The researcher witnessed the heartbreaking incident with the sea bird
September 18, 20242 Mins Read
International desk: In the mid-seventies, ornithologist Rob Barrett traveled in a rubber boat to survey the largest seabird habitats in Norway. With cameras and binoculars, he plans to photograph the Siltefjord bird habitat in the far north of the country. Then back home, print the pictures and stitch them together to create a panorama. Then count all the birds together.

The sea-gull's call grew louder as the boat approached the mountain. Their smell is also evident. Every nook and cranny of the nearly 100 meter steep rock cliff was filled with kittiwakes. The same picture is seen in this five kilometer long hill near the coast. After trying to count birds two or three times, Barrett realizes that what he has is not enough to count many birds. Later, a team with more advanced equipment went there and estimated that there were more than 250,000 kittiwakes.

Now the pictures of those birds' habitats (colonies) in Siltefjord are compared with the pictures of three decades later. It shows that Barrett's pictures of five decades ago were full of birds. The current picture on the same hill is very depressing and heartbreaking. 90 percent of the seabirds there have disappeared. Only a few thousand birds of such rare species can be seen here and there. Click here to read the full article in The Guardian.