Guillemot

Scientific name

     Uria aalge

     Gaelic name

     Eun Dubh an Sgadain

It's me again... Gordon, do you remember?

Oops, I forgot to introduce myself before... I'm so impolite.. So let me start again...

Hello, my name is Gordon and i'm a Guillemot. There are 2 species of Guillemots: the Guillemot and the Black Guillemot which is my cousin!

Physical Description

Guillemots like me can measure 38 to 45 cm tall (look at your school rule!). They can weigh 850 to 1130 g which is as much heavy as 3 foot balls!

Normally their colour is chocolate but for reasons unknown in Scotland and around Mull we appear almost black! They are white underneath.

The Black Guillemots (our cousins) are completely black except their wings which are white and their legs are red.

They can be confused with Razorbills because Razorbills are as well black above and white underneath. But Guillemots have a thin pointed beak.

Guillemots can live up to 32 years.

Feeding

Guillemots eat small fish, sand eels which are very important

during the summer, sometimes crustaceans.

Behaviour

Guillemots live in colonies and are very noisy.

They come on land only to nest, spending the rest of their life at sea.

As Razorbills, Guillemots have to be careful their eggs because they can fall down the cliff. That's why they have a special shape like a pear!

They dive to obtain food; they can dive very deep (more than 50 metres).

Threats

Before 1930's, Guillemots and their eggs were taken for food, and adults were shot for sport. Now, Guillemots are threatened by oil spills and egg collectors.

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