Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1992, Qupperneq 13

SUMMARY
Rare and vagrant birds
in Iceland:
Nightjars and Swifts*
by
Erling Ólafsson
Icelandic Museum of Natural History
P.O.Box 5320,
IS-125 REYKJAVÍK
Iceland
This paper deals with 4 species of va-
grant birds in Iceland, belonging to the or-
ders Caprimulgiformes and Apodiformes.
No species of these orders is indigenous in
Iceland.
For each species, general information is
given, followed by a list of records in Ice-
land till the end of 1980, together with dis-
cussion and evaluation of the data. The
records from 1981-1989 have been pub-
lished in annual rare bird reports (see
Gunnlaugur Pétursson & Kristinn H.
Skarphéðinsson 1983, Gunnlaugur Péturs-
son & Erling Ólafsson 1984, 1985, 1986,
1989a, 1989b, Gunnlaugur Pétursson et al.
1991, 1992).
The following data are listed: Locality
(place, district and county), date or time
* Rare and vagrant birds in Iceland. Report 7:
Icelandic Museum of Natural History.
period, number of birds (if more than
one), and, if known, sex (Ó\ 2) and age
(imm, ad), if collected the location of
specimens, name of observer(s) or refer-
ence, if the record is previously published.
For some records further discussion or ex-
planations are added. The majority of
specimens are kept at the Icelandic Mu-
seum of Natural History. These are desig-
nated by RM (= Reykjavik Museum) and
a catalogue number (e.g. RM4043). A
single specimen is kept at the Zoological
Museum in Copenhagen (ZM) and others
in various museums and private collec-
tions in Iceland.
The species dealt with are:
1. Caprimulgus europaeus. Very rare, on-
ly two records, a young bird from ca.
25 October 1933, and an adult male
from 17 June 1977.
2. Chordeiles minor. A single record, a
young male from 23 October 1955.
3. Apus apus. A fairly common and regu-
lar visitor. A minimum of 228 individu-
al birds have been recorded till the end
of 1989. A few birds are seen every
year (Fig. 3). The year 1980 was excep-
tional, as an unusually large flock, 30-
40 birds, was seen on 17 June. Swifts
have been recorded within the period
19 April - 24 September, most com-
mon in June and fairly common in July
(Fig. 4).
4. Apus melba. Very rare, two records
from spring and early summer, 15
April 1980 and 16 June 1981.
For more details of each record, the
reader should refer to the Icelandic text.
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