Pigeon guillemot

Pigeon guillemot
From Kodiak
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:

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

Notes

  1. ↑ BirdLife International (2012). "Cepphus columba". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2013.2. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 26 November 2013.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Cepphus columba.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 21, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.