Black guillemot

The black guillemot or tystie (Cepphus grylle) is a medium-sized

seabird of the alcid family, Alcidae, native throughout northern Black guillemot
Atlantic coasts and eastern North American coasts. It is resident in
much of its range, but large populations from the high arctic
migrate southwards in winter. The bird can be seen in and around
its breeding habitat of rocky shores, cliffs and islands in single or
smalls groups of pairs. They feed mainly by diving towards the
sea floor feeding on fish, crustaceans or other benthic
invertebrates. They are listed on the IUCN red list as a species of
least concern.
Black guillemot resting on a cliff in
Both sexes have very similar appearances with black plumage and
a large white patch on the upper side of their wings in summer. Reykjanes, Iceland
The bill is also black, being rather long and slender, while the feet Conservation status
are coral-red. In winter adult underparts are white and the
upperparts are a pale grey with the back and shoulders exhibiting
barred light grey and white patterning.

The birds breed in solitary pairs or small groups during their Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)[1]
breeding season starting in late February and early May. Breeding
Scientific classification
pairs will typically lay 2-egg clutches and raise 2 chicks to
fledging. Incubation typically lasts 28 to 32 days, once hatched Kingdom: Animalia
chicks receive care from the parents until they fledge aged 30 – 40
Phylum: Chordata
days. Once fledged chicks are totally independent and by age three
or four years they will be begin to re-join their natal colony. Class: Aves

The genus name Cepphus is from Ancient Greek kepphos, a pale Order: Charadriiformes
waterbird mentioned by Greek authors including Aristotle. The Family: Alcidae
species name grylle was the local dialect name for this bird in
Gotland at the time of Linnaeus's visit there in 1741.[2] The Genus: Cepphus
English word "guillemot" is from French guillemot probably Species: C. grylle
derived from Guillaume, "William".[3]
Binomial name
Cepphus grylle
Contents (Linnaeus, 1758)

Description
Taxonomy and Evolution
Distribution and habitat
Behaviour
References
Synonyms
Literature
Alca grylle Linnaeus, 1758
Description Colymbus grylle Linnaeus, 1766

The Black guillemot is a medium-sized bird with adults normally 30–32 cm (12–15 in) in length and with
wingspans of 52 –58 cm (21–23 in). The bodyweight can range from 300-460g (0.7 – 1 lb). Adults have
both summer and winter plumage and there is no sexual difference in this that can be identified in the field.
The English common name “Black Guillemot” references their strikingly black breeding summer plumage
which is totally black except for a large white patch on the upper side of their wings. During the summer
plumage, their legs, feet and inside of the mouth are all a bright coral-red, and their beak is a black. Adults
lose their summer plumage in an early fall moult where their upper plumage become barred with light grey
and white, their head is a pale grey, their underparts white, and legs and feet a pale red. They retain their
white wing patch, black beak and red inside their mouth. The call in the breeding season is a high whistle.
The red gape is also prominent then.

Juveniles and immatures can easily be identified by the spotting of the white wing patch with grey or brown
feathers and is easy to see even at far distances in the field.

Taxonomy and Evolution

There are five listed subspecies of the black guillemot:[4]

C. g. mandtii – (Lichtenstein, 1822): northeast Canada to Svalbard

to northern Siberia and northern Alaska
C. g. arcticus – (Brehm, 1824): northeast United States, southeast
Canada & south Greenland to the Ireland and Britain, southern
Showing red gape Scandinavia and the White Sea
C. g. islandicus – (Hørring, 1937): Iceland
C. g. faroeensis – (Brehm, 1831): Faroe Islands
C. g. grylle – (Linnaeus, 1758): Baltic Sea

Distribution and habitat

The Black Guillemot is a circumpolar species distributed in the boreal,
low arctic and high arctic regions of the north Atlantic and arctic oceans
and breeding between 43° and 82°N. The 5 listed subspecies inhabit
different parts of this range. In North America they can be found as far
south as the Gulf of Maine and New England and across parts of the
Winter plumage off the coast of
northern coast of North America as far as Alaska, where they are
Maine
replaced by the pigeon guillemot in the North Pacific. In Europe and
Asia they are found from the British Isles and Northward across the
northern coast of Asia. They are one of the few birds to breed on
Surtsey, Iceland, a new volcanic island. In the UK it is a fairly common breeding bird in western and
northern Scotland and Ireland. In the rest of Great Britain they only breed at St. Bees Head in Cumbria, the
Isle of Man and on east Anglesey in north Wales. Approximately 40% of the population breeds in the high
arctic where the largest colonies are found, 30% in the low arctic, and 30% in boreal waters. In the winter
some of the birds in the high arctic waters are forced south by the winter ice making them seasonal migrants,
but in more temperate zones the species is essentially resident.

Typically restricted to rocky shores, black guillemots utilize the cliffs, crevices and boulders for their nests,
hunting the inshore waters for benthic prey. Compared to other auks they forage fairly close to the colony, in
the breeding season mostly in inshore waters more than 50m in depth, farther afield in the winter months.
Behaviour
One of the early ornithologists that described aspects of the behaviour of the black guillemot was Edmund
Selous (1857-1934) in his book The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands (1905).[5] In the chapter titled 'From the
Edge of a Precipice'[6] he writes for instance that sometimes the black guillemots carry a fish they have
caught in their beak for hours. He also gives further details about the behaviour.

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

References
1. BirdLife International (2012). "Cepphus grylle" (https://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22694861/0).
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN. 2012. Retrieved 26 November 2013.
2. Jobling, James A (2010). The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names. London: Christopher
Helm. pp. 96, 180. ISBN 978-1-4081-2501-4.
3. "Guillemot" (http://oed.com/search?searchType=dictionary&q=Guillemot). Oxford English
Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. September 2005. (Subscription or UK public library
membership (https://www.oed.com/public/login/loggingin#withyourlibrary) required.)
4. Gill, Frank; Donsker, David, eds. (2019). "Noddies, gulls, terns, auks" (https://www.worldbirdna
mes.org/bow/gulls/). World Bird List Version 9.2. International Ornithologists' Union. Retrieved
24 June 2019.
5. Selous (1905).
6. Selous (1905), p. 68f.

Literature
Leonard, K. 2008. Black Guillemots on the Copeland Islands in 2008. Annual Report for 2008.
Copeland Bird Observatory. p. 50.
Selous, Edmund (1905). The Bird Watcher in the Shetlands – via Wikisource.

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This page was last edited on 20 January 2020, at 21:57 (UTC).

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