auks, puffins, or murrelets. Although it is known to dive to depths greater than 45 meters (148 feet), it feeds best in waters of only 10 to 20 meters (33-66 feet) deep.

• The Pigeon Guillemot often scales vertical rock faces by some vigorous flapping of its wings combined with the use of the sharp claws on its webbed feet.

Description

• Size: 30-35 cm (12-14 in)
• Wingspan: 55-59 cm (22-23 in)
• Weight: 450-550 g (15.89-19.42 ounces)

• Medium-sized to small waterbird.
• Thin, straight bill.
• Large white wing patches crossed by black bar.
• Bright red feet.
• Relatively long, thick neck.
• All black with white wing patches in summer.
• Mostly white with dusky back in winter.

• Mouth lining bright red.
• Pointed tail.
• Rounded wings with dark gray wing linings.
• Bill black.
• Eyes dark brown.

Breeding (Alternate) Plumage: Brownish black all over. Bold white oval-shaped wing patches, crossed in middle by long black triangle.
Nonbreeding (Basic) Plumage: Grayish head and upperparts. White face, neck, and underparts.

Sex Differences

Sexes look alike.

Immature

Similar to nonbreeding adult, but with more mottling on head and neck, and black markings breaking the white wing patches.

Similar Species

• White-winged Scoter larger and heavier, with small white patch only on rear of wing.
• Black Guillemot, which overlaps in distribution only in the Bering Sea, is very similar, but has white wing linings and lacks a broad black wedge across each white wing patch. Black Guillemot may show a thin black line down the middle of the white wing patch.

Sound

High-pitched, thin twitters and piping calls. Alarm call is a loud, wavering whistle.

Range

Range Map

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

About the map

Summer Range

Breeds along the Pacific Coast from northern Alaska southward to southern California. Also along Pacific Coast of Russia to northern Japan.

Winter Range

Winters in most of breeding range, but forced out of farthest northern areas by sea ice.

Habitat

Nests on rocky coastlines; forages in near-shore waters.

Food

Fish, crustaceans, and marine invertebrates.

Behavior

Foraging

Dives under water to capture prey, using its wings to swim.

Reproduction

Nest Type

Shallow scrape in sand, soil, or gravel. Placed in cavity, crevice, or burrow, usually in cliff or boulder fields.

Egg Description

Pale cream, may be tinged greenish or bluish, with large and small dark blotches, often concentrated in ring around large end.

Clutch Size

Condition at Hatching

Covered with black down and can move about on land.

Conservation Status

Numbers reduced by oil pollution and disturbance from humans and livestock in early 1900s, and probably by food shortages during warm-water years. Populations appear stable.

Other Names

Guillemot du Pacifique (French)

Sources used to construct this page:

Ewins, P. J. 1993. Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba). In The Birds of North America, No. 49 (A. Poole and F. Gill, Eds.). Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists? Union.