Náttúrufræðingurinn - 1992, Page 72

A total of 14 species of diurnal raptors
are known as vagrants. Following general
information on life history traits all rec-
ords up to 31 December 1980 are listed.
Records for 1981-89 have been published
elsewhere (Gunnlaugur Pétursson &
Kristinn H. Skarphéðinsson 1983, Gunn-
laugur Pétursson & Erling Ólafsson 1985-
89b, Gunnlaugur Pétursson et al. 1991,
1992, in prep.). The information for each
record are: site, date, number of birds (if
more than one), sex and age (if known),
catalog number (RM-no) at the Icelandic
Museum of Natural History (IMNH) if a
specimen exists, name of observer or ref-
erence, if the record has been published
previously.
1. Honey Buzzard (Pernis apivorus).
Three records: adult June 1941,
October 1979/1980, and September
1988.
2. Black Kite (Milvus migrans). One
record: immature male October 1982.
3. Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus).
One sight record: immature Septem-
ber 1944.
4. Hen Harrier (Circus cyaneus). Six
records: immature male November
1946, female October 1957, adult
male May 1974, female/immature No-
vember 1980, adult male October
1982, and immature male November
1985.
5. Montagu’s Harrier (Circus pygargus).
Two records: adult female spring
1967, and adult male December 1982.
Circus sp. Five sight records of Circus
sp., most of them identified by ob-
servers as Hen Harriers: two adult
males June 1966, the others were sin-
gle females/immatures, two from
October (1978 and 1986), and two
wintering birds, one 1979-80 (Octo-
ber-March), and one 1980-81 (Janu-
ary).
6. Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus). Three
records: October 1950 (two together
including a immature male), April
1987, and adult female October 1988.
7. Buzzard (Buteo buteo). One record:
June 1982.
8. Rough-legged Buzzard (Buteo lagop-
us). Twelve records: one undated (im-
mature male), four from spring
(April-May, including two adult fe-
males, and one unsexed immature),
one adult male found dead in June,
and six records from autumn (Sep-
tember-November, including three
immatures). The specimen RM7865
belongs to the nearctic race B.l. sanc-
tijohannis.
9. Booted Eagle (Hieraaetus pennatus).
One record: immature male October
1974.
10. Osprey (Pandion haliaetus). The sec-
ond most common raptor vagrant in
Iceland, with 14 records. Geograph-
ical distribution of the records is
shown in Fig. 4. Five records are from
spring (April-May), three from sum-
mer (June-July) and six from autumn
(September-November). AU speci-
mens in the IMNH belong to the
nominate race P.h. haliaetus, and
probably most of the birds come from
Northwest-Europe as sustained by
two recoveries (one from Sweden and
one from Scotland). European Os-
preys stay the first two years on their
wintering grounds in Africa, and do
not return to their northern breeding
grounds until two years old (Österlöf
1977). It is interesting to note that the
two spring recoveries are two year old
birds. Three autumn specimens are
immatures. Three summer records
show that Ospreys sometimes stay the
summer in Iceland, and make exten-
sive journeys within the country, as
the bird (no. 10) released in Reykja-
vik and recovered three weeks later in
North-Iceland exemplifies.
11. Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus). The most
common raptor vagrant in Iceland,
with a total of 46 records. Most of the
records, 13 from spring (22 March-27
May) and 29 from autumn (10 August
- 21 October), coincide with the
spring and fall migration periods of
the Kestrel in North-Europe.
Three records are from summer
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