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To the Beauty of Birds

The Black Guillemot or tystie (Cepphus grylle) is a medium-sized alcid.
Adult birds have black bodies with a white wing patch, a thin dark bill, and red legs, feet and mouth. They show white wing linings in flight. In winter, the upperparts are pale grey and the underparts are white. The wings remain black with the large white patch on the inner wing. They are 32–38 cm in length, and with a 49–58 cm wingspan.

Their breeding habitat is rocky shores, cliffs and islands on northern Atlantic coasts in eastern North America as far south as Maine, and in western Europe as far south as Ireland. They are one of the few birds to breed on Surtsey, Iceland a new volcanic island. In the UK it is a fairly common breeding bird in western and northern Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the rest of Great Britain they only breed at St. Bees Head in Cumbria, the Isle of Man and on east Anglesey in north Wales. Some birds breed in Alaska where their range overlaps with the pigeon guillemot. They usually lay their eggs in rocky sites near water.

There are five listed subspecies of the black guillemot.
They dive for food from the surface, swimming underwater. They mainly eat fish and crustaceans, also some mollusks, insects and plant material.

These photos were taken at Flatey Island, Iceland.

Black Guillemot

Black Guillemot l 8618

Black Guillemot landing 8639

Black Guillemot 5097