Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1953, Page 36

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NÁTTÚRUFRÆÐINGURINN
Faber and others in the beginning of the 19th century. The Raudinúpur colony is
of a comparatively recent date. The first pair nested there either in the summer
of 1944 or 1945. It is thought that 2 pairs nested there in the following summer.
In the summer of 1949 the number of breeding pairs had risen to 6. The
Skrúdur colony is also of recent date. The first pair nested there in the summer
of 1943. Björn Bjömsson visited the colony in 1949 and counted 150 gannets in the
cliffs and 10—15 on the wing. In view of these figures the number of nests was
estimated at 150. In 1952 Thorsteinn Einarsson visited the colony and he arrived
at the figure of 134 when counting the nests.
In addition to the above survey of the present breeding stations of the gannet
in Iceland a reference will now be made to past breeding stations. At the end of
June 1821 Faber visited Fuglasker in search of the great auk. In his „Beytrage zur
arctischen Zoologie", Isis 1827, he describes Eldey, Geirfuglasker and Geirfugla-
drangur and records the birds seen. He did not find the great auk anywhere, but
other birds, including gannets, were plentiful. On Eldey he found only gannets
breeding, On Geirfuglasker, on the other hand, he found great numbers of gan-
nets and guillemots breeding together and on Geirfugladrangur a few gannets
and guillemots. As mentioned above Eldey is still the largest Icelandic breeding
station of the gannet, but neither Geirfuglasker nor Geirfugladrangur is now a
breeding station. In 1830 a submarine volcanic eruption took place in this area with
the result that Geirfuglasker submerged; now there are only breakers at the site of
this once famous haunt of the great auk. Geirfugladrangur has also been seriously
affected by marine erosion and perhaps also volcanic activity. The height of the
stack is now only 10 m, and no birds are thought to be able to nest there. On the
stack Súlnastapi at Hælavikurbjarg in the district of Homstrandir in the Northwest
there was formerly a gannet colony, but this was deserted by the gannets a long
time ago. Olavius, who visited the Hornstrandir district in 1775, mentions the catch-
ing of young gannets on Súlnastapi at the time of his visit (cf. Oeconomisk Reyse
igiennem de nordvestlige, nordlige og nordostlige Kanter av Island, Kiöbenh. 1780).
In his description of 1848 of the Adalvik parish in the Hornstrandir district, the Rev.
Jón Eyjólfsson says that formerly a great number of young gannets were caught on
Súlnastapi, whereas none were to be had now, the reason being the destruction of the
colony by foreign fishennen. According to the above sources the Súlnastapi colony
must have come to an end in the late 18th or in the first half of the 19th century.
Either in 1944 or 1945 gannets (1 or 2 pairs) nested for the first time on the stack
Kerling near the island of Drangey in the Skagafjördur in the North. In tlie summer
of 1946 tvvo pairs were found nesting in this locality, but in 1949 only one pair.
In the summer of 1953 no gannets bred or were seen there. On the island of
Grimsey off the north coast there was formerly the northernmost gannet colony
in the world, and the only gannet colony within the arctic circle, On Grimsey the
gannets originally occupied the stack Hafsúlustapi and the opposite cliff on Grims-
ey itself. Later on, after Hafsúlustapi had collapsed, all the gannets moved to the
cliff of Grímsey itself. According to Faber (cf. Beytrage zur arctischen Zoologie,
Isis 1826) about 20 pairs were breeding on Grímsey in 1820, and in 1821 Thiene-
mann (Reise im Norden Europa’s, vorzúglich in Island, Leipzig 1827) found about
18 pairs breeding there. Later on the gannet must have increased considerably in
number on Grímsey, for Hantzsch found 50—70 pairs breeding there in 1903 (cf.