kittiwake

American  

[kit-ee-weyk] / ˈkɪt iˌweɪk /

noun

1. either of two small, pearl-gray gulls of the genus Rissa, the black-legged R. tridactyla of the North Atlantic and the red-legged and red-billed R. brevirostris, of the Bering Sea, both nesting on narrow cliff ledges and having a rudimentary hind toe.

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kittiwake British  

/ ˈkɪtɪˌweɪk /

noun

1. either of two oceanic gulls of the genus Rissa, esp R. tridactyla, having a white plumage with pale grey black-tipped wings and a square-cut tail

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Etymology

Origin of kittiwake

First recorded in 1655–65; imitative

Example Sentences

Today, ten of the UK's 25 breeding seabird species are on the Red List, among them the puffin and the kittiwake.

From BBC • Feb. 20, 2026

Near the end of August, soon after I left Seldovia by plane, Opheim received a cell-phone call about a dying kittiwake gull along the shore.

From Scientific American • Jan. 24, 2022

British seas have warmed and that has reduced the sand eel population, a particularly bad development for surface-feeders like the kittiwake.

From The Guardian • Oct. 7, 2018

Albatross, kittiwake, gannet: the extraordinary physiology and navigational capacity of seabirds have inspired scientists and poets for centuries.

From Nature • Jun. 27, 2017

Innumerable ducks, chiefly of the king, eider, and long-tailed species, were flying about near the margin of the ice, besides dovekies, looms, and glaucous, kittiwake, and ivory gulls. 

From Journal of the Third Voyage for the Discovery of a North-West Passage by Morley, Henry