General
Black Guillemot: Medium-sized seabird, all black with large white wing patch, bright red feet, and dark, pointed bill. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has black-and-white mottled upperparts and white underparts. Juvenile resembles winter adult but has darker head, mottled partial collar, and barred wing patches.
Range and Habitat
Black Guillemot: Breeds from Arctic Alaska and Canada south along Atlantic coast to Maine. Spends winters south to the Bering Sea and Long Island (rarely); also winters in northern Europe, Scandinavia, and Alaska. Preferred habitats include rocky coasts.
Breeding and Nesting
Black Guillemot: One to two white eggs, sometimes tinted blue-green, with black, brown, and gray markings, are laid in a nest made of debris and small stones, and built under a rock either on a bare surface or on loose pebbles. Incubation ranges from 23 to 39 days and is carried out by both parents.
Foraging and Feeding
Black Guillemot: Eats polychaetes, mollusks, jellyfish, crustaceans, sponges, crabs, barnacles, and fish; forages by diving from the surface.
Vocalization
Black Guillemot: Call is a weak, high-pitched whistle of "peeee."
Similar Species
Black Guillemot: Pigeon Guillemot has dark wing linings and axillaries, and black bar on white shoulder patch.