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Black-legged Kittiwake
Rissa tridactyla
Audubon Illustration
John James Audubon, Birds of America (1827-1838). Public domain.
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Showing primary migration corridor(s) for this species
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About the Black-legged Kittiwake
The black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Larus tridactylus. The English name is derived from its call, a shrill 'kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake'. In North America, this species is known as the black-legged kittiwake to differentiate it from the red-legged kittiwake, but in Europe, where it is the only member of the genus, it is often known just as kittiwake.
Source: Wikipedia
Classification
- Scientific name
- Rissa tridactyla
- Family
- Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Similar species
Other members of the gulls, terns, and skimmers family recorded in North America — a useful place to start if you are not certain of your identification.
- Aleutian Tern Onychoprion aleuticus
- American Herring Gull Larus smithsonianus
- Arctic Tern Sterna paradisaea
- Belcher's Gull Larus belcheri
- Black Noddy Anous minutus
- Black Skimmer Rynchops niger
- Black Tern Chlidonias niger
- Black-headed Gull Chroicocephalus ridibundus
- Black-tailed Gull Larus crassirostris
- Blue-billed White-Tern Gygis candida
- Blue-gray Noddy Anous ceruleus
- Bonaparte's Gull Chroicocephalus philadelphia
Know when the Black-legged Kittiwake turns up near you
How rare bird alerts work →Gear for spotting Black-legged Kittiwake
Optics
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Cameras
Cameras for Bird Photography
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