List of birds of the Faroe Islands
In the Faroe Islands there are currently about 110 different species of birds although, including vagrants. During the last 150 years, over 260 species have been recorded. There are about 40 common breeding birds, including the seabirds fulmar, puffin, storm petrel, black-legged kittiwake, guillemot, Manx shearwater.
Symbolically, the most important of the birds of the Faroe Islands is the Eurasian oystercatcher. Their annual arrival on about 12 March is celebrated by the Faroe Islanders as the start of spring. For this reason, the tjaldur, is recognised as the national bird of the Faroes. However, in numbers, the avifauna is dominated by an estimated two million pairs of breeding seabirds of several species. There are also some resident landbirds and many regular visitors, both passage migrants and breeders, as well as several species recorded occasionally as vagrants, mainly from Europe. The Faroese postal system, the Postverk Føroya, prints stamps portraying Faroe birds. See external links.
History
In the 19th century, the islands were occasionally visited by black-browed albatross; one bird regularly summering with gannets for 34 years before it was shot for the Natural History Museum in Copenhagen. The great auk also visited the Faroes and may have bred there, but became extinct throughout its range in the North Atlantic in the early 19th century due to human predation. The pied raven, a colour morph of the common raven, also occurred but disappeared by the middle of the 20th century.Historically, harvesting seabirds for food was an important source of nutrition for the islanders. A reduced and strictly regulated harvest, mainly of fulmars and puffins, continues. In general, the seabirds and their nesting areas are now strongly protected.
List of birds
The most common birds are listed with their Faroese names too.[Anseriformes]
[Anatidae]
- Canada goose - introduced
- Brent goose - visitor
- Greylag goose - breeding
- Greater white-fronted goose - visitor
- Pink-footed goose - visitor
- Barnacle goose - breeding
- Snow goose - visitor
- Mute swan - introduced
- Whooper swan - visitor
- Common shelduck - vagrant
- Mallard - breeding
- Blue-winged teal - vagrant
- Green-winged teal - breeding
- Gadwall - vagrant
- Eurasian wigeon - breeding
- American wigeon - visitor
- Northern pintail - breeding
- Garganey - vagrant
- Northern shoveler - vagrant
- Common pochard - vagrant
- Tufted duck - breeding
- Ring-necked duck - vagrant
- Greater scaup - visitor
- Common eider – breeding
- King eider - vagrant
- Steller's eider - vagrant
- Common scoter – vagrant
- Velvet scoter - vagrant
- Surf scoter - vagrant
- Long-tailed duck - visitor
- Common goldeneye - visitor
- Barrow's goldeneye - vagrant
- Red-breasted merganser – breeding
- Common merganser – vagrant
[Galliformes]
[Phasianidae]
- Common quail – former breeding visitor
- Black grouse - breeding
- Rock ptarmigan – introduced
- Willow ptarmigan - introduced
[Gaviiformes]
[Gaviidae]
- Red-throated diver – breeding
- Black-throated diver – vagrant
- Great northern diver – visitor
- White-billed diver - visitor
[Podicipediformes]
[Podicipedidae]
- Little grebe – vagrant
- Slavonian grebe – breeding
- Red-necked grebe – vagrant
[Procellariiformes]
[Diomedeidae]
- Black-browed albatross - vagrant
[Procellariidae]
- Northern fulmar - breeding with 600,000 pairs and a certain population stays all year long
- Manx shearwater – breeding with 25,000 pairs
- Great shearwater – visitor
- Mediterranean shearwater - vagrant
[Hydrobatidae]
- European storm petrel - breeding with 250,000 pairs, most of them to be observed from August to November
- Leach's storm petrel – breeding with 10,000 pairs
[Suliformes]
[Sulidae]
- Northern gannet - breeding only in Mykines with 2,000 pairs.
[Phalacrocoracidae]
- Great cormorant - breeding
- European shag – breeding
[Pelecaniformes]
[Ardeidae]
- Great bittern - vagrant
- American bittern - vagrant
- Little bittern - vagrant
- Black-crowned night heron - vagrant
- Grey heron - visitor
- Purple heron – vagrant
[Threskiornithidae]
- Common spoonbill - vagrant
- Glossy ibis – vagrant
[Accipitriformes]
[Pandionidae]
- Osprey – vagrant
[Accipitridae]
- European honey buzzard – vagrant
- White-tailed sea eagle – vagrant
- Eurasian sparrowhawk - vagrant
- Rough-legged buzzard - vagrant
- Hen harrier - vagrant
- Western marsh harrier – vagrant
- Black kite - vagrant
[Falconiformes]
[Falconidae]
- Gyrfalcon – visitor
- Peregrine falcon - vagrant
- Merlin - breeding
- Common kestrel – visitor
[Gruiformes]
[Rallidae]
- Water rail - visitor
- Baillon's crake – vagrant
- Spotted crake – vagrant
- Corncrake – vagrant
- Common moorhen - visitor
- Eurasian coot – visitor
[Gruidae]
- Common crane – vagrant
[Charadriiformes]
[Haematopodidae]
- Eurasian oystercatcher - breeding
[Recurvirostridae]
- Pied avocet - vagrant
[Charadriidae]
- Ringed plover – visitor
- Killdeer - vagrant
- Eurasian dotterel - vagrant
- Eurasian golden plover - breeding
- Grey plover – vagrant
- Northern lapwing - breeding
[Scolopacidae]
- Eurasian woodcock - visitor
- Common snipe – breeding
- Jack snipe - visitor
- Ruddy turnstone - visitor
- Little stint - vagrant
- Purple sandpiper - breeding
- Dunlin - breeding
- Red knot - visitor
- Sanderling - visitor
- Ruff - visitor
- Common sandpiper - vagrant
- Wood sandpiper - vagrant
- Common redshank - breeding
- Common greenshank - vagrant
- Black-tailed godwit - breeding
- Bar-tailed godwit - visitor
- Eurasian curlew - visitor
- Whimbrel – breeding
- Grey phalarope - visitor
- Red-necked phalarope – breeding
[Stercorariidae]
- Great skua - breeding with 450 pairs
- Arctic skua - breeding with 900 pairs
- Pomarine skua – visitor
- Long-tailed skua - visitor
[Laridae]
- Little gull - vagrant
- Black-headed gull - breeding with 250 pairs
- Lesser black-backed gull - breeding
- Herring gull - breeding with 1,500 pairs
- Iceland gull – visitor
- Glaucous gull – visitor
- Great black-backed gull - breeding with 1,200 pairs
- Common gull - breeding with 1,000 pairs
- Sabine's gull - vagrant
- Black-legged kittiwake - breeding with 230,000 pairs
- Ross's gull - vagrant
- Ivory gull – visitor
- Black tern - vagrant
- White-winged black tern - vagrant
- Caspian tern - vagrant
- Arctic tern - breeding with 2,000 pairs
- Little tern - vagrant
[Alcidae]
- Little auk - visitor
- Razorbill - breeding with 4,500 pairs
- Great auk - extinct
- Common guillemot - breeding with 175,000 pairs
- Brunnich's guillemot - visitor
- Black guillemot - breeding with 3,500 pairs
- Atlantic puffin – breeding with 350,000 pairs
[Pterocliformes]
[Pteroclidae]
- Pallas's sandgrouse – vagrant
[Columbiformes]
[Columbidae]
- Rock dove – breeding
- Wood pigeon - visitor
- Turtle dove – visitor
[Cuculiformes]
[Cuculidae]
- Common cuckoo – vagrant
[Strigiformes]
[Strigidae]
- Snowy owl – visitor
- Long-eared owl – vagrant
- Short-eared owl – visitor
- Eurasian scops owl – vagrant
[Caprimulgiformes]
[Caprimulgidae]
- Common nighthawk – vagrant
- European nightjar – vagrant
[Apodidae]
- Common swift – breeding
[Coraciiformes]
[Coraciidae]
- European roller – vagrant
[Bucerotiformes]
[Upupidae]
- Eurasian hoopoe – vagrant
[Piciformes]
[Picidae]
- Wryneck – visitor
- Great spotted woodpecker – visitor
[Passeriformes]
[Alaudidae]
- Skylark - breeding
- Woodlark - vagrant
[Hirundinidae]
- Common house martin - breeding
- Sand martin - vagrant
- Barn swallow – breeding
[Motacillidae]
- White wagtail - breeding
- Blue-headed wagtail - visitor
- Yellow wagtail - vagrant
- Grey wagtail - vagrant
- Rock pipit – breeding
- Meadow pipit – breeding
[Bombycillidae]
- Waxwing – visitor
[Cinclidae]
- White-throated dipper - vagrant
[Troglodytidae]
- Eurasian wren – breeding
[Prunellidae]
- Dunnock – vagrant
[Turdidae]
- Dusky thrush – vagrant
- Blackbird - breeding
- Song thrush - visitor
- Redwing - breeding
- Fieldfare - visitor
- Ring ouzel – vagrant
- Scaly thrush – vagrant
[Corvidae]
- Jackdaw – visitor
- Rook - visitor
- Hooded crow – breeding
- Common raven - breeding
[Acrocephalidae]
- Sedge warbler – vagrant
- Eurasian reed warbler – vagrant
- Great reed warbler – vagrant
[Phylloscopidae]
- Common chiffchaff – visitor
- Wood warbler – vagrant
- Arctic warbler – vagrant
- Yellow-browed warbler – vagrant
[Sylviidae]
- Barred warbler – visitor
- Garden warbler – visitor
- Eurasian blackcap – visitor
- Common whitethroat – visitor
- Lesser whitethroat – visitor
[Regulidae]
- Goldcrest – visitor
- Common firecrest – vagrant
[Muscicapidae]
- Whinchat – vagrant
- European stonechat – vagrant
- Northern wheatear - breeding
- Black redstart – vagrant
- Common redstart – visitor
- European robin – visitor
- Red-spotted bluethroat – vagrant
- Pied flycatcher - visitor
- Red-breasted flycatcher – vagrant
- Spotted flycatcher – vagrant
- Brown flycatcher – vagrant
[Laniidae]
- Red-backed shrike - vagrant
- Great grey shrike – vagrant
[Emberizidae]
- Corn bunting – vagrant
- Yellowhammer – visitor
- Red-headed bunting – vagrant
- Ortolan – vagrant
- Reed bunting – vagrant
[Calcariidae]
- Lapland bunting – vagrant
- Snow bunting – visitor
[Fringillidae]
- Common chaffinch - visitor
- Brambling - visitor
- Hawfinch – vagrant
- Greenfinch - visitor
- Siskin – vagrant
- Linnet – vagrant
- Twite – vagrant
- Common redpoll - visitor
- Common crossbill - visitor
- Two-barred crossbill – vagrant
- Common rosefinch – vagrant
- Eurasian bullfinch – vagrant
[Passeridae]
- House sparrow – breeding
- Tree sparrow – breeding
[Sturnidae]
- Common starling – breeding, endemic subspecies
- Rosy starling - vagrant
[Oriolidae]
- Golden oriole - vagrant
Places
- Svínoy with many great skuas
- The Vestmanna cliffs with a boat tour
- Mykines has the only Faroese population of gannets
- Nólsoy has the largest colony of storm petrels in the world
- Skúvoy with the largest Faroese colony of guillemots and lots of great skuas, which gave the island its name
- Suðuroy has at the west coast the best accessible bird cliffs from the land side