Guillemot

Guillemot, common name for five northern species of seabird of the auk family. Two species, the common guillemot and the Brunnich’s guillemot, are known as murres in the United States. The black guillemot occurs in North America and northern Eurasia; the common guillemot’s range is similar, but extends further to the south in Europe; Brunnich’s guillemot is confined to Iceland and Norway; the pigeon guillemot is found on the Pacific coast of North America; and the spectacled guillemot inhabits coastal cliffs and rocky shores of eastern Eurasia. The common guillemot is black above, with white underparts, which extend to the head in winter. At 42 cm (17 in) long, it is the largest of the guillemots and, like all of these birds, lays only one egg.

The black guillemot breeds from the Arctic south to Maine in the United States and to southern Ireland in Europe. The pigeon guillemot breeds from Alaska to southern California. Neither species goes much further south in winter. The two look very similar. In summer much of the plumage is black except for a large white patch on the wings (invaded by a black triangle in the pigeon guillemot); the underside of the wings is white in the black guillemot, blackish in the pigeon guillemot. In winter both are white, mottled with black on the back. They nest on coasts and coastal islands, but not, unlike other members of the auk family, in dense colonies. All guillemots are deep-sea feeders, diving to the seabed for food.

Scientific classification: Guillemots belong to the family Alcidae of the order Charadriiformes. The black guillemot is classified as Cepphus grylle, the common guillemot as Uria aalge, Brunnich’s guillemot as Uria lomvia, the pigeon guillemot as Cepphus columba, and the spectacled guillemot as Cepphus carbo.