Status of black-legged kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), commonguillemots (Uria aalge) and Brünnich’s guillemots (U. lomvia) in Murman, north-west Russia, and Varanger, north-east Norway

Abstract

Recent published estimates of the numbers of seabirds breeding along the coast of Murman have been partly based on data collected in the 1960s. Counts made in some of the largest colonies in 1999–2005 show that the present populations of black-legged kittiwakes ( Rissa tridactyla ), common guillemots ( Uria aalge ) and Brünnich’s guillemot ( U. lomvia ) in Murman are approximately 110 000 pairs, 10 000–12 000 pairs and 2000–3000 pairs, respectively. In Varanger the numbers are ca. 32 000 pairs, 6000–7000 pairs and 400–500 pairs, respectively. Although there has been a large decline in black-legged kittiwake numbers in the Varanger region since 1980, there is no evidence of a similar decline in Murman at least until 1999. With the exception of one colony in Murman, numbers of common guillemots breeding throughout the region seem to have recovered after suffering a huge decline in 1986/87.