New breeders in Iceland (1 Viewer)

You really know that Iceland is a small country and news can be slow when it is announced on the six o'clock radio news bulletin that two new species have been found breeding in Iceland this summer. They are Little Gull and Long-tailed Skua, both at undisclosed locations in northern Iceland. This follows successful breeding of Robin in Reykjavik this spring and breeding by Coot in northern Iceland. Could any of these species repeat the spectacular success of the Goldcrest which until recently was a vagrant but has colonised seemingly ever conifer plantation in Iceland in the last ten years or so?

E

Hi Edward,

I'll predict that Robin will do so, and Coot might, but the other two won't.

Little Gulls are known for irregular out-of-range breeding attempts which never get established, and Long-tailed Skua - well, no lemmings for dinner, so what'll they eat?

Michael

That pretty sums up my feelings on it too, Michael. If we had lemmings then we'd have more Snowy Owls too, Rough-legged Buzzard perhaps and there's plenty of habitat for Long-tailed Skuas! A friend of mine observed a Snowy Owl in central Iceland last summer and found that in the absence of rodents it ate Pink-footed Goose goslings and Long-tailed Ducks. Pretty adaptable. Robins would be a welcome addition to our avifauna though. I think Dippers would do well here too. Now how are they going to get here.....?

Hi Edward,

Hmmm..... can't see Dippers crossing the North Atlantic.

If I was to forecast your next colonising breeder, I'd go for Song Thrush (joining the Goldcrests in those conifer plantations) or Blackbird (in urban / suburban areas).

If you want the skuas to stay, maybe release a few lemmings . . ??? (probably NOT a good idea!!)

Michael

Hi Edward!

What is the number of bird species seen in Iceland?

Hi Edward,
Are there ANY small mammals on Iceland?I've always wondered why you don't have breeding Rough-legged Buzzard up there,and now I may know why!
Has Red-throated Pipit ever attempted to breed in Iceland(and how regular are they)?Would have thought that they could do quite well up there(imagine the increase in Irish records if they became established in Iceland:they would go from an irregular vagrant to regular passage migrant!)
Harry H

Hi Harry,

As far as I know, the only Icelandic native land mammals are Arctic Hare and Arctic Fox, and perhaps an occasional vagrant Polar Bear. No native rodents. Oh, one other mammal has colonised naturally in recent times - Homo sapiens

Michael

Morning all,

Firstly, approximately 360 species of bird have been seen in Iceland, with around regular 75 breeders.

Blackbirds are starting to establish themselves in Reykjavik and can usually be found if you look for them. Song Thrush would also be most welcome. Fieldfare perhaps? Red-throated Pipit has NEVER been recorded in Iceland Harry so I wouldn't expect your R-t Pipit numbers to increase on our account. Meadow, Tree, Rock, Tawny, Buff-bellied and Pechora have been seen but any others are most welcome.

There are small mammals in Iceland, two species of mouse, Brown Rat, Mink but all these have been introduced by man. The only native land mammal (besides Man who introduced himself) is Arctic Fox. There are no Arctic Hares in Iceland, just rabbits in the cemetery. The last Polar bear came here in 1993 but was killed by the crew of a fishing boat before it got to land.

I actually got my best ever views of a Short-eared Owl on Friday evening and saw it catch a rodent. Couldn't ID the rodent but it was a real thrill to see the owl.

Hi Edward,

Looks like my mammals book is as wrong over Arctic Hare and Madge & Beaman are with Raven, but the other way round! Strange, as it is an English-language edition of a Danish book, and you'd think the Danes would know!

Mice - House and which other?

Michael

Long-tailed Field Mouse, I think it is.

The Long-tailed Skua's nest is no more, and was apparently robbed by Arctic Skua.

E

Edward, if I may, I'd like to go back to your original post, which said the Little Gull and Long-tailed Jaeger nests were in an 'undisclosed location'-- why is that? Lots of unscrupulous twitchers, or hungry natives, or?

I guess it was undisclosed to protect the birds against egg collectors??????

Hi Edward-I was looking at the Collins Birdguide distribution maps(and can remember looking at older books too) and I`m always astonished at the lack of small birds in Iceland (and low variety of species generally-though the quality maybe made up for the quantity).

By the sounds of it there ARE small birds there ( Goldcrest and I also remember you mentioning House Sparrow and Spotted Flycatcher on other threads ) - is this a recent development or were the distribution maps always wrong? Or do you just get a lot of small birds simply as vagrants?

Greetings Japanese boys (Charles and Stu)

Firstly Charles, the nests are at undisclosed locations to keep them away from the attentions of egg collectors. There aren't many in Iceland but one would be enough. As for unscrupulous twitchers - perhaps, although it would have been a long way to go and I don't think anyone would have bothered, even though I really want to see Long-tailed Skua. There are also people who just like to shoot rare birds so that they can have them stuffed. Don't even try and think of an explanation for that one.

Secondly Stu, there are few species in Iceland but as you say quantities are often huge although I think "quality" is a relative term. Many birders based in Britain would consider Harlequin, Barrow's Goldeneye, Grey Phalarope, Gyrfalcon, White-tailed Eagle and Brünnich's Guillemot fairly decent quality.
Our regularly breeding passerines are Redwing, Redpoll, Wren, Snow Bunting, Wheatear, White Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Goldcrest, Blackbird, Starling and House Sparrow (one location). However, we get plenty of vagrants in the autumn, ranging from the common (Blackcap) to the mega (Cerulean Warbler - only WP record). I saw for example 14 warbler species in Iceland last year (Sedge, Reed, Blyth's Reed, Icterine, Barred, Lesser Whitethroat, Whitethroat, Garden, Blackcap, Yellow-browed, Wood, Chiffchaff, Willow and Goldcrest) and a friend of mine saw these and Marsh and Sykes's. Of course our year lists are tiny compared to those in Europe, above 120 is considered pretty good and c. 165 is the record but it's all relative. So although the distribution maps show a real paucity of species, they don't always tell the whole story.