Black-legged Kittiwake

It has an extremely large range and nests along coastlines in much of the north Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It is migratory and disperses after breeding from coastal areas to the open ocean. During the winter the species is highly pelagic, usually remaining on the wing out of sight of land and is found in most of the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, as far south as Mexico, West Africa and the East China Sea. The hind toe of each foot is reduced to a mere bump, meaning there are only three functional toes instead of four, so its scientific name, tridactyla, means ‘three-toed.