A changing ecosystem is driving nesting kittiwakes out of their habitat and into coastal Norwegian towns. Can “Kittiwake hotels” help these gulls and humans co-exist?
BY CHERYL KATZ, National Geographic
TROMSØ, NORWAY Construction cranes tower stork-like over the skyline of this burgeoning burg 200-plus miles above the Arctic Circle. Spurred by a recent flood of adventurers chasing the northern lights and sightseers wanting a glimpse of the glaciers before they’re gone, this tourism hub on Norway’s north coast has been building hotels geared for an anticipated 2.3 million visitors a year.
While the human tourist boom is on hold for now, some visitors are still flocking in and looking for suitable places to stay. These guests are black-legged kittiwakes—the most seafaring member of the gull family, and one that is facing an uncertain future.
PHOTOGRAPH BY S.E. ARNDT, PICTURE PRESS/REDUX
Usually, kittiwakes nest in cliffs over the ocean and seldom venture inland. But in the past few years from March to September, that’s changed. Now, due to a warming ocean, increased storminess and other changes that are decimating chick production in their normal habitat, the birds have been setting up house in places such as shopping centers and office buildings in Tromsø and other towns along Norway’s north coast, where they are rankling locals with their noise and mess.
“There’s something going on in the bird cliffs that makes them struggle to raise chicks,” says Reiertsen. “The kittiwake cliffs are just being emptied.”
This unusual urban invasion may be a last chance for the region’s kittiwakes, whose numbers along the coast of Norway have plunged by three-quarters since the 1980s, says Tone Kristin Reiertsen, a seabird ecologist with the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research in Tromsø.
Taking a cue from the hotel construction around Tromsø, Reiertsen and a group of colleagues have hatched a plan to help save these iconic Arctic seabirds. They’re building boutique hotels just for kittiwakes, so the birds can raise their families in town without being a nuisance to people.
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