Black-legged Kittiwake [Rissa tridactyla]
Description
The Black-legged Kittiwake is a coastal breeding bird around the north Pacific and north Atlantic oceans, found most commonly in Alaska and northern Europe. They are characteristically medium-sized birds with a white body, grey back, grey wings tipped solid black and have black legs and a yellow bill. Behaviorally, they are known to be social, often breeding in large colonies on cliffs and, unlike many gulls, they are pelagic and rarely seen far inland.
Taxonomy
| Phylum |
Chordates
Chordata
|
|---|---|
| Class |
Birds
Aves
|
| Order |
Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
Charadriiformes
|
| Family |
Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
Laridae
|
| Genus |
Kittiwakes
Rissa
|