Kittiwake, Kittiwake

BirdNote^® 
Kittiwake, Kittiwake, Kittiwake!
Written by Bob Sundstrom

This is BirdNote.

         [Black-legged Kittiwake typical “kittiwake, kittiwake, kittiwake” calls over crashing waves]

The cry of the kittiwake rings out across the northern ocean. 

         [Black-legged Kittiwake calls]

Kittiwakes were well known to even the earliest northern seafarers. Named for its rhythmic calls, the Black-legged Kittiwake – as it’s known in North America – is a dapper, oceanic gull. The tips of its pale gray wings look as though they've been dipped in black ink.

         [Black-legged Kittiwake calls]

Unlike many gulls, kittiwakes spend most of the year at sea and are seldom seen inland. Vast numbers live on the Bering Sea, where they are by far the most abundant gull.

Ornithologist Arthur Bent wrote of nesting kittiwakes: “This species is always associated in my mind . . . in its summer home, with the dark, frowning cliffs of the frozen north, which tower for hundreds of feet above the stormy ice-bound seas until lost to sight in shrouds of mist and fog . . . a safe retreat in which to raise their hardy offspring.”

In winter, Black-legged Kittiwakes can be found along the West Coast from southern Alaska to Baja California, and along the East Coast from Labrador to Florida. 

         [Black-legged Kittiwake calls]

For BirdNote, I’m Michael Stein.

BirdNote gives you the sounds of birds every day, and you can get the sights as well when you follow us on Instagram: @BirdNoteRadio.

###
Senior Producer: Mark Bramhill
Producer: Sam Johnson
Managing Producer: Jazzi Johnson
Managing Producer: Ariana Remmel
Content Director: Jonese Franklin

Call of the Black-legged Kittiwake provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by J. Piatt.
Highlight Black-legged Kittiwake call recorded by K. Colver.
© 2015 Tune In to Nature.org   January 2017/2019 & December 2025 
Narrator:  Michael Stein

ID# BLKI-01b-2019-01-08              BLKI-01b    

References: 
Bent, Arthur Cleveland. Life Histories of North American Gulls and Terns. New York: Dover, 1963. p36.