Black-legged Kittiwake

Rissa tridactyla (Linnaeus, 1758)

Black-legged Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla, is a seabird of the gull family that breeds across the high Arctic to temperate coasts of the Palearctic and North America, and spends the non-breeding season on northern oceans and coastal waters. It nests on steep sea cliffs and is mainly a bird of the open sea outside the breeding period. Its name comes from its shrill call. In Europe it is usually called kittiwake, while in North America the black-legged name distinguishes it from the red-legged kittiwake. It was first described by Linnaeus in 1758.

Order

Charadriiformes

Family

Laridae — Gulls, Terns, Skimmers

Breeding range

Palearctic, North America: high Arctic to temperate n coasts, from Greenland, Iceland, w, nw Europe, Svalbard (n of Norway), n Siberian is. to Sakhalin, Kamchatka, Kuril and Commander is. (e Russia); Aleutian and Bering Sea is., w, sw Alaska mainland; Canadian high Arctic (ne Canada), Gulf of St. Lawrence and Newfoundland (se Canada)

Nonbreeding range

w North Atlantic coast and coastal waters s to Virginia; mid-Atlantic Ridge to Azores; North Sea; Japan, Korean Pen., se Alaska to s California (USA)