Listen to the black-legged kittiwake
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the black-legged kittiwake
The black-legged kittiwake is a bird in the family Laridae (order Charadriiformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “vulnerable”. Adults have a wingspan of about 96 cm and weigh around 443 g.
What does the black-legged kittiwake sound like?
Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
From Wikipedia
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.
More from the family Laridae
Black-headed gull
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
European herring gull
Larus argentatus
Common tern
Sterna hirundo
Common gull
Larus canus
Lesser black-backed gull
Larus fuscus
Arctic tern
Sterna paradisaea
Caspian tern
Hydroprogne caspia
Gull-billed tern
Gelochelidon nilotica
Great black-backed gull
Larus marinus
Black tern
Chlidonias niger
Sandwich tern
Thalasseus sandvicensis
Yellow-legged gull
Larus michahellis
Frequently asked questions
What does a black-legged kittiwake sound like?
You can hear 1 recording of the black-legged kittiwake on this page. Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
Is the black-legged kittiwake endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the black-legged kittiwake as “vulnerable”.
What family does the black-legged kittiwake belong to?
The black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) belongs to the family Laridae in the order Charadriiformes.
Sources & credits
- Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) (W1CDR0001389 BD30) – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q26612 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Black-legged kittiwake – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Andreas Trepte – CC BY-SA 2.5