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Deepseawaters
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Sea BirdsBlack-legged Kittiwake
Black-legged Kittiwake
Common Name: Black-legged Kittiwake
Scientific Name: Rissa tridactyla
Description
If
you are curious about why these familiar birds are called
kittiwakes, just listen to their noisy racket.
Black-legged kittiwakes named themselves
by calling out, over and over, "kitti-wake! kitti-wake! kitti-wake!"
Kittiwake
colonies are noisy and unmistakable. These small members of
the gull family (Laridae) are widely distributed throughout
the Alaskan coast. They cluster together in groups of hundreds
to thousands to nest and raise young on islands, rocks, and
cliffs. Early in the summer kittiwakes can be seen flying
overhead in streams as they gather grass and dry seaweed for
their nests. They pat mud and wet seaweed into these grasses
with their webbed feet to make the nest more stable and secure.
After mating at that very site the female lays one to two
pale speckled eggs.
Identification
Tips
Length: 13.5
inches Wingspan: 36 inches
Sexes similar
Medium-sized
gull
Bill relatively
slim with indistinct gonydeal angle
Black legs
Adult
Alternate
Bright yellow
unmarked bill
Dark eye
White head,
neck, breast, and belly
Gray back and
upperwings
Thin white tertial
crescent
Primary tips
black with no white spots
White tail
Adult
Basic
Like adult alternate
but dark smudges on nape
Juvenile/First-year
Black bill
Black ear spot
Black collar
White head,
tail, and underparts
Gray back
Black outer
primaries and carpal bar contrasting with paler inner primaries
and secondaries
Black terminal
tail band
Similar
Species
Only
the Red-legged Kittiwake shares the solid
black wingtips and plain yellow bill of the adult Black-legged
Kittiwake. The adult Red-legged Kittiwake
has a darker mantle, shorter bill, darker color underprimaries,
and red legs. Immature Black-legged Kittiwakes have
bold wing patterns that are similar to immature Bonaparte's,
Black-headed, and Little gulls but have a distinctive black
collar. Immature Red-legged Kittiwakes lack
a black tail band and dark carpal bar.
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