Black-legged Kittiwake

The Black-legged Kittiwake is a clean, elegant, and highly pelagic gull that spends the vast majority of its life on the open ocean, coming to land only to breed on precipitous sea cliffs. Adults are a crisp combination of pale gray upperparts, white head and underparts, and jet-black legs, with an unmarked, slim yellow bill.

A key field mark is the wingtip pattern: solid black, as if dipped in ink, without the white spots ("mirrors") shown by most other gulls of similar size. The dark eye and gentle expression complete a tidy, almost dove-like appearance.

Kittiwakes breed in spectacular, densely packed, noisy colonies on narrow ledges of sheer sea cliffs, a habitat few other gulls can exploit, and their name is derived directly from their distinctive calls given at these colonies.

Key field marks

• Solid black wingtips lacking white spots ("dipped in ink")
• Black legs (unusual among similar-sized gulls, which typically have pink or yellow legs)
• Slim, unmarked yellow bill
• Clean pale gray mantle and white head/underparts

Similar species

• Sabine's Gull: shows a bold tricolored wing pattern and forked tail rather than uniform black wingtips.
• Mew/Common Gull: shows white spots in the black wingtips and has yellow-green (not black) legs.
• Ivory Gull: entirely white plumage, quite different overall.

Habitat

A true pelagic seabird for most of the year, ranging over open ocean far from land; breeds on narrow ledges of sheer, often remote, sea cliffs.

Range and migration

Breeds in colonies circumpolar around the Arctic and subarctic, including coasts of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Iceland, northern Europe, and Russia. Outside the breeding season, kittiwakes disperse widely across the open North Atlantic and North Pacific, rarely coming close to shore except during storms.

Behavior

Highly colonial, kittiwakes nest in dense, tightly packed colonies on cliff ledges, often numbering in the thousands of pairs, and defend very small nest territories with vigorous calling and posturing.

Voice

The species takes its name from its distinctive, far-carrying call, a shrill "kitti-waaake, kitti-waaake," given frequently at breeding colonies.

Feeding

Feeds mainly on small schooling fish such as sand lance and capelin, along with zooplankton, captured by surface-dipping and shallow plunge-diving at sea.

Nesting and breeding

Builds a compact, cup-shaped nest of mud and vegetation cemented to narrow cliff ledges, an adaptation that helps prevent eggs and chicks from falling. Clutches typically contain one to two eggs, incubated by both parents; chicks remain remarkably still on the ledge to avoid falling, unlike the mobile chicks of ground-nesting gulls.