Rissa tridactyla

Kittiwakes are true seabirds. They spend practically their entire life at sea. They only land on the coast to breed and make their nests on the steep cliffs of Helgoland, England, Scotland and Scandinavia. Since 2000, kittiwakes have also been breeding in Dutch territory, on drilling platforms at sea. Being at sea so much, they eat mostly fish, which they capture by hanging just above the water surface. They dive into the water as soon as they sight something that looks tasty. It's not difficult to make a mistake. When a kittiwake is found on the beach, it is usually a victim of marine litter, having mistaken it for something edible.

Aberdeen, Arctic Ocean, Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone, Bretagne, English Coast, European waters (ERMS scope), Faroe Islands, Gulf of Maine, Gulf of Mexico, Iceland, Irish Exclusive economic Zone, North West Atlantic, Orkney Islands, Polish Exclusive Economic Zone, Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone, Spanish Exclusive Economic Zone, Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone, United Kingdom Exclusive Economic Zone, Wimereux

circum-arctic

North America; Oceania; oceans of the northern hemisphere

The Black-legged Kittiwake nests along coastlines in much of the north Pacific and Atlantic oceans, and also breeds on inlands off the northern coast of Russia and on the northern coast of Norway. It winters at sea, ranging across much of the north Atlantic and Pacific oceans¹. Overall population trends are unknown, though failed breeding seasons in 2008 and in some cases significant population declines have been observed in the United Kingdom by the RSPB.

In North America, the Black-legged Kittiwake spans both coasts, as far north as the ice-free waters of Alaska in the west and the Great Banks of Newfoundland in the east. It lives as far south as Baja, California in the west and the tip of Florida in the east. Outside of America it can be found in nearly every coastal area of the world, given the proper habitat is available. This includes the coast of Norway, Britian, France, and the former Soviet Union, along with China, Japan, Korea, Central Europe, and nw. Africa.

Biogeographic Regions: nearctic (Native ); palearctic (Native ); oriental (Native ); ethiopian (Native ); neotropical (Native ); australian (Native )

occurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations

Canada

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: Breeding range is circumpolar and primarily includes islands and suitable shores of the Arctic Ocean, southward to the Aleutian Islands and southern Alaska, southeastern Canada, France, Kuril Islands, and Sakhalin, Russia. During the nonbreeding season, the western (Pacific) population occurs primarily from the pack ice edge south to Baja California, Mexico; also along the northern coast of china to Japan, with small numbers in Korea and Turkestan. Eastern populations winter offshore from Newfoundland south to Florida and the Gulf coast. European populations winter south to northwestern Africa. The species occurs casually in Hawaii, interior North America, and Italy (Baird 1994).

Circumpolar (almost). North Pacific south to Japan and Baja California. Northern Atlantic south to New Jersey, mostly remaining north of 40° N.

The Black-legged Kittiwake is a small gull, with a pearl gray back and wings and a stark white head and underside. The tips of the tail feathers are black. The adult bill is uniformly greenish-yellow. In spite of its name, its legs can be orange or red, although they are most commonly black.

Average mass: 317 g.

Length: 43 cm

Weight: 421 grams

Length: 39-46 cm, Wingspan: 90-92 cm

Habitat and Ecology

Systems

• Terrestrial
• Marine

The Black-legged Kittiwake nests on ledges of offshore islands, sea stacks, or inaccessible areas of coastal mainland. It also nests on steep earthen slopes, large boulders, glaciers, and cliff-like man-made structures, such as shipwrecks and skyscrapers. A true shoreline species, it rarely comes very far inland, even in the winter.

Aquatic Biomes: coastal

Depth range based on 164328 specimens in 1 taxon.
Water temperature and chemistry ranges based on 105902 samples.

Environmental ranges
  Depth range (m): 0 - 0
  Temperature range (°C): -1.109 - 26.556
  Nitrate (umol/L): 0.038 - 16.868
  Salinity (PPS): 6.218 - 36.400
  Oxygen (ml/l): 4.607 - 9.061
  Phosphate (umol/l): 0.062 - 1.130
  Silicate (umol/l): 0.565 - 16.169

Graphical representation

Temperature range (°C): -1.109 - 26.556

Nitrate (umol/L): 0.038 - 16.868

Salinity (PPS): 6.218 - 36.400

Oxygen (ml/l): 4.607 - 9.061

Phosphate (umol/l): 0.062 - 1.130

Silicate (umol/l): 0.565 - 16.169
 
Note: this information has not been validated. Check this *note*. Your feedback is most welcome.

Comments: NON-BREEDING: primarily pelagic, sometimes along seacoasts, bays and estuaries, casually on large inland bodies of water (AOU 1983).

BREEDING: Nests on ledges of steep cliffs along coasts or on islands, often in association with other seabirds; sometimes on ledges of buildings. Nest is a cup-like structure of seaweeds, mosses, grasses, and mud.

Offshore, cold and warm water, prefers areas of upwellings.

Non-Migrant: No. All populations of this species make significant seasonal migrations.

Locally Migrant: No. No populations of this species make local extended movements (generally less than 200 km) at particular times of the year (e.g., to breeding or wintering grounds, to hibernation sites).

Locally Migrant: Yes. At least some populations of this species make annual migrations of over 200 km.

Occurs in winter in southern part of breeding range; migratory status in those areas? Arrives in breeding areas late February-early March in south, April-May in north (Terres 1980). Fall migration from Beaufort Sea region apparently begins in late August (Johnson and Herter 1989).

Move offshore after breeding season.

Unlike many gulls, the Black-legged Kittiwake does not feed at dumps. Rather, it feeds on the water surface. An opportunistic feeder, it feeds on small surface fish and invertebrates. It prefer fishs, and the species consumed most often are capelin, sandlance, arctic cod, pollock, saffron cod, small trout, and young salmon.

Comments: Feeds on small fishes, mollusks, crustaceans, and plankton. Feeds from surface, mostly at sea; follows ships in large flocks and eats refuse. Drinks salt water.

Mostly fish. Also eats crustaceans, marine worms, mollusks, squid, insects, sometimes plant material.

>1,000,000 individuals

Comments: The large global population is estimated at 17 to 18 million birds (Wetlands International 2002). The Pacific subspecies has a breeding population of about 2.6 million individuals at colonies in the eastern North Pacific and adjacent seas (Baird 1994). The western North Atlantic population (Arctic Canada to Gulf of St. Lawrence) is estimated at 900,000 birds, and the western Greenland breeding population includes 300,000-600,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2002).

Ravens regularly prey on eggs and chicks and at least sometimes on adults. Adult annual survivorship was about 80% in one study (Aebischer 1990).

Average lifespan
Status: wild: 307 months.

Maximum longevity: 28.5 years (wild) Observations: In the wild, these animals have been observed to become better breeders with time but they also show a decrease in reproductive performance in their last year before they die. The latter could be caused by disease rather than ageing since it was observed in breeders of all ages (Coulson and Fairweather 2001).

Pairs are generally monogamous, although males attempt to mate with other partners. In a study done in Britian, 64% of pairs remained together from one breeding season to the next. Due to their global distribution, it is difficult to give precise copulation, incubation, and hatching dates for kittiwakes. Black-legged Kittiwakes nest on cliffs, and the male retains the same nest site from year to year. After the nest is ready, 1 to 3 eggs are laid. The male and female incubate the eggs for about 25 days. At this time the chicks hatch. The parents seem to share the responsibilities for the chicks evenly, with both sexes feeding and brooding the young.

Average time to hatching: 27 days.

Average eggs per season: 2.

Eggs laid mostly in June at Semidi Islands, Alaska (Hatch and Hatch 1988). Clutch size 1-3 (usually 2). Incubation by both sexes, 23-32 days (Terres 1980) (also reported as 25-31 days). Young tended by both adults, depart nest at 36-53 days (average 42, see Hatch and Hatch 1990); can fly at about 38-48 days (Terres 1980); fledging begins in August in Alaska (Hatch and Hatch 1988). Rarely more than 1 young survives to fledging (Braun and Hunt 1983). Nests in large colonies. In western Alaska, reproductive success generally was low or nil in years with cold spring weather (Murphy et al. 1991).

First breeds at 3-5 years old. Nests built on cliff edges by both partners. 1-3 eggs incubated by both sexes for 25-28 days. Young do not leave nest until capable of flight, around 34-58 days old. Young are fed by both parents.

Barcode of Life Data Systems (BOLDS) Stats
Public Records: 13
Specimens with Barcodes: 18
Species With Barcodes: 1

The following is a representative barcode sequence, the centroid of all available sequences for this species.

There are 13 barcode sequences available from BOLD and GenBank.  Below is a sequence of the barcode region Cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 (COI or COX1) from a member of the species.  See the BOLD taxonomy browser for more complete information about this specimen and other sequences.

Download FASTA File

Winter visitor? and regular passage visitor?

Year Assessed

Assessor/s

Reviewer/s

Contributor/s

Justification

History

• 2009
  Least Concern
• 2008
  Least Concern
• 2004
  Least Concern

Although there is no special status for the Black-legged Kittiwake, fishing poses a possible threat to population size. As fish stocks decline along coastal areas, species that are kittiwake prey are being harvested. This may lead to disasterous effects on the population of kittiwakes, which often depending largely on one major source for food.

US Migratory Bird Act: protected

US Federal List: no special status

CITES: no special status

State of Michigan List: no special status

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: least concern

Canada

Rounded National Status Rank: N5B,N5N : N5B: Secure - Breeding, N5N: Secure - Nonbreeding

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N5B,N5N : N5B: Secure - Breeding, N5N: Secure - Nonbreeding

Rounded Global Status Rank: G5 - Secure

Reasons: Secure: widespread and abundant.

No official conservation status.

Population

Major Threats

Comments: Potential threats include contamination of breeding and foraging habitat (e.g., from oil spills, contaminants such as mercury, and pesticides), depletion of prey species by commercial fisheries, and natural mortality from predation on eggs, chicks and adults, or chick death by falling from nests in breeding colonies (Baird 1994). These threats are neither widespread nor imminent.

Comments: Extensively hunted in Greenland (Evans 1984a).