A Guillemot with a flatfish for its chick.

Pigeon guillemots are bright little seabirds, half the size of murres but bigger than murrelets. Their vivid red bill, legs, and feet make them easy to spot as they lounge about in small groups on coastal rocks. If you see them floating near the shore holding a freshly-caught fish in their bill, and the air fills with their eerie, trilling calls, you have probably stumbled upon a pigeon guillemot colony.

Pigeon guillemots are a relatively unusual member of the alcid family. Like its brother alcids, the pigeon guillemot hunts for fish by ‘flying’ underwater with half-folded wings. But instead of flying many kilometers out to sea to find fish schools, the pigeon guillemot stays close to the rocky coast and searches for fish prey in relatively shallow waters and within a few kilometers of their nest. In our study area, this species breeds only in very small ‘colonies’ of 5-20 nests spread out along a rocky coast. Pigeon guillemots nest in natural cavities in cliff faces, often taking advantage of features such as overhanging tree roots for shelter. They lay two eggs, unlike most other alcids which lay only one. But they are not always able to raise two healthy chicks from those eggs; their ability to do so appears to depend on the quality of fish available to the foraging parents.

Pigeon Guillemots on the water. Photo by T. Van Pelt.

The colorful calls of the Pigeon Guillemot. Photo by M. Shultz.