Kittiwake

The kittiwakes (genus Rissa) are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake (R. tridactyla) and the red-legged kittiwake (R. brevirostris). The epithets "black-legged" and "red-legged" are used to distinguish the two species in North America, but in Europe, where R. 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'.

Description

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 (16 in) in length with a wingspan of 90–100 cm (35–39 in)) than red-legged kittiwakes (35–40 cm (14–16 in) in length with a wingspan around 84–90 cm (33–35 in)). 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.

Kittiwake (disambiguation)

Kittiwake is the name of two species of gull. It may also be:

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