The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Rain, sun, wind...insects, birds, flowers...meteorites, rocks...seasonal changes...all are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
later summer 2014
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
That would be a Pigeon Guillemot and a Saddleback Gunnel doing battle in the eelgrass bay near my house.
(All photos by me. In Lightbox...click to enlarge)
Usually Guillemots are farther out, in deep water and swift currents. That's true with alcids in general, the Murres, Murrelets and Rhinos too. I saw quite a few Guillemots in the last couple of days bringing the boat down from Vancouver Island, in pretty rough tidal rips. So it was fun to see them from a kayak in relatively still water near shore for a change.
Guillemots are small seabirds that can fly more easily under water than above, able to dive 150 feet deep for fish if need be. In this shallow bay there's no need for that: this is an eelgrass bed no more than 20' deep. And there are gunnels galore among the strands below.
Gunnels are eel-like fish that live mostly in the north Pacific Ocean. Of the 15 species of gunnels in the world, 6 of them live here in the Salish Sea. They are a major food source for seabirds, seals and otters.
A study performed on neighboring Whidbey Island found that half to two thirds of the diet of Pigeon Guillemots is composed of gunnels. This one here, as best as I can judge from its markings, is a Saddleback Gunnel (Pholis ornata). The Guillemot has caught it but is having some trouble ingesting this long slithery creature. Twice the bird spit it out to reposition it better.
Sorry for the out-of-focus pic, but I thought you might be as fascinated as I am how the Guillemot actually regurgitates the Gunnel, and pushes it around in the water so it can be swallowed properly. When you have no hands or implements...!
Now it's down the hatch. We can get a brief glimpse of the Pigeon Guillemot's bright red tongue, which matches its bright scarlet legs.
This is the time of year when seabirds are shifting into their winter plumage, and all the alcids I've been seeing recently are between mid-change and full winter look. The adult Guillemots moult out of their mostly jet black into a gray speckly plumage, which is very similar to that of the juveniles hatched this year. I can't be sure about these birds, which have been in the bay for about a week now, but one clear difference is that while adults keep their big white wing patches even through the winter, the youngsters are speckly overall, like these birds. If so, these are just a few months old. Pigeon Guillemots (Cepphus columba) nest on the ground in protected places, producing 2 eggs which are incubated and the chicks fed by both parents. By the middle of August, food deliveries have ceased, and the youngsters flutter down to the water, on their own from then on. This bay with its abundant gunnels would be a good place to find food and practice technique. Based on their appearance and awkward feeding behavior, I think they are juveniles, but I'd be happy to hear opinions from bird watchers who know more about Guillemots.
It was a bit of a struggle for this Guillemot, but it prevailed over the Gunnel :)
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Nature news in your neighborhood? Any animals born this year you've seen learning survival skills?
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