Pigeon Guillemot

Overview

Pigeon Guillemot: Medium-sized seabird with black body and large white wing patches interrupted by black bars. Wings are paler below. Bill is black, pointed, and long. Legs and feet are bright red. Feeds on crustaceans, mollusks and marine worms. Strong swift direct flight low over water.

Range and Habitat

Pigeon Guillemot: Breeds on coasts and islands from southern Alaska south to southern California; spends winters offshore.

INTERESTING FACTS

The Pigeon Guillemot often scales vertical rock faces by vigorous flapping of its wings combined with the use of the sharp claws on its webbed feet.
Because they feed their chicks constantly throughout the day, the chicks fledge faster than equivalent sized auks that are only fed at night
It is one of the few members of the auk and puffin family to lay two eggs. Nearly all others lay only one egg.
A group of guillemots are collectively known as a "bazaar" and a "loomery" of guillemots.

The Pigeon Guillemot has a vast range, reaching between 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 square kilometers. This bird can be found in Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan and the Russian Federation. It prefers a marine environment and can be found in tide pools, rocky shoreline, sea cliffs and freshwater bodies as well. The global population of this bird is estimated to be around 470,000 individual birds. It is not believed that the population trends for this species will soon approach the minimum levels that could suggest a potential decline in population. Due to this, population trends for the Pigeon Guillemot have a present evaluation level of Least Concern.