The Breeding Birds of Orkney

• Published in: Ibis
• Main Author: Lack, David
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1943
• Subjects: Arctic; Fulmar; Arctic skua
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1474-919x.1943.tb03992.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1474-919X.1943.tb03992.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1474-919X.1943.tb03992.x

Summary A brief description is given of the islands, the main habitats and their characteristic birds. Twenty per cent of the Caithness avifauna is not established in Orkney, and 32 per cent, of the Orkney breeding birds are not established in Shetland. The same species fall away much more gradually to the north in Scandinavia. Inter‐island distributions are tabulated. Birch‐forest grew in Orkney in post‐Glacial times, but has now nearly vanished. The bird races of the Outer Hebrides are related to those of Ireland. Orkney races have not been adequately studied. At the present day 92 species breed regularly in Orkney, six formerly regular are extinct, and a number more have bred irregularly or doubtfully. Points of biological interest in the annotated species list include (i.) marked fluctuations in many species; (ii.) recent colonization of Orkney in 26 species, mainly woodland birds and ducks; (iii.) marked habitat adaptations in Linnet, Rock‐Pipit, Song‐Thrush, Blackbird, Ring‐Dove and Fulmar; (iv.) habitat differences between Herring and Lesser Black‐backed Gulls; (v.) distribution of the two phases of the Arctic Skua.