Pigeon guillemot

Pigeon guillemot
File:2010-pigeon-guillemot.jpg
From Kodiak
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Alcidae
Genus:	Cepphus
Species:	C. columba
Binomial name
Cepphus columba (Pallas, 1811)
Subspecies
5, see text

The pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba) is a species of bird in the auk family, Alcidae. It is endemic to the Pacific Ocean. It closely resembles the other members of the genus Cepphus, particularly the black guillemot, which is slightly smaller and lacks dark wing lines.

Description

Adult birds have black bodies with a white wing patch broken by a black wedge, a thin dark bill and red legs and feet. In winter, the upper parts are mottled grey and black and the underparts are white. They walk well and habitually have an upright posture.

Breeding

Their breeding habitat is rocky shores, cliffs and islands, often forming small loose colonies. They usually lay their eggs in rocky cavities near water, but will often nest in any available cavity including caves, disused burrows of other seabirds and even old bomb casings. Unlike many alcids, pigeon guillemots are diurnal and lay two eggs. Because they can feed their chicks constantly throughout the day, the chicks fledge faster than equivalent sized auks that are only provisioned at night.

Range

Pigeon guillemots range across the Northern Pacific from the Kuril Islands and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Siberia to coasts in western North America from Alaska to California. After the breeding season birds in Alaska migrate south to open waters, whereas some birds from California move north to the waters off British Columbia. Birds usually return to their natal colony to breed.

Subspecies

There are five listed subspecies of the pigeon guillemot:

• C. c. snowi (Stejneger, 1897) – northern & central Kuril Islands
• C. c. kaiurka (Portenko, 1937) – Commander Islands to west-central Aleutian Islands
• C. c. columba (Pallas, 1811) – northeast Siberia through the Bering Sea
• C. c. adiantus (Storer, 1950) – central Aleutian Islands to Washington
• C. c. eureka (Storer, 1950) – Oregon & California

Feeding

They dive for food from the surface, swimming underwater, feeding on benthic prey, which is usually obtained close to shore. They mainly eat fish and other aquatic animals, particularly sculpins, sandfish (Trichodon), cod, capelin, and crabs. Chick diet varies slightly, with more fish than invertebrates, particularly rockfish.

Gallery

• Pigeon Guillemot emerging from nest.jpg

  At cliffside nest

• Pigeon Guillemots,Vancouver 2008 155.jpg

  Adults

• Pigeon guillemot chick.JPG

  Chick

• Pigeon Guillemot underwater in Living Coasts.jpg

  Diving

References

• Artyukhin, Yu.B. and V.N. Burkanov (1999). Sea birds and marine mammals of the Russian Far East: a Field Guide, Мoscow: АSТ Publishing – 215 p. (Russian)
• Gaston, A. and I. Jones, Ian, (1998), The Auks, Alcidae, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-854032-9.
• Ewins, P. J. (1993). Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba). In: Poole, A. and F. Gill. (eds.) The Birds of North America, No. 49. Philadelphia: The Academy of Natural Sciences; Washington, D.C.: The American Ornithologists' Union.