Pigeon Guillemot
A species of Guillemots Scientific name : Cepphus columba Genus : Guillemots
Pigeon Guillemot, A species of Guillemots
Botanical name: Cepphus columba
Genus: Guillemots
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Description People often ask General Info
Description
The pigeon guillemot is a medium-sized auk, 30 to 37 cm (12 to 15 in) in length and weighing 450 to 550 g (16 to 19 oz). Both sexes are alike in appearance and mass, except for Californian birds where females were found to have larger bills than males. The summer or breeding plumage of the adult is mostly dark brown with a black sheen, with a white wing patch broken by a brown-black wedge. In winter, the upperparts are iridescent black, often with black fringes giving a scalloped appearance, and the underparts and rump are white. The forehead, crown, lores, eye line and ear coverts are black with white tips, sometimes the tips are narrow and the head looks black. In all plumages, the underwings are plain and dark. Adults moult into their winter or non-breeding plumage between August and October, taking around a month to complete and leaving the bird unable to fly for around four weeks. Birds moult into their breeding plumage between January and March. The legs and feet are red, with black claws. The iris is brown and the eye is surrounded by a thin unbroken white eye-ring. The bill is long and black and the inside of the mouth is red. The juvenile pigeon guillemot resembles a winter adult but has underpart feathers tipped in brown, giving the appearance of barring, more brown feathers in the upperparts and its wing patch is smaller. Its legs are a grey-brown in color. It loses the brown underpart feathers after its first moult two to three months after fledging. Its moult to its first summer plumage is later than adults, happening between March and May, and first summer birds lack the glossy sheen of adults. The differences between the subspecies are based on body measurements such as the culmen and wing length. These are larger in southern subspecies and smaller further north. The amount of white on the outer primaries and underwing coverts increases in northern subspecies, except for Cepphus columba snowi, where the white is reduced or entirely absent. The pigeon guillemot walks well and habitually has an upright posture. When sitting it frequently rests on its tarsi. The wings of the pigeon guillemot are shorter and rounder than other auks, reflecting greater adaptation towards diving than flying. It has difficulty taking off in calm conditions without a runway, but once in the air it is faster than the black guillemot, having been recorded at 77 km/h (48 mph), about 20 km/h (12 mph) faster than the black guillemot. In the water it is a strong swimmer on the surface using its feet. When diving, propulsion is provided both by the wings, which beat at a rate of 2.1/s, but unusually for auks also by the feet. Pigeon guillemots have been recorded travelling 75 m (246 ft) horizontally on dives. The pigeon guillemot is similar to the related black guillemot, but can be distinguished by its larger size, and in the breeding season by its dusky-grey underwing and the dark brown wedge on the white wing patch. 
Size
33-36 cm (13-14 in)
Life Expectancy
4.5-14 years
Nest Placement
Cliff
Clutch Size
1 - 2 eggs
Feeding Habits
Pigeon Guillemot primarily consume small fish and invertebrates such as crabs, worms, and mollusks. They dive and use their wings to propel and feet to steer, capturing prey from seafloor crevices or under sea ice. Larger prey is softened before swallowing. They forage near nesting sites during breeding, eating various fish species, fish eggs, and marine creatures including segmented worms, squid, and crabs.
Habitat
Pigeon Guillemot occupies rocky coastlines and island environments, preferring to nest in burrows or crevices near rich foraging waters. Key habitats include tidal rips, kelp forests, and upwelling zones, which provide plentiful food sources. Post-breeding, some venture offshore or to continental shelfbreaks. In winter, they either migrate to icy regions or stay in sheltered bays, inhabiting areas from sea-level to continental slopes.
Nest Behavior
Males of pigeon Guillemot often select and prepare nesting sites. Nest construction is minimal, focusing on a scraped depression. This species' egg-laying and parental care behaviors are shared between both parents, ensuring the protection and development of their young.
Nest Characteristics
Pigeon Guillemot typically nest above the high-tide mark on rocky coasts, within cliff crevices, gaps between boulders, burrows, or human-made structures. Their nests are simple scrapes or collections of stones, bones, and seashells with a central depression.
Dite type
Piscivorous
People often ask
General Info
Feeding Habits
Bird food type
Behavior
Pigeon Guillemots exhibit strong social monogamy, often retaining pair bonds across multiple breeding seasons. Their daily activities are largely influenced by the time of year, with springtime characterized by courtship rituals such as chasing, circling, and distinctive underwater pursuits. These birds have a unique way of using their vividly colored feet during courtship displays on land. Nest site defense and maintenance are typically the male's responsibility, while both partners take equal parts in egg incubation and chick feeding. Once hatched, chicks depart the nest without parental accompaniment between 4 to 8 weeks of age. Pigeon Guillemots interact with their environment through solitary or small colonial nesting, which is frequently on island habitats.
Distribution Area
The pigeon guillemot ranges across the Northern Pacific, from the Kuril Islands and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia to coasts in western North America from Alaska to California. This bird's wintering range is more restricted than its breeding season range, the pigeon guillemot usually wintering at sea or on the coasts, from the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands to Hokkaido and southern California. In Alaska, some migrate south because of advancing sea-ice, although others remain in ice leads or ice holes some distance from the edge of the ice sheet. Further south, birds banded in the Farallon Islands in central California have been recorded moving north, as far as Oregon and even British Columbia. It generally is philopatric, meaning it returns to the colony where it hatched to breed, but it sometimes moves long distances after fledging before settling, for example a chick ringed in the Farallones was recorded breeding in British Columbia. This bird's breeding habitats are rocky shores, cliffs, and islands close to shallow water less than 50 m (160 ft) deep. It is flexible about its breeding site location, the important factor being protection from predators, and it is more commonly found breeding on offshore islands than coastal sea cliffs. In the winter it forages along rocky coasts, often in sheltered coves. Sandy-bottomed water is avoided, presumably because this does not provide the right habitat to feed in. It occasionally can be found further offshore, as far as the continental shelf break. In the Bering Sea and Alaska, it feeds in openings in ice sheets.
Species Status
Not globally threatened.
Scientific Classification
Phylum
Chordates Class
Birds Order
Shorebirds Family
Alcidae Genus
Guillemots Species
Pigeon Guillemot 
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