---
title: "Black-legged Kittiwake"
description: "Rissa tridactyla — Birds. The black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/black-legged-kittiwake
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Black-legged Kittiwake

> Rissa tridactyla — Birds. The black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.

- Scientific name: *Rissa tridactyla*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `sea` (Sea & coast)
- iNaturalist observations: 17469
- Wikidata: [Q26612](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26612)
- iNaturalist taxon: [4494](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/4494)

## Names

- en: Black-legged Kittiwake
- de: Dreizehenmöwe
- es: Gaviota tridáctila
- fr: Mouette tridactyle
- nl: Drieteenmeeuw
- pt: Gaivota-tridáctila
- pl: Mewa trójpalczasta

## Countries with the most observations

US (3371), GB (2639), CA (1740), IS (1586), NO (985), RU (864), SJ (672), FR (475), IE (358), DE (310), GL (234), DK (139)

## Summary

The black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae. This species was first described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae as Larus tridactylus. The English name is derived from its call, a shrill 'kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake'. In North America, this species is known as the black-legged kittiwake to differentiate it from the red-legged kittiwake, but in Europe, where it is the only member of the genus, it is often known just as kittiwake.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black-legged_kittiwake

## Photo

![Black-legged Kittiwake](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/black-legged-kittiwake/medium.jpg)

Photo: steve b · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/170344726

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/black-legged-kittiwake?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).