Black-legged Kittiwakes spend their lives virtually totally on the open ocean.
Breeding grownup Black-legged Kittiwakes are elegant-looking seabirds with white heads, necks, and underparts, yellow payments, pale grey backs and wings, and quick, black legs. In flight, their black wingtips are seen.
Nonbreeding adults look related besides that they’ve a small, black patch behind their eyes.
Immature Black-legged Kittiwakes have black payments, black patches behind the eyes and a black collar in the back of the neck. In flight, they show a putting “M” sample on their backs. In addition they have a black band on the guidelines of their tails.
- Rissa tridactyla
- Size: 15.0 – 16.1 in (38 – 41 cm)
- Weight: 10.8 – 18.5 oz (305 – 525 g)
- Wingspan: 37.0 in (94 cm)
Vary
Black-legged Kittiwakes are out at sea in winter however through the breeding season they’re discovered on sea cliffs in Canada and Alaska.
Habitat And Weight loss program
You will discover Black-legged Kittiwakes amongst their dense nesting colonies in ledges of seaside cliffs and islands with out mammalian predators. As they spend their time principally within the open ocean, they are often arduous to identify.
They could sometimes land on ocean seashores or at giant inland lakes and reservoirs.
Black-legged Kittiwakes commonly eat small fish which they seize whereas flying over the floor of the water. They are going to dive into the water or seize them whereas sitting on the floor. They often eat small squid, marine worms, and jellyfish.
Black-legged Kittiwake Calls:
Nests
Nests of Black-legged Kittiwakes are virtually all the time on rocky cliff ledges away from floor predators. They could additionally nest on boulders or on the bottom if there aren’t any predators round. The male brings mud, grasses, and seaweed as the feminine creates a mound with a shallow despair on the heart with them.
She is going to then lay one to a few eggs however each mother and father will share within the incubation for twenty-five to twenty-eight days. The younger stay within the nest and are fed by their mother and father till they’re able to fly in about thirty-four to fifty-eight days.
Enjoyable Reality:
The “Kittiwake” in its title is due to its name. The “tridactyla” means three-toed as a result of the Black-legged Kittiwake’s hind toe is only a tiny bump, so it has three toes as an alternative of 4.
