Black-legged Kittiwake

Birdorable Black-legged Kittiwake

This week we've added another cute bird to Birdorable: the Black-legged Kittiwake. The above photo of cliffs in Ireland shows an adult Kittiwake on the left and a juvenile on the right. Juvenile individuals have black markings on the wings, neck and head. There are actually two races of Black-legged Kittiwake: one in the North Atlantic ocean and another in the North Pacific ocean.

The first one, which is common throughout Europe and the east coast of North America, has only three normal toes. Hence its latin name Rissa tridactyla, which means "three-toed". Its hind toe is reduced to a tiny bump. Kittiwakes spend most of their lives out at sea and come ashore only to breed. They actually seldom walk, so its legs are much shorter than those of other gulls. And who needs a hind toe if you hardly ever walk, right?

(#222) Black-Legged Kittiwake
Photo by tinyfishy

We often saw Black-legged Kittiwakes on the North Sea coast when we lived in the Netherlands and I always thought they were particularly cute. Here's a juvenile that we saw flying around at IJmuiden, a coastal town west of Amsterdam:

Black-legged Kittiwake
IJmuiden 030 (18-Nov).jpg
Photos by Amy Evenstad

Kittiwakes breed in large colonies on rocky cliffs and is very noisy on the breeding ground, as is evident from the video below. They are capable of utilizing the sheerest of vertical cliffs as their nesting site.

The Birdorable Kittiwake is available on t-shirts and other apparel. This is our totally cute version of the Black-legged Kittiwake!

Comments

Andrew on November 19, 2018 at 7:13 PM wrote:
black-legged kittiwake
Spurwing Plover on January 24, 2022 at 6:18 AM wrote:
Q.What did the Gull say to the Sleeping Cat? A.Kittiwake

Leave a comment

Comments with links or HTML will be deleted. Your comment will be published pending approval.
Your email address will not be published

2014 Bonanza Bird #7: Black-and-yellow Broadbill

The final new bird species in our 2014 Bonanza is a small, colorful species found in parts of Southeast Asia, the Black-and-yellow Broadbill! The Black-and-yellow Broadbill is one of 15 species of...

Facts About Kites

Here are some interesting facts about kites: Kites belong in the Accipitridae* family of birds of prey. They are divided into two subfamilies. Elaninae kites are sometimes considered to be "hovering kites" and are generally smaller in size. Milvinae kites may...

2013 Bonanza Bird #17: Blue-throated Macaw

We're adding new birds each day until we reach our 500th Birdorable species! Today's Bonanza bird is the Blue-throated Macaw. The Blue-throated Macaw is a large species of macaw endemic to Bolivia. These bright and beautiful birds are critically endangered in the...

Pierre the Lesser Black-backed Gull

We're celebrating the world's gulls this week! Join us as we highlight these social and intelligent birds. Today we'd like to tell you about a special individual bird. Lesser Black-backed Gulls generally breed across northern parts of Europe and Asia. In the winter they move down across...