Profile
In flight
Seabirds
Black Guillemot
Cepphus grylle
- rare
- 55 km/h
- Least Concern
Coal-black with shocking white wing patches and bright red feet. Carries fish back to chicks in rocky cliff cracks.
- Population
- 400,000–1,499,999 mature individuals (global, IUCN/BirdLife 2018 assessment; preliminary estimate 410,000–1,484,000)
- Habitat
- Coastal marine waters near rocky shores, sea cliffs, and rocky offshore islands; nests in crevices and boulder cavities, forages in shallow subtidal zones typically within 5 km of the coast
- Fun fact
- Unlike most auks, the Black Guillemot lays two eggs instead of one and shows striking white wing patches against otherwise all-black breeding plumage, with bright coral-red feet and mouth lining.
- Range
- Circumpolar in the North Atlantic and Arctic, breeding between roughly 43° and 82°N — from the British Isles and Scandinavia through Greenland and Arctic Canada to Alaska and northern Russia; many northern populations are migratory, wintering in nearby open coastal waters
- Diet
- Benthic and demersal fish (sculpins, butterfish, rock gunnel, sand lance, herring, blennies, cod) plus crustaceans, mollusks, and other invertebrates, caught by diving typically 15–20 m (occasionally recorded to at least 43 m) — not the 10–130 m range in the prior draft, which is unsupported by any source found and inconsistent with the species' shallow, nearshore foraging habit
- Size
- 0.31 m
- Wingspan
- 0.55 m
- Lifespan
- 11 years
