red-legged kittiwake
rissa brevirostris latin

The Red-legged Kittiwake is a very localised subarctic Pacific species.

Occasional individuals have pinky-grey to reddish legs, inviting confusion with Red-legged Kittiwake.

Other differences include a shorter bill, larger eyes, a larger, rounder head and darker grey wings in the Red-legged Kittiwake.

The Red-legged Kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris) is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.

Like the Pacific race of Black-legged Kittiwake, the Red-legged Kittiwake has a well-developed hind toe.

Large seabird colonies are present on islands like Buldir Island, which has 21 breeding seabird species, including the Bering Sea-endemic Red-legged Kittiwake.

The Aleutians are home to many large colonies of seabirds, including Buldir Island, with 21 breeding seabird species, including the Bering Sea-endemic Red-legged Kittiwake.

The cliffs of Saint Paul, Saint George and Otter Island support large numbers of breeding seabirds, including critical nesting habitat for the very range-restricted Red-legged Kittiwake.

He described several birds collected by Russian explorers off the Pacific Coast of North America, including Brandt's Cormorant, Red-legged Kittiwake and Spectacled Eider.

In sharp contrast, the Red-legged Kittiwake has a very limited range in the Bering Sea, breeding only on the Pribilof, Bogoslof and Buldir islands in the United States, and the Commander Islands in Russia.

In North America, this species is known as the Black-legged Kittiwake to differentiate it from the Red-legged Kittiwake, but in Europe, where it is the only member of the genus, it is often known just as Kittiwake.

The most common are Northern Fulmar, Common, Brunnich's and Pigeon Guillemots, Horned and Tufted Puffins, cormorants, gulls, and kittiwakes including the extremely local Red-legged Kittiwake which nests in only a few other colonies in the world.

The Red-legged Kittiwake (Rissa brevirostris) is a seabird species in the gull family Laridae.