BREEDING CONDITIONS REPORT, 2002


RESPONDENT

Pertti Koskimies

SITE NAME

Finnish Lapland, Finland

Contact details (phone/fax//e-mail//address):
+358 9 8135 946(phone,fax)/mbl. +358 40 7216 764 // pertti.koskimies@kolumbus.fi // Vanha Myllylammentie 88, FIN-02400 Kirkkonummi, Finland

PROJECT DETAILS

Project name:

Start of survey:

End of survey: Team size:


WEATHER CONDITIONS

Season phenology: early

Weather conditions:

The spring was fairly early and dry. The weather was also suitable for the breeding birds during the summer. Due to dryness and low water level, the amount of mosquitoes was exceptionally low. This seemed not to have any general effect on the passerines and other insect eating birds.

 

Season temperature:
Season humidity: dry
Date of 50% snow-cover:
Date of ice-break on rivers:
Date of final loss of snow:

BIOTIC CONDITIONS

Rodents abundance evaluation:

Breeding conditions:

The number of breeding Rough-legged Buzzards increased somewhat especially in Utsjoki, N Lapland. They have totally disappeared from large areas due to low vole populations for several years in large parts of Finnish Lapland, and also Hawk Owls, Long-tailed Skuas and other vole specialists bred in extremely low numbers in recent years. Although some Snowy Owls have been seen in Lapland every summer, the last confirmed breeding of some tens of pairs took place in Utsjoki in 1986 and 1987. Breeding of the Arctic Fox has not been verified since the mid-1990s in Finland, and the total number of wandering individuals must be under ten at present.
There is no detailed data on the breeding success of passerines at the moment, however, but most of them seemed to pair in ordinary numbers. The same holds true also for waders and other land birds. The Willow Grouse population was fairly high in many parts of Lapland, but in spite of this, the number of breeding Gyrfalcon pairs as well as their nesting success was below average.
 

Rodent dynamics:

There were several observations of the Norwegian lemmings during the summer in various parts of Northern Lapland, but the long-awaited population increase did not take place due to low snow level and warm and wet late winter (snow melted early). The last population peak of the Norwegian Lemmings took place in the mid-1970s and the late 1980s in some localities in NW and N Lapland, respectively.

Rodent species recorded:

LatinAbundance

Summary of fauna studies:

 

FAUNA IN STUDY AREA

Group of speciesPresenceAbundanceBreedingDetailed studiesComment
lemmingsYes    
buzzardsYes breeding  

 

SEABIRD COLONIES

speciesComment

 

WATERBIRD NON-BREEDING AGGREGATIONS

speciesAggregation typeNumberComment

 

HUMAN ACTIVITY IN THE STUDY AREA

Human activityComment

 


Recommended citation

Koskimies, P. (2002). Breeding conditions report for Finnish Lapland, Finland, 2002. ARCTIC BIRDS: an international breeding conditions survey. (Online database). Eds. M.Soloviev, P.Tomkovich. . Updated 11 Dec. 2008. Accessed .

 more on citation guidelines

 

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