>Cepphus carbo

Spectacled Guillemot

Spectacled Guillemot
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Alcidae
Genus:	Cepphus
Species:	C. carbo
Binomial name
Cepphus carbo Pallas, 1811

The Spectacled, or Sooty Guillemot, Cepphus carbo, is a seabird in the auk family.

Description

This species is about 38 cm (15") long, with red legs, black bill and a blackish iris.

The breeding adult Spectacled Guillemot is distinctive, mostly plumaged dull sooty-black except for conspicuous white 'spectacles' on the face

In adult non-breeding plumage, the underparts are white, uniformly tipped very pale grey-brown. Transitional birds are like breeding adults, except the underparts are scaled with white.

Sexes are alike, but juveniles are separable from adults. There are no subspecies.

Range

The Spectacled Guillemot's range is restricted to the northwestern Pacific Ocean: throughout the Sea of Okhotsk and the Kuril Islands in Russia and on the northern island of Hokkaidō inJapan. Its range overlaps with that of the closely related Pigeon Guillemot, though it extends further north.

>Cepphus columba (Pigeon Guillemot)

Pigeon Guillemot

Pigeon Guillemot
Pigeon Guillemots, Vancouver, BC
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Alcidae
Genus:	Cepphus
Species:	C. columba
Binomial name
Cepphus columba (Pallas, 1811)

The Pigeon Guillemot (Cepphus columba) is a medium-sized alcid endemic to the Pacific. They closely resemble the other members of the genus Cepphus, particularly the Black Guillemot, which is slightly smaller.

Adult birds have black bodies with a white wing patch broken by a black wedge, a thin dark bill and red legs and feet. They are similar in appearance to the Black Guillemot but show dark wing linings in flight. In winter, the upper parts are mottled grey and black and the underparts are white. They walk well and habitually have an upright posture.

Pigeon Guillemot at sea

Their breeding habitat is rocky shores, cliffs and islands on northern 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.

A Pigeon Guillemot emerging from its nest (the hole in the cliff).

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.

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), cods, capelin, and crabs. Chick diet varies slightly, with more fish than invertebrates, particularly rockfish.

Gallery

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>Cepphus grylle (Black Guillemot)

Black Guillemot

Black Guillemot
Black Guillemot resting on a cliff in Reykjanes, Iceland
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Suborder:	Lari
Family:	Alcidae
Genus:	Cepphus
Species:	C. grylle
Binomial name
Cepphus grylle (Linnaeus, 1758)

The Black Guillemot or Tystie (Cepphus grylle) is a medium-sized alcid.Adult birds have black bodies with a white wing patch, a thin dark bill, and red legs and feet. They show white wing linings in flight. In winter, the upperparts are pale grey and the underparts are white. The wings remain black with the large white patch on the inner wing. They are 32–38 cm in length, and with a 49–58 cm wingspan.

Pair resting, Elliston, Newfoundland and Labrador

Flying in Scotland

Their breeding habitat is rocky shores, cliffs and islands on northern Atlantic coasts in eastern North America as far south as Maine, and in western Europe as far south as Ireland.They are one of the few birds to breed on Surtsey, Iceland a new volcanic island. In the UK it is fairly common breeding bird in western and northern Scotland
 and Northern Ireland. In the rest of Great Britain they only breed at St. Bees Head in Cumbria, theIsle of Man and on east Anglesey in north Wales. Some birds breed in Alaska where their range overlaps with the Pigeon Guillemot. They usually lay their eggs in rocky sites near water.

These birds often overwinter in their breeding areas, moving to open waters if necessary, but usually not migrating very far south.

They dive for food from the surface, swimming underwater. They mainly eat fish and crustaceans, also some mollusks, insects and plant material.

The call in the breeding season is a high whistle. The red gape is also prominent then.

Showing red gape

Winter plumage off the coast of Maine

>>Genus Cepphus

Cepphus

Cepphus
Black Guillemot.
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Alcidae
Genus:	Cepphus Pallas, 1769
species
C. grylle C. columba C. carbo

Cepphus is a genus of seabirds in the auk family also referred to as true guillemots or, in North America, simply as guillemots. These are medium-sized birds with mainly black plumage in the breeding season, thin dark bills and red legs and feet. Two species have white wing patches, the third has white facial “spectacles”. They are much paler in winter plumage, mottled above and white below.

The breeding habitat is rocky shores and islands on the coasts of the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They usually lay their eggs in rocky sites near water.

These birds may overwinter in their breeding areas, moving to open waters if necessary, but usually not migrating very far south.

They dive for food from the surface, swimming underwater. They mainly eat fish and crustaceans, also some molluscs, insects and plant material.

The species are:

• Black Guillemot or Tystie, Cepphus grylle
• Pigeon Guillemot, Cepphus columba
• Spectacled Guillemot, Cepphus carbo

There are also fossil forms

• Cepphus olsoni (San Luis Rey River Late Miocene - Early Pliocene of W USA)
• Cepphus cf. columba (Lawrence Canyon Early Pliocene of W USA)
• Cepphus cf. grylle (San Diego Late Pliocene, W USA)

The latter two resemble the extant species, but because of the considerable distance in time or space from their current occurrence may represent distinct species.