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Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla Gaviota Tridáctila
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Adult, breeding plumage
- Photo: G. Beaton
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Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla Gaviota Tridáctila
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Adult, breeding plumage
- Photo: G. Beaton
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Adult birds have a black triangular patch at the tip of the wing. Immature birds have a black collar on back of the neck and a "W"-shaped dark line across the back and wings. Nests in large, coastal cliff colonies in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, and Arctic Eurasia; winters at sea. Length: 38-40 cm.; weight: 305-512 g. Audio (M. Oberle). Although this is the most abundant gull in the world, it is rare in winter off the West Indies. There is one recent record from Puerto Rico: an adult roosting among wintering Sandwich and Royal Terns (Sterna sandvicensis and Sterna maxima) in Mayagüez Bay. TAXONOMY: CHARADRIIFORMES; LARIDAE; Larinae |
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Adult, winter plumage - Photo: G. Beaton
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Adults, winter plumage - Photo: M. Donahue
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Immature - Photo: M. Donahue
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References Bent, A.C. 1921. Life histories of North American gulls and terns. Smithsonian Instit. U.S. National Museum Bull. 113. (Reprinted by Dover Press, 1963). del Hoyo, J., A. Elliott, and J. Sargatal, eds. 1996. Handbook of Birds of the World, Vol. 3. Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. Ehrlich, P.R., D.S. Dobkin, and D. Wheye. 1988. The birderÆs handbook: a field guide to the natural history of North American birds. Simon and Schuster/ Fireside, NY. Grant, P.J. 1997. Gulls: a guide to identification, 2nd Ed. Academic Press, NY. Harrison, P. 1983. Seabirds: an identification guide. Houghton Mifflin, Boston. Harrison, P. 1987. A field guide to seabirds of the world. Stephen Greene Press, Lexington, MA. Herron Baird, P. 1994. Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla). No. 92 in The birds of North America (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, PA, and Am. Ornithol. Union, Washington, D.C. Raffaele, H.A. 1989. A guide to the birds of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Princeton. Raffaele, H.A. 1989. Una guía a las aves de Puerto Rico y las Islas Vírgenes. Publishing Resources, Inc., Santurce, PR. Raffaele, H.A., J.W. Wiley, O.H. Garrido, A.R. Keith, and J.I. Raffaele. 1998. Guide to the birds of the West Indies. Princeton. http://www.absc.usgs.gov/research/seabird&foragefish/index.html Black-legged Kittiwake, Spanish text Next related species in taxonomic order Previous related species in taxonomic order |