Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla
(aka Black-legged Kittiwake)
Kittiwake, Scotland, 27th June 2000 - click for larger image

Scotland

The Black-legged Kittiwake is the most numerous gull in the world with about 7 million pairs. It is found in polar and temperate regions of the Northern hemisphere where it breeds in large colonies during the summer while it spends all winter without touching land in the middle of the northern oceans. See the distribution map at xeno-canto.

Kittiwake, Scotland, 26th July 2000 - click for larger image It has a fairly large head and short legs in comparison with the rest of its body. The adult has a blue-grey mantle and upper wings, a yellow bill and black legs. The wings have a small black triangle at the tips. It has a thin red eye ring which you can just make out in the first photo.

The immatures in photos 5 to 8 and 11 have a black zigzag pattern across the upper wing, a black half collar at the back of the neck, a black bill and a black band just before the tip of the tail.

Kittiwake, Scotland, 27th June 2000 - click for larger image
Kittiwake, Scotland, 26th July 2000 - click for larger image
Immature Kittiwake, Scotland, 17th July 2000 - click for larger image
Immature Kittiwake, Scotland, 26th July 2000 - click for larger image
Immature Kittiwake, Scotland, 26th July 2000 - click for larger image
Immature Kittiwake, Scotland, 26th July 2000 - click for larger image
Kittiwake, Tarbert-Uig Ferry, May 2023 - click for larger image
Kittiwake, Tarbert-Uig Ferry, May 2023 - click for larger image
Kittiwake, Tarbert-Uig Ferry, May 2023 - click for larger image
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