De broedvogels van Alkhornet, West-Spitsbergen

In summer 1990, the opportunity was taken to census the population of breeding seabirds at the cliffs of Alkhornet and its surroundings in West-Spitsbergen (Svalbard archipelago; figure I). The census was accurate for Fulmar (although difficult to detect at the background of grey cliffs), Kittiwake, Brunnich's Guillemots and Puffins, w , but difficult for the (scarce) Little Auks. Glaucous Gulls were also found nesting on the tundra (not included in the tables). It appeared that the seabird population from Alkhomet was poorly known by the Norwegian Polar Institute, considering some recent publications in which a single estimate from 1971 was reproduced. It is suggested to use the main face of Alkhornet (figure 2) as a monitoring plot for Fulmars, Kittiwakes and Brunnich’s Guillemots, because the site is accessible, nearby the main town of Svalbard and because the colonies there can be easily counted using the same subdivisions as shown here. The Alkhomet colonies were not mentioned in a recent list of 33 colonies of Brunnich’s Guillemots and Kittiwakes in Svalbard from which population trends were studied, but, in our view, should be included in the future.