Kittiwakes
Black-legged Kittiwakes, Rissa tridactyla, nesting on the Farne Islands, Northumberland, UK
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae Genus: Rissa Stephens, 1826
Species
Rissa tridactyla Rissa brevirostris

The kittiwakes (genus Rissa) are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the Black-legged Kittiwake (R. The Farne Islands (also referred to less formally as the Farnes) are a group of islands off the coast of Northumberland, England. Northumberland is a county in the North East of England. The non-metropolitan county of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom, the UK or Britain,is a Sovereign state located Chordates ( Phylum Chordata) are a group of Animals that includes the Vertebrates together with several closely related Invertebrates Birds ( class Aves) are bipedal endothermic ( Warm-blooded) Vertebrate animals that lay eggs. Charadriiformes is a diverse order of small to medium-large Birds It includes about 350 Species and has members in all parts of the world Gulls (often informally Seagulls) are birds in the family Laridae James Francis Stephens ( September 16, 1792 - December 22, 1852) was an English Entomologist. For the game see 1826 (board game. Year 1826 ( MDCCCXXVI) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display A genus (plural genera from Γένος Latin genus "descent family type gender" is a low-level Taxonomic Seabirds are Birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment Gulls (often informally Seagulls) are birds in the family Laridae The Black-legged Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla is a Seabird species in the Gull family Laridae tridactyla) and the Red-legged Kittiwake (R. The Red-legged Kittiwake, Rissa brevirostris is a Seabird species in the Gull family Laridae brevirostris). The epithets "Black-legged" and "Red-legged" are used to distinguish the two species in North America, but in Europe, where R. An epithet (from Greek ἐπίθετον - epitheton, neut of ἐπίθετος - epithetos, "attributed added" is a brevirostris is not found, the Black-legged Kittiwake is often known simply as Kittiwake, or more colloquially in some areas as Tickleass or Tickleace. The name is derived from its call, a shrill 'kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake'.

Habitat and range

Kittiwakes are coastal breeding birds ranging in the North Pacific, North Atlantic and Arctic oceans. The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth 's Oceanic divisions The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major They form large, dense, noisy colonies during the summer reproductive period, often sharing habitat with murres. A seabird colony is a site which Seabirds visit to breed typically during the summer Uria is a genus of Seabirds in the Auk family known commonly as Guillemots or in North America as murres'. They are the only gull species that are exclusively cliff-nesting.

The Black-legged Kittiwake is one of the most numerous of seabirds. Breeding colonies can be found in the Pacific from the Kuril Islands, around the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk throughout the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands to southeast Alaska,^[1] and in the Atlantic from the Gulf of St. Lawrence through Greenland and the coast of Great Britain down to Portugal, as well as in the high Arctic islands. The Kuril Islands (ˈkʊrɪl or /ˈkjuˈriˈl/ Кури́льские острова́ əstrʌˈva ru-Latn ''Kuril'skie ostrova'' or Kurile Islands in Russia The Sea of Okhotsk ( Russian: Охо́тское мо́ре English Transliteration: Okhotskoye More) is a part of the western Pacific Ocean, The Bering (or Imarpik) Sea is a body of water in the Pacific Ocean that comprises a deep water basin (the Aleutian Basin) which rises through The Aleutian Islands (possibly from Chukchi aliat, " Island " are a chain of more than 300 small volcanic islands forming a Volcanic Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent Gulf of Saint Lawrence (French golfe du Saint-Laurent) the world's largest Estuary, is the outlet of North America's Great Lakes via the Saint Greenland (Kalaallit Nunaat meaning "Land of the Greenlanders" Grønland is a self-governing Danish Province located between the See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. ^[2] In the winter, the range extends further south and out to sea.

In sharp contrast, the Red-legged Kittiwake has a very limited range in the Bering Sea, breeding only on the Pribilof, Bogoslof and Buldir islands in the USA, and the Commander Islands in Russia. The Bering (or Imarpik) Sea is a body of water in the Pacific Ocean that comprises a deep water basin (the Aleutian Basin) which rises through The Pribilof Islands (often called the Fur Seal Islands, Russian: Kotovi) are a group of four Volcanic islands part of the US state See also Bogoslof Wilderness List of National Natural Landmarks Sources Volcanoes of the Buldir Island (also sometimes written Buldyr; Idmaax in Aleut) is a small island in the western Aleutian Islands of the U The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Commander Islands or Komandorski Islands (Командо́рские острова́ Komandorskiye ostrova) are a group of treeless Russian Islands Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending On these islands, it shares some of the same cliff habitat as the Black-legged Kittiwake, though there is some localized segregation between the species on given cliffs.

Physical appearance

The two species are physically very similar. They have a white head and body, grey back, grey wings tipped solid black and a yellow bill. Black-legged Kittiwake adults are somewhat larger (roughly 40 cm in length with a wingspan of 90-100 cm) than Red-legged Kittiwakes (35-40 cm in length with a wingspan around 84-90 cm). Other differences include a shorter bill, larger eyes, a larger, rounder head and darker grey wings in the Red-legged Kittiwake. While most Black-legged Kittiwakes do, indeed, have dark-grey legs, some have pinkish-grey to reddish legs, making colouration a somewhat unreliable identifying marker.

In contrast to the dappled chicks of other gull species, kittiwake chicks are downy and white since they are under relatively little threat of predation. Juveniles take three years to reach maturity. When in winter plumage, both birds have a dark grey smudge behind the eye and a grey hind-neck collar. The sexes are visually indistinguishable.

References