top of page
Nature's Solace
Celebrating Nature in the Pacific Northwest
Pigeon guillemot - Cepphus columba
Pigeon guillemots are social seabirds living with their colony. The colony may be a couple of pairs to hundreds of birds.
A member of the Alcid family of birds and a bird of the Pacific coastline, the pigeon guillemots are the ones with the somewhat comical red feet and red mouths to match. And they are the subject of an annual summer survey along the beaches of the Salish Sea. Every summer, volunteers set up their weekly early morning watch as part of the Pigeon Guillemot Breeding Survey. The survey typically runs from June through August during the breeding season and is almost entirely conducted by community volunteers.
It's totally been my pleasure to participate in this survey, giving me the chance to get to "know" the pigeon guillemots, affectionately known as PIGUs, beyond the casual sighting.
Wnter non-breeding plumage/ or juvenile - the Pigus of Washington may be year round residents. However, there are usually more in Puget Sound in the winter - some may be migrating north from southern areas. See Range map
Summer breeding plumage - black overall with white wing patch.
During the winter, Pigus can be found feeding offshore. But then as breeding season approaches from April to September, they typically return to their native breeding colony. Locations include the beaches near my home. They will seek mates and re-establish their pair bond with a variety of courtship behaviors including the aerial "dance", flying side by side in large circles and loops, perfectly synchronized. In addition, you can see bill touching and chases on the water. It's especially fun if you're lucky to catch them on the beach, marching in circles showing off their red feet.
Their nests may be in a rock cavity or burrow in a sandy bluff - one which was dug by others, such as the kingfisher.
They've also been seen to nest near ferry docks. Pigus mate for life, with both helping to incubate the eggs and then bring food, sharing in the care of their young until they fledge. One or two eggs are laid and hatched in 32 days. The chicks will fledge in 35 days.
Our job as volunteer surveyors is to watch for Pigus flying to and entering their burrow. At first they are empty billed as they create their nest, lay eggs and incubate them. We anxiously wait for the sign that chicks have been hatched. Bills are no longer empty as they carry typically sculpins and gunnels to the nest - a successful hatching!
One of the most curious behaviors is seeing the Pigu on the water carrying prey in her/his bill. Rather than promptly delivering the food, the parent will carry the prey in her/his bill for upward to 45 minutes. Then, when delivery time is due, he/she will fly in a wide circle, sometimes accompanied by the mate and perhaps one more, before picking up speed to close in on and enter the burrow.
The following video shows a mated pair holding onto the prey - which they had been holding for many minutes - and then finally flying off to make the delivery. Both quickly delivered to the same nest and just as quickly flew back to the water to hunt for more, capable of diving up to 150 feet! This double delivery probably indicated that there were two chicks. Food is delivered one fish at a time with up to 16 deliveries per day per chick.
A pair, perhaps, resting near their burrow on Bachelor Rock in Freshwater Bay, near Port Angeles, Wa. Pigus do their best to choose nest sites protected from predators. Unfortuately, one summer a raccoon raided the nest and their breeding season was cut short. There were six burrows at this site.
This burrow (right) was located on a bluff just west of the paper mill in Port Angeles. This was the successful site of the mated pair shown in the video. There were three burrows in this bluff site.
Once fledged, the young are unable to fly for two weeks and will practice diving, without the help of parents, for the kind of prey that their parents fed them Breeding age isn't until 3-5 years. The oldest recorded Pigu was at least 17 years of age.
I often saw them in threesomes - I don't know why.
Pigeon guillemots are the most easily seen Alcid during breeding seaso because they feed in the benthic zone, within eyeshot of the shore. And their summer breeding and nesting habit brings them onshore and to the beach.
Resources:
All About Birds
Audubon
bottom of page