The document Karmøys fugler - Birds of Karmøy - is the internet version of a recently published book on wild birds in Karmøy, SW Norway. It summarizes the knowledge of the birdlife from the period 1966 until 1996 - primarily based on the author's own field studies and ringing activity. The complete list of birds recorded in Karmøy counts 267 species and 12 subspecies - including a few old observations of rare birds not found here during the last 30 years. 122 species have been found breeding in the same period, corresponding to half of the Norwegian number. More than 50% of the breeding species are in decline or have very few pairs.

The study area: Karmøy municipality - 228 km2 - ca. 59.15N-05.30E - is an island 26 km long and on average 5.2 km broad with a population of about 36 000. Floristically it is situated within the Atlantic "heath region" and geomorphically it is a part of the "strandflat" province. Afforestation schemes have been carried out on a large scale during the last ninety years. Woods of spurce and pine have replaced much of the heather and marsh vegetation both on the island and on the smaller mainland part of the municipality. Loss of moores and modern agriculture metods are reasons for considerable changes in the birdlife.

The island is fringed with settlements and suburbs located along the coastline and main roads, but rural elements are still common, like cattle grazing areas, arable land and fallow fields. The heathermoores on southern Karmøy are some of the finest and most valuable in this part of the country. Some of the characteristic birds of the moores are Golden Plover, Meadow Pipit, Whitethroat, Whinchat and Black Grouse. Karmøy is also well known for its beautiful beaches, where you in autumn on the western coast can watch the spectacular migration of Arctic waders and seabirds.

The general chapters of Birds of Karmøy are dealing with the enviromental conditions, biodiversity, reasons for local population changes, trends and conservation status of the local breeding birds. There is also a list of national endangered species and their conservation status. The final chapters deals with Karmøy's migratory birds, when they arrive and leave, seasonal movements and population trends in autumn based on birds ringed at Blikshavn from 1982 until 1996 following the CES-method. Karmøy Ringing Group has ringed about 140.000 birds since 1974 resulting in a good number of recoveries from a wide area and differnt countries.

Birds of Karmøy contains a lot of colour and black&white photos of the local birds, the net version has just a few pictures. Using the international latin names in the main birdlist, we hope that foreign readers will get some value out of our presentation of the birds of Karmøy. For more information, comments or questions please mail us: oskarkb@online.no