A rare Guillemot?
I think this is the first time I have managed to photograph Brunnich's and Common Guillemots side by side (aka Thick-billed and Common Murres in America). In Britain Common Guillemot is common and Brunnich's is incredibly rare but in Svalbard the opposite is true. There are hundreds of thousands of pairs of Brunnich's but just a couple of hundred pairs of Commons (though many Common Guillemots breed on Bjornoya, halfway between Norway and Svalbard). Many birds that birders think of as rare in Britain are common somewhere in the world.
Now for the comparison; the Common Guillemot is the bird left of centre with the longer, thinner, all-dark bill (lacking the pale tomium stripe). All the books tell you that Brunnich's are noticeably blacker than the browner Common Guillemots, but they look the same colour to me. That's because Guillemots breeding in Svalbard are of the race hyperborea that is larger and has black plumage compared with our British breeders. It is also supposed to have more streaking on the flanks but they look pretty clean to me. Finally, the rarer bridled form with white spectacles like this: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/51245839831/in/photolist is the most prevalent form in hyperborea, with about 57% having spectacles. So that chances of photographing this, our only Common Guillemot of the trip, without spectacles was less than 50:50.
A rare Guillemot?
I think this is the first time I have managed to photograph Brunnich's and Common Guillemots side by side (aka Thick-billed and Common Murres in America). In Britain Common Guillemot is common and Brunnich's is incredibly rare but in Svalbard the opposite is true. There are hundreds of thousands of pairs of Brunnich's but just a couple of hundred pairs of Commons (though many Common Guillemots breed on Bjornoya, halfway between Norway and Svalbard). Many birds that birders think of as rare in Britain are common somewhere in the world.
Now for the comparison; the Common Guillemot is the bird left of centre with the longer, thinner, all-dark bill (lacking the pale tomium stripe). All the books tell you that Brunnich's are noticeably blacker than the browner Common Guillemots, but they look the same colour to me. That's because Guillemots breeding in Svalbard are of the race hyperborea that is larger and has black plumage compared with our British breeders. It is also supposed to have more streaking on the flanks but they look pretty clean to me. Finally, the rarer bridled form with white spectacles like this: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/51245839831/in/photolist is the most prevalent form in hyperborea, with about 57% having spectacles. So that chances of photographing this, our only Common Guillemot of the trip, without spectacles was less than 50:50.