Champion Divers

ALSO called murres, guillemots are diving seabirds living along both coasts of the Atlantic and in the Baltic and White seas.

Adult guillemots have been known to make dives to depths of 50 metres or more. Once a guillemot was caught in a fishing net at a depth of 73 metres.

Guillemots may be between 24 to 33 cm in length and weigh about 900 gm. They have black heads, black bills and black and yellow feet.

The pigeon guillemot lives on the Pacific coast of North America and off Hokkaido island in Japan. The spectacled guillemot lives in the Kuerile islands in the Northern Pacific.

Adult guillemots feed on large fish. They catch these by active pursuit underwater. Guillemots, in fact fly under water, beating half open wings and using their webbed feet as propellers.

Guillemots are highly social, particularly during the breeding season and breed sometimes in enormous numbers in colonies, called bazaars or loomeries. The guillemot eggs are placed on the bare rock, sometimes with a few stones that the bird has accumulated. The nests are usually on the ledges of steep cliffs, sometimes hundreds of feet above water. They lay only one egg although there is considerable loss of eggs and young.

Guillemot eggs are colourful with markings ranging from bright red or brown to deep black and greenish black. Occasionally there may be no markings at all. The variations helps prevent confusion as guillemots identify their own eggs on the basis of colour and marking patterns. The variations also protect the eggs from predatory gulls and ravens. A guillemot egg is pear shaped to help prevent it from rolling off the cliff edge.