Kjell Arvid Andersen thought the birds were behaved strangely. Then he and his neighbors found over 30 dead birds.

Endangered guillemots sit tightly in the bird cliff. Infection of bird flu can pass through the colony quickly, fear scientists, who have found several dead birds in recent days. The finds on Hornøya join the series of observations along the coast. There are constantly new reports of sea otters in particular being found in Western Norway. There are also reports of sick gulls and sea eagles along the entire coast up to East Finnmark.

During February and March, six new findings of highly pathogenic bird flu virus (HPAI) were made in sea eagles in the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Trøndelag, Nordland and Troms and Finnmark. Thus far, eight reliable detections have been made in sea eagles in Norway this bird flu season, which is unique in the European context.

Close to 300 birds were found during a sweep of East Fjords beaches. No sign of bird flu was found in samples from dead seabirds. It is thought likely the birds died of hunger, as most were very thin. No widespread seabird deaths have been reported in any other region at this time.

The heaviest puffling (baby puffin) ever recorded in Iceland was weighed by scientists in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago recently, and the director of the South Iceland Natural History Institute believes the puffin stock overall may never have been bigger than now. The news comes after many failed breeding seasons since 2000 and worries for the species’ future.

Bad weather is bad news, also for the red-listed kittiwake. New research reveals that wind conditions combined with the availability of different prey species are determinants of chick production in this seabird.