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Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)

Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)

Length 38-40cm

Wingspan 95-110cm

Weight 300-500g

A gentle looking, medium-sized gull with a small yellow bill and a dark eye. It has a grey back and is white underneath. Its legs are short and black. In flight the black wing-tips show no white, unlike other gulls, and look as if they have been 'dipped in ink'.

This one is perched on the cliff side some three hundred feet above the sea

The population is declining in some areas, perhaps due to a shortage of sand eels. After breeding birds move out into the Atlantic where they spend the winter.

 

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Uploaded on July 15, 2017
Taken on July 1, 2017