Black-legged Kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla) is a small sized coastal breeding gull commonly found around north Pacific and north Atlantic oceans in North America and Europe. We were fortunate to observe and photograph two individuals of this species from Chavakkad beach, Kerala, India on January 24th, 2013 during our routine beach birding trip. We (Suhas Kechery and Sandeep Das) located this bird among a flock of Heuglin’s, Brown-headed and Black-head Gulls.
The birds observed were found to be physically weak and not bothered by our presence. Even when a fisherman walked past they didn’t take-off. Earlier a single bird was sighted from the same place on December 25th, 2012 but couldn’t confirm the identity since we couldn’t manage to get a picture.
This is just the fourth record of the species for India. The earlier three records of this bird from India were from Goa, Alibag (Maharashtra) & Majuli Island (Assam).
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This is just the fourth record of the species for India. The earlier three records of this bird from India were from Goa, Alibag (Maharashtra) & Majuli Island (Assam).