Max Micklin, age 12, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for his question:
Are guillemots really penguins?
The penguins populate the south polar regions. None are native to the northern hemisphere except for perhaps a few living on the Galapagos Islands, which straddle the equator. The guillemots are at home in the northern seas. They wear black and white penguin type uniforms and stand erect on their wide, webbed feet. Sometimes it is easy to mistake them for small penguins, but the two bird groups are not related.
Life among the northern guillemots is a rowdy rabble of moanings and groanings, punctuated with dashing flights and splashing plunges into the sea. Life among the southern penguins is somewhat more sedate and no penguin ever takes to the air. The guillemots are classed in the Alcidae bird family, a term coined from an older Scandinavian name for the auk. Penguins are classed in the family, Spheniscidae, a term which refers to their wedge shaped, flightless wings.
Hence, it is quite safe to say that the guillemots are not penguins. However, they look a lot like small penguins and in the northern hemisphere they occupy a niche similar to that occupied by the penguin south of the equator. Both families are expert marine fishermen and catch their food by using their wings to swim underwater.
The common guillemot wears penguin black and white and stands 16 inches tall on big blue black feet. The so called black guillemot stands 13 inches tall on big bright red feet. Instead of a white vest, he wears white patches on and under his sturdy wings.
Though guillemots belong to the Arctic and sub Arctic, in winter they migrate to seas and shores as far south as Spain and San Francisco. Small flocks patrol the waves, flying follow the leader and plunging down insplashy dives. The fast wings that keep them in the air serve equally well as sturdy paddles when they swim under water. The guillemots gorge mostly on butterfish and sand eels, though shrimp and prawns and even occasional crabs are welcome. .
In early spring the flocks migrate northward for the crowded, rowdy nesting season. The common guillemot's preferred breeding site is a high rocky shore, where small ledges step up the sides of a steep cliff. Kittiwakes, shags and smaller cousins of the auk clan occupy the lower ledges. The penthouse apartments of this cliff dwelling community is crowded with guillemots shoulder to shoulder.
Guillemot courtship is a noisy community ritual, with elaborate games and dances in and on the water. Observers suspect that these birds need the rowdy excitement of a large flock in order to breed. The common guillemot lays only one large speckled egg, shaped like a pear. It is less likely to roll away than a round egg. Nevertheless, every season many eggs and fluffy chicks fall or are jostled from their lofty ledges.