RSPB Seabirds by Marianne Taylor

Author:Marianne Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472911162
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2014-04-10T16:00:00+00:00

Black-headed Gulls breed inland as well as on coasts, favouring marshy wetlands.

Kittiwake

Rissa tridactyla

Against the light, Kittiwakes show markedly translucent primary feathers.

The Kittiwake is a part of every classic cliff-face seabird colony in Britain. It is also the chief noise-maker in the seabird symphony, with a raucous three-note call that gives it its name. The most marine of all our gulls, it very rarely wanders inland and shows a number of adaptations to a more ocean-going life than that of its relatives. Although still numerous as a breeding bird here, it has declined rather sharply in recent years and in the UK is Amber listed as a species of conservation concern. It is one of only two species in the genus Rissa, and is sometimes called the Black-legged Kittiwake to distinguish it from its rare Pacific relative, the Red-legged Kittiwake.

INTRODUCTION

This is a particularly beautiful and elegant gull, and the only British-breeding species to show no brown in its plumage as a juvenile and subadult. It is a little larger than the Black-headed Gull and in breeding plumage has pure white underparts and head, a pearly-grey back and wings, and neat jet-black wingtips with no white spots. Its legs are black (occasionally reddish) and rather short for a gull. The claws on the three forwards-facing toes are strongly curved to help with grip, but the hind toe is reduced or absent. This, along with the short legs, gives it a less horizontal stance than the postures of other gulls when perched. The bill is yellow and the eyes are dark.

Juvenile Kittiwakes have the same colour scheme as adults, but with additional black markings – a spot behind the eye, a rather narrow collar, the tail-tip and a zigzag line from tip to base on the upperside of each wing. Birds in this distinctive plumage are sometimes known as tarrocks. Once they moult in their first summer and acquire second-winter plumage they are more adult-like but still have much extra black in the wing, along with a soft grey ‘boa’ around the back of the neck in place of the juvenile’s black collar. Winter adults have a similar ‘boa’ and also a dark eye-spot. In flight the birds look relaxed and graceful, and show a slightly notched tail shape. The grey in the primary feathers has a translucent look in good light, contrasting with the inner parts of the wing.

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