Kittiwake. - a photo on Flickriver

Kittiwake.

            Kittiwake
Irish Name:
Saidhbhéar
Scientific name:
Rissa tridactyla
Bird Family:
Gulls
red
Conservation status
Status
Summer visitor to steep coastal cliffs along all Irish coasts. Disperses to the open ocean in winter and less frequently seen.

Identification
A small gull, slightly larger than Black-headed Gull, which is basically grey above and white below. Adults are easily told apart from other gull species by the solid black wing tips, showing no 'mirrors' (white at the wing tip), and two toned grey upperwing. Adult birds have a yellow bill and dark legs. Adults show white heads in the summer and a dark patch behind the eye in the winter. Juvenile and first year birds have a bold dark 'W-pattern' across the wing and a dark tail band, although these features can be much faded by the first summer/second winter. Second year birds are similar to adult birds but can show black fringes to outer primaries, black on the bill or winter head patterning in the summer months.

Voice
Noisy at colonies, giving a nasal call resembling its name. Can often be heard clearly over the sounds of other birds at seabird colonies.

Diet
Fish, waste from commercial fishing and invertebrates.

Breeding
Forms colonies, sometimes thousands strong, often with other seabirds. Breeds on steep sea cliffs where it builds a nesting platform on the most vertical and sometimes improbably steep areas. Will occasionally use man-made structures such as old buildings, for example in Dunmore East, Co. Waterford.

Wintering
Winters at sea.

Monitored by
Breeding seabirds are monitored through breeding seabird surveys carried out every 15-20 years.
   

Taken on: June 1, 2025

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