A kittiwake on the Tyne at North Shields
The kittiwakes (genus Rissa) are two closely related seabird species in the gull family Laridae, the black-legged kittiwake (R. tridactyla) and the red-legged kittiwake (R. brevirostris). The epithets “black-legged” and “red-legged” are used to distinguish the two species in North America, but in Europe, where R. brevirostris is not found, the black-legged kittiwake is often known simply as kittiwake, or more colloquially in some areas as tickleass or tickleace. The name is derived from its call, a shrill ‘kittee-wa-aaake, kitte-wa-aaake’. The genus name Rissa is from the Icelandic name Rita for the black-legged kittiwake.