Gary,

A quite rare morph of Pigeon Guillemot that is all black was described from museum specimens by Robert Storer, who wrote a monograph on the murres and guillemots in 1952. I think this plumage was observed only in juveniles, which might explain the dull color of the feet in your bird.

Craig Johnson photographed one of these at Keystone on Whidbey Island in Oct. 2006. I have never seen one.

Dennis
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net

On Aug 14, 2011, at 12:00 PM, tweeters-request at mailman1.u.washington.edu wrote:

> Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2011 11:29:09 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Gary Bletsch <garybletsch at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Tweeters] odd guillemot
> To: tweeters tweeters <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
> Message-ID:
> <1313346549.15738.YahooMailClassic at web161205.mail.bf1.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> Dear Tweeters,
>
> This bird showed up on August 9, 2011, but I've not thought to post a question about it until today. Here are my notes:
>
> Pigeon Guillemot :::: Green Point, WA Pk
> Aug 9, 2011
> ; also one odd, all-dark guillemot, like PIGU adult with no trace of white
>
> This one guillemot was very close to shore for ten minutes, but I didn't think to take a photo. Its bill was exactly the same shape as expected on a Pigeon Guillemot, not at all short or triangular like that of a Cassin's Auklet or a Rhinoceros Auklet. Still, the bird's wings had no white at all. The whole plumage was blackish slaty, with no trace of brown, including the upper and lower surfaces of the wings. The bird would dive away from me, with its feet toward me, and not once in ten dives did any red show up--although a Pigeon Guillemot would be expected to show red feet. I thought I saw a tiny bit of pale around the bird's eyes a few times, but this bird was clearly not a Cassin's Auklet. The only thing I can find in my bird books is the "snowi" race of the Pigeon Guillemot, but that is from NE Asia, and not expected here. Perhaps this bird was just an abnormal Pigeon Guillemot.
>
> Do any Tweeters have any ideas on this?
>
> Yours truly,
>
> Gary Bletsch




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