Figure 160. California’s first Red-legged Kittiwake was an adult male that died shortly after being captured on 28 February 1996 at Anaheim, Orange County. A few dark marks on the primary coverts may indicate second basic plumage (1996-069; Kimball L. Garrett).

 

 

 

 

 

RED-LEGGED KITTIWAKE Rissa brevirostris (Bruch, 1853)

Accepted: 3 (60%)	Treated in Appendix H: no
Not accepted: 2	CBRC review: all records
Not submitted/reviewed: 0	Color image: none

This small larid breeds primarily on St. Paul and St. George Islands, located in Alaska’s Pribilof Islands, and populates much smaller colonies in the Aleutian Islands and Russia’s Commander Islands. The birds disperse to pelagic waters of the northern Pacific Ocean and southern Bering Sea. The species occurs casually or accidentally on St. Lawrence Island and in east-central Alaska, west-central Yukon, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon, and Nevada (near Las Vegas, 3 July 1977; Alcorn 1988).

California’s first Red-legged Kittiwake was an emaciated male found on 28 February 1996 several miles inland at Anaheim, Orange County; it later died in captivity (Hamilton and Willick 1996:126; Figure 160). The second record pertains to an ailing adult female that died shortly after being recovered on 13 February 2001 inland at Ross, Marin County. Two years later, on 9 March 2003, another adult was found roosting with Black-legged Kittiwakes near the mouth of the Klamath River, Del Norte County. Seven of Oregon’s eight records, and four of Washington’s six records, are also from winter/early spring (1 December–25 March).

 

ROSS’S GULL Rhodostethia rosea (MacGillivray, 1824) – see Appendix H