The latest news from the Vestmannaeyjar islands has puffin enthusiasts and ornithologists rejoicing. More puffin chicks, or pysja, as adolescent puffins are called in Icelandic, were recorded in the island this year than any time since 2003 when systematic counts were first performed.
Read more: A puffin chick is called a pysja: the life and adventurers of the adolescent puffin
The puffin population in the Vestmannaeyjar islands, home to the most important puffin colonies in the world, has been in decline for the past years. The large number of chicks is thus welcome news to all friends of this friendly little bird.
Unusually many pysjas this late in the year
Erpur Snær Hansen, an ornithologist at the Southern Iceland Institute of Natural History, tells the local newspaper Morgunblaðið that pysjas are still being found in town in large numbers. According to the webpage of Sæheimar Aquarium in Vestmannaeyjar 224 pysjas were found in town yesterday, which is a record this late in the year.
Every year a large number of young pysjas wander into town in Vestmannaeyjar where they are rescued by locals who collect the birds and release them back to the ocean. The number of pysjas who are rescued are closely monitored as they provide a strong indication of how many birds make it to adulthood.
Record number of pysjas
The total number of pysjas who have been rescued in the town of Vestmannaeyjar this year has now reached 2,265, which is more than any time since 2003, when systematic counting of rescued pysjas began.
The puffin population in the Vestmannaeyjar islands has been facing tough times in the past years as the raitt‘s eel population has collapsed due to climate change. Erpur Snær tells Morgunblaðið that this year the puffins seem to have been feeding their young Silver rockling instead of Raitt’s eel.
The latest news from the Vestmannaeyjar islands has puffin enthusiasts and ornithologists rejoicing. More puffin chicks, or pysja, as adolescent puffins are called in Icelandic, were recorded in the island this year than any time since 2003 when systematic counts were first performed.
Read more: A puffin chick is called a pysja: the life and adventurers of the adolescent puffin
The puffin population in the Vestmannaeyjar islands, home to the most important puffin colonies in the world, has been in decline for the past years. The large number of chicks is thus welcome news to all friends of this friendly little bird.
Unusually many pysjas this late in the year
Erpur Snær Hansen, an ornithologist at the Southern Iceland Institute of Natural History, tells the local newspaper Morgunblaðið that pysjas are still being found in town in large numbers. According to the webpage of Sæheimar Aquarium in Vestmannaeyjar 224 pysjas were found in town yesterday, which is a record this late in the year.
Every year a large number of young pysjas wander into town in Vestmannaeyjar where they are rescued by locals who collect the birds and release them back to the ocean. The number of pysjas who are rescued are closely monitored as they provide a strong indication of how many birds make it to adulthood.
Record number of pysjas
The total number of pysjas who have been rescued in the town of Vestmannaeyjar this year has now reached 2,265, which is more than any time since 2003, when systematic counting of rescued pysjas began.
The puffin population in the Vestmannaeyjar islands has been facing tough times in the past years as the raitt‘s eel population has collapsed due to climate change. Erpur Snær tells Morgunblaðið that this year the puffins seem to have been feeding their young Silver rockling instead of Raitt’s eel.
