Black-legged Kittiwake

How to recognise it

• White head and underparts, upperwing in two shades of grey and all-black wingtips
• Plain greenish yellow bill and short legs, dark to black
• Young birds have a blackish grey bill and a large black W across the upperwing
• Sexes look alike, but males are on average slightly larger and heavier

Call and song

The call sounds roughly like "kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake", which gave the species its English name Kittiwake. The alarm call is a plaintive "ök ök". Outside the breeding season and out on the open sea it is mostly silent.

Where and when

In Sweden it breeds only on Nidingen off northern Halland: just 90 breeding individuals. In autumn, up to about 10 000 birds a day are sometimes seen along the west coast in strong westerly winds. It is reported most in November and rarely in March to June. Its share of all bird reports is highest in Halland. It is Endangered on the Swedish Red List.

Food and behaviour

It feeds mainly on small pelagic fish such as herring, sprat, sand eels and small cod fish, and also takes molluscs and crustaceans. Its most common hunting method is plunge-diving from a search flight 10 to 25 metres up. It also follows fishing boats and takes fish and fish waste. The flight is stiff and springy, more like a tern's than other gulls'.