Stora Karlso, Gotland, Sweden
A crowded neighborhood is not always a good neighborhood, unless you’re a common guillemot. The mob pictured here are part of an estimated 25,000 pairs of these monochrome members of the puffin family that inhabit the island of Stora Karlso in the middle of the Baltic Sea. The dense nesting conditions lend a measure of protection from most predators, as does the relative inaccessibility of the cliffs on which these birds make their homes. However, unlike foxes and eagles, human hunters have been able to broach the defenses of the guillemots and by the late 1800s there were only about 20-30 birds remaining. Strict protection since then has seen the population rise to its present level, which is thought to be similar to that before hunting began. Those of us who made the trek up and over the island were treated to grand views of these busy nesting ledges, and a chance to enjoy a marvelous “expeditiony” day in the Swedish sunshine.
A crowded neighborhood is not always a good neighborhood, unless you’re a common guillemot. The mob pictured here are part of an estimated 25,000 pairs of these monochrome members of the puffin family that inhabit the island of Stora Karlso in the middle of the Baltic Sea. The dense nesting conditions lend a measure of protection from most predators, as does the relative inaccessibility of the cliffs on which these birds make their homes. However, unlike foxes and eagles, human hunters have been able to broach the defenses of the guillemots and by the late 1800s there were only about 20-30 birds remaining. Strict protection since then has seen the population rise to its present level, which is thought to be similar to that before hunting began. Those of us who made the trek up and over the island were treated to grand views of these busy nesting ledges, and a chance to enjoy a marvelous “expeditiony” day in the Swedish sunshine.
