black-legged kittiwake

noun

ˈblak-ˈlegd- 

-ˈlāgd-;

-ˈle-gəd-,

-ˈlā-gəd-

: a kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) that nests along northern coasts of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and is largely pure white with pale gray mantling and black wing tips and feet

Here and there are grottoes with hundreds of black-legged kittiwakes screaming and flying about.

—Alvah W. Sanborn, Bird Watcher's Digest, July/August 1994

The cacophony of black-legged kittiwake chatter was so loud we had to yell to each other, just an arm's length away, to be heard.

—Melissa DeVaughn, Anchorage Daily News, 17 June 2007

Note: The black-legged kittiwake has two subspecies: one (Rissa tridactyla tridactyla) of the North Atlantic having the hind toe short or rudimentary and one (R. t. pollicaris) of the North Pacific having a fully developed hind toe.

compare red-legged kittiwake

Word History

First Known Use

1903, in the meaning defined above

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