• Skip to Content
  • Skip to Main Navigation
  • Skip to Local Navigation
  • Skip to Search
  • Skip to Sitemap
  • Skip to Footer

Black-legged Kittiwake

Rissa tridactyla ORDER: CHARADRIIFORMES FAMILY: LARIDAE

IUCN Conservation Status: Least Concern

  • Similar Species
  • Related Species
  • Go to:
Black-legged Kittiwake Photo

© 2004 Cornell Lab of Ornithology

A small, cliff-nesting gull, the Black-legged Kittiwake breeds along northern coasts and winters out at sea.

Inside Birding
For complete information on this species, visit The Birds of North America Online.

Appearance

Gulls
Gulls
Typical Voice

Adult Description

  • Medium-sized to small gull.
  • Small, unmarked yellow bill.
  • Head and underparts white.
  • Back medium gray.
  • Wingtips black, without white spots, as if dipped in ink.
  • Legs black.

Immature Description

Juvenile with white underparts, gray back, gray patches on nape and crown, dark spot at the ears, black collar, black wingtips, and a dark bar across the wing. Wings show a dark "M" pattern in flight. Tail white with a black tip. Legs black.

Range Map Help

Black-legged Kittiwake Range Map
View dynamic map of eBird sightings

Similar Species

  • Red-legged Kittiwake very similar, but has darker wings and back, dusky underwings, a shorter and more blunt bill, and red legs. Legs of Black-legged Kittiwake occasionally are red. Immature Red-legged Kittiwake lacks black bar on wings (and "M" mark) and black tip to tail.
  • Immature Bonaparte's Gull has a narrow, broken "M" across the back and lacks the black line across the nape of its neck.
  • Immature Little Gull lacks the black line across the nape of its neck.
  • Mew Gull shows white spots in wingtips and does not have the sharp, dipped-in-ink cutoff of black.