BREEDING BLACK-LEGGED KITTIWAKES TAKING OFF & ON WATER, HEAD HARBOR PASSAGE,CHARLOTTE COUNTY,NEW BRUNSWICK, 8/15/2019

   We can ID these gulls as breeding Black-legged Kittiwakes as follows:

• White head and underparts
• Grey back
• Grey wings tipped solid black, that look like they were dipped in black ink. You can also see the solid black tips on the birds in the water. This solid black tip is one of prominent field markings of this species.
• Black legs
• Dark eyes
• Completely white tail
• Yellow bill - in the first three photos, where you can see the bill, it looks dark.  However, in the fourth photo, which is cropped from the third, you can see that the bill is really yellow.

   The Black-legged Kittiwake is a pelagic bird.  Typically it nests on cliff ledges, but has been known to occasionally use man made structures, such as buildings and shipwrecks.  The hind toe on the foot of the Black-legged Kittiwake is a bump, giving the bird its scientific name tridactyla, meaning "three-toed" ( instead of four on each foot).
   The Black-legged Kittiwake is a new species to our Photographic Life List, which now stands at 916.