Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1981, Blaðsíða 25

vatnssvæðinu að sumarlagi síðastliðin
25 ár og e. t. v. lengur. Mjög sennilegt er,
að þeir hafi reynt varp fyrir 1981. I því
sambandi má benda á fleyga ungann
frá 1966. Ef til vill hafa flóastelkar orpið
árlega, þó að varp hafi ekki verið stað-
fest fyrr en 1981.
ÞAKKIR
Við viljum þakka Ævari Petersen
aðgang að óbirtum gögnum og þýðingu
yfir á íslensku. Einnig þökkum við pró-
í'essor Sven-Axel Bengtson afnot af
óbirtum gögnum.
S U M M A R Y
The Wood Sandpiper (Tringa
glareolá) breeding in Iceland
by
C. A. Galbraith
4 Achagoil
Minard, by lnveraray
Argyllshire, Scotland
and
P. S. Thompson
Ivy Cottage
Culrain, by Ardgay
Ross-shire, Scotland
The Wood Sandpiper Tringa glareola has a
wide breeding range, being particularly
common in northern Europe. The most
westerly brceding previously recorded being
in Scotland, where small numbers breed re-
gularly (Sharrock 1976). Thus lceland lies to
the west of thc Wood Sandpiper’s normal
breeding range.
On 26 June 1981 a pair of Wood Sand-
pipers were located in a marshy area
north-east of Lake Mývatn in northern Ice-
land. The area contained several small lochs
all undergoing hydroseral succession. The
lochs were separated by areas of marshy
ground. The vegetation consisted mostly of
grass and sedge with an underlying carpet of
moss. The area supported a high density of
other breeding waders. Tringa lotanus, Calidris
alpina. Phalaropus lobatus, and Pluvialis ap-
ricaria were all recorded.
The Wood Sandpipers were initially dis-
covered in part of this marshy area, close to
one of the lochs (see Fig. 1). At one stage a
bird, assumed to be the male, landed nearby
and proceeded to sit on the ground as
though on a nest. He remained like this for
some 15 minutes, then rose from this posi-
tion and sang, similar to the leero-leero-teero
described by Witherby et al. (1940). A
search of the area in which the bird had
been sitting revealed no trace of a nest. Dur-
ing the first day’s observation no young
were seen, but one was heard calling close by.
On returning to the area the next day, a
thorough search revealed that the birds had
moved over a small hill close to the smallest
loch of the group, some 150 m from their
previous position. After watching for some
time two chicks were eventually seen foll-
owing one of the adults through the vege-
tation. One of the chicks, about 48 hours old,
was quickly caught. On release the chick
ran into the nearby loch and swam a short
distance before returning to land. ’fhis is
thus the first proven breeding record of the
Wood Sandpiper in Iceland.
This species was first recorded in Iceland
in 1959, in an area south of Lake Mývatn
(Gardarsson 1969). Since then it has been
seen repeatedly in the Mývatn area. Gard-
arsson (1969) mentions two further records
from Mývatn, and the behaviour of one of
these birds (from 1963) pointed to breeding.
So did the birds from 1959 and 1961, which
were both adult females. Some further rec-
ords are mentioned below although this is
not meant to be an exhaustive list of the
167