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10

Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) Alternate name(s): "Kittiwake" German name(s): "Dreizehenmöwe" Size: 37-42 cm; wing span: 0.9-1.05 m Weight: 305-525 g

Europe: Family Group 10 Family Group 10 Table Great Skua Caspian Gull Great Black-backed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull American Herring Gull European Herring Gull Yellow-legged Gull Audouin's Gull Slender-billed Gull Iceland Gull Common Gull Ring-billed Gull Black-headed Gull Bonaparte's Gull Mediterranean Gull Little Gull Black-legged Kittiwake Caspian Tern Sandwich Tern Gull-billed Tern Common Tern Arctic Tern Little Tern Forster's Tern Whiskered Tern Black Tern White-winged Black Tern Atlantic Puffin Razorbill Common Guillemot Black Guillemot Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

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Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Black-legged Kittiwakes are small, slender gull-like seabirds. The two sexes are identical, but they have different plumages during the breeding season and in eclipse. Adult breeding Black-legged Kittiwakes have an all-white head, neck and front. The mantle, back and upperwing coverts are light-grey. The primaries are two-toned light to pale grey, with solid-black triangular tips. In eclipse the nape of the neck turns light-grey and they develop a small grey patch above each eye and a larger one behind the eye. The irises are dark; the bill is greyish-yellow. As the name already suggests, the rather short legs and feet are dark-grey to black. Juvenile and first-winter Black-legged Kittiwakes roughly resemble adults in eclipse, but with a prominent black triangle on each upperwing creating a black "W" pattern in flight. Juveniles, in addition, have a black semi-collar on the nape of the neck.

Taxonomy, classification See Black-legged Kittiwake at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Black-legged Kittiwake is available HERE . There are two races of the Black-legged Kittiwake, which are a strongly migratory species of the northern hemisphere. Nominate race "tridactyla" is found in the northern Atlantic and the North Sea. They breed in western and northern Europe and on islands in the northern Atlantic and the Arctic, such as north-eastern Canada, Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard. Race "pollicaris" populates the northern Pacific. In Europe Black-legged Kittiwakes,n ominate race "tridactyla", are summer breeding migrants along the western coastline, mostly of the Bretagne, the British Isles and western and northern Scandinavia, as far as the Kola peninsula. There are also a few suitable sites on the western Iberian peninsula, Germany (Helgoland) and northern Denmark. They are the most pelagic of the European gull-related species, spending the winters at sea, in the northern Atlantic and the North Sea, but they do not enter the Baltic Sea. Black-legged Kittiwakes breed in large colonies, primarily on steep sea cliffs, but also on man-made structures, never far from the coastline. Outside the breeding season they are usually found at sea, often trailing fishing vessels.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "tridactyla" M. Eaton reports finding a Black-legged Kittiwake, nominate race "tridactyla", at Land's End, Cornwall, England, in September 2019. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has kindly been contributed by M. Eaton.

Photos

Race "tridactyla"

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view onto the upperparts of a juvenile Black-legged Kittiwake in flight - note the black semi-collar
(photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Land's End, Cornwall, England, September 2019]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

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