Header photo by Govinda Holtby.
Pigeon Guillemots, Cepphus columba, are members of the Alcid family. Commonly referred to as auks, this family includes puffins, auklets, murres, murrelets, and two other species of guillemots. There are five breeding species of alcids in Washington state, but Pigeon Guillemots are the only species that breeds in the interior of the Salish Sea. Their preference for coastal bluffs for breeding and role in the nearshore subtidal communities makes them an important species, an indicator of overall health of marine environments.
Though they are not large, spend most of their time in the water, and don’t breed in huge colonies like many other acids, Pigeon Guillemots are striking birds both visually and behaviourally. They are medium-sized, around 13inches long, with an entirely dark body aside from obvious white wing patches and brilliant red feet and inner mouth lining. There is no mistaking their presence for much of the year as they are active and vocal birds, particularly during the breeding season, when they actively call and dive near their breeding territories.
Though they are not large, spend most of their time in the water, and don’t breed in huge colonies like many other acids, Pigeon Guillemots are striking birds both visually and behaviourally. They are medium-sized, around 13inches long, with an entirely dark body aside from obvious white wing patches and brilliant red feet and inner mouth lining. There is no mistaking their presence for much of the year as they are active and vocal birds, particularly during the breeding season, when they actively call and dive near their breeding territories.
Pigeon Guillemots inhabit the near shore environment along the Pacific coast of North America, from California to Alaska, and into the Bering Sea west along the northwest Pacific coastline of Russia. Rough estimates indicate their total population at 235,000.
Typical of many seabirds, Pigeon Guillemots dive under water to feed and are supremely adapted to this manner of foraging. Using their short stubby wings to “fly” under water, the birds follow a zigzag course to rocky seabeds where they search for benthic fish and invertebrates (like the sculpin in the photo below). The birds typically feed in water 10 to 30 meters deep.
Pigeon Guillemots live and feed offshore except during April through September when they return to land to breed. During those months they usually come back to their natal breeding grounds along steep rocky or sandy cliffs and predator-free islets. They typically select rock cavities or previously carved out burrows for nesting, like the old burrows of Belted Kingfishers. While colonies in natural sites are most common, this doesn’t stop colonies from establishing in busy locations like ferry docks across the Salish Sea.
Early in the season guillemots reestablish their pair bond (they mate for life) by billing, singing, shuffling around each other and participating in “water games," chasing each other around the water. This is typically done near the colony well before breeding begins.
Pigeon Guillemot colonies range in size from a couple pairs to hundreds of birds.
Inside their burrows, guillemots typically lay two eggs, which are incubated for approximately 32 days. After the chicks hatch, both parents catch and carry small fish—mainly gunnels, sculpins, sandlance and herring—to the fuzzy, dark brown chicks. The chicks consume the entire fish whole. As the youngsters grow their parents feed them larger fish until the young are ready to leave the burrow, after about 35 days.
Juvenile guillemots fledge (leave the burrows) by themselves, usually under cover of darkness. They flutter and tumble from their high burrows and scurry to the nearby sea. For the first two weeks the fledglings are flightless, but they feed themselves by diving underwater for the same prey their parents once fed them. Once they develop flight feathers, the young birds quickly depart the colony and seek out more distant feeding areas.
Around the time they fledge, juvenile guillemots molt into “winter” plumage, which is generally sooty white with mottled wing patches and grayish heads. In the fall, the adults also molt into their similarly colored non-breeding plumage. When all the young have fledged, the adults also leave the onshore colonies to feed offshore throughout the winter. Each spring the birds return again to the bluff colonies and the cycle continues.