Black-legged Kittiwake
Photo: Yathin S Krishnappa · CC BY-SA 3.0

Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls

Black-legged Kittiwake

Rissa tridactyla

VUVulnerable
Family
Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
Order
Charadriiformes

Overview

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.

Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Range and habitat

Sources and further reading

Last updated September 29, 2026.