Kittlitz was born in
Breslau to Prussian Captain Friedrich (1769-1825) and Henriette Ehrenfried von Diebitsch (1771-1835). He went to grammar school in Oels and joined his father's battalion as a volunteer in 1813. He became a second lieutenant in the 16th Silesian Infantry Regiment and saw action at Glogau. He went to Paris in 1815 and was garrisoned in Mainz when the Landwehr regiments were dissolved. It was here that he became interested in nature after meeting
Eduard Rüppell. Through the influence of his maternal uncle
Hans Karl von Diebitsch, field marshal in Russia, that he joined the
Russian corvette
Senjawin on a circumnavigational expedition between 1826 and 1829 under the leadership of Captain
Fyodor Petrovich Litke (1797-1882). He travelled along with Prince Karl of Prussia to St. Petersburg and the expedition set sail on September 1. He made large collections on this expedition for the museum of the
Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg with 754 specimens of 314 bird species, including species that subsequently became extinct. Among them are the Micronesian species,
Kosrae crake (
Porzana monasa) and
Kosrae starling (
Aplonis corvina) which are known only from his specimens. He published
Twenty-four Views of the Vegetation of the Coasts and Islands of the Pacific (1844). Kittlitz travelled to North Africa in 1831 with his friend
Eduard Rüppell, but had to return to Germany due to poor health. It was during his time in Egypt whilst waiting for a boat that he collected specimens of the bird which became known as
Kittlitz's plover.
Kittlitz's murrelet,
Kittlitz's rail,
Kittlitz's thrush and Kittlitz's plover are all named for him. Valparaiso_Kittlitz.jpg|Life in Valparaiso, a sketch by Kittlitz Plate_2_Kittlitz.jpg|
Steller's sea eagle by Kittlitz ==Works==