2026/01/01 by Tycho Anker‐Nilssen, Lisa Alcaraz, Soheyla Anjomipoor +3 · 1 voice
Environmental Science · #Avian ecology and behavior #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies #Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses
paper · doi:10.61350/sbj.38.4
Black-legged Kittiwakes Rissa tridactyla inhabit many bird cliffs in the North Atlantic but their numbers are rapidly declining. In Norway, reduced access to food during breeding is an important cause for the negative trends. Higher breeding success in urban areas indicates that human presence helps Black-legged Kittiwakes avoid other stressors, such as avian predators. Actions to maximise the success of urban populations include building facilitated breeding structures. Without common standards for such constructions, sharing experiences is essential to help others allocate limited resources optimally. We present the construction and first-year success of a “Kittiwake hotel” raised in the harbour of Røst, northern Norway, where a roof-breeding section of a population established in 1928 was displaced to preserve a historically important fishermen’s house. We found that two-thirds of displaced colour-ringed breeders relocated to the Kittiwake hotel. The use of old nests was critical for attracting birds, with 72% occupancy of platforms supplied with old nests and no occupancy of empty platforms. Nevertheless, egg laying and hatching were only observed in 10% and 1%, respectively, of the occupied nests, with no successful breeding in the first year. Breeding performance elsewhere in the harbour colony was also low, but in places higher than on the Kittiwake hotel. These results show that artificial breeding structures, combined with reusing old nests, can successfully attract displaced kittiwakes. However, occupancy alone is not a reliable indicator of conservation gain. Continued monitoring of vital rates will be essential to determine whether this structure, and others of its kind, contribute to long-term population persistence.