About Fuglavernd

Fuglavernd was founded in 1963. For almost 30 years the work was nearly entirely focused on saving the Icelandic White-tailed Eagle population from extinction. The key person in this endeavour was Björn Guðbrandsson (1917-2006), a medical doctor that devoted most of his spare time working toward this goal. Thanks to him and his co-workers the Icelandic White-tailed Eagle population was not extirpated in Iceland. The White-tailed Eagle is on a slow path of recovery and the population is estimated at 65 pairs (summer of 2008).

Species conservation

Fuglavernd follows closely the status of Iceland's birds an acts for their protection if needed. Bird populations that have been in decline for the past years get special attention. Fuglavernd supported a hunting ban on Rock Ptarmigan, when the species was in drastic decline. Fuglavernd also pressed for a hunting ban on the Greenland White-fronted Goose, which came in effect in 2006. Among other species that have gotten special attention from Fuglavernd in the past are the Grey Phalarope and the Slavonian Grebe. Both are listed as vulnerable in Iceland's Red list.

Habitat protection and restoration

Fuglavernd is advocated strongly for habitat conservation and variety. The society was instrumental in starting the discussion about wetland restoration in Iceland. Fuglavernd has been campaigning for conservation and protection of some Important Bird Areas (IBA) in Iceland during the last decade, and there have been victories and also defeats during that time. Hopefully the maintaining of the IBA database for Iceland will play a more important role for Fuglavernd in the future. The society wants to develop monitoring schemes for some of the IBA areas using voluntary work. We also encourage the state, local authorities and others to establish nature reserves in Iceland.

Reserves

Fuglavernd runs a reserve called Flói Nature Reserve in the Southern Lowlands of Iceland in co-operation with the Árborg community. This is a wetland area rich in birdlife and is a part of the IBA Ósasvæði Ölfusár. The reserve is a river delta at the eastern bank of the river Ölfusá, in the Flói area. Fuglavernd has restored wetland in the reserve, marked walking paths and build a birdwatching hide.

BirdLife International and Fuglavernd

Fuglavernd is the partner designate of BirdLife International in Iceland. The society became an associate member in 1994 and a representative of BirdLife International in 1998. Fuglavernd plays an important role in Iceland in lobbying politicians, decision makers and developers for the benefit of the birds and their habitats; this role will definitely become more important in the future. Also, Fuglavernd has benefited greatly co-operating with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Britain.

Garden Bird Survey

Fuglavernd has run a winter garden bird survey since 1994-95. In total 74 bird species have been seen in the survey. Participants have been from 14 to 30 each winter. Redwing, Raven, Snow Bunting, Redpoll and Starling are the most common garden birds. In the 2006-2007 winter survey they were seen, respectively, in 16 (100%), 15 (94%), 13 (81%), 12 (75%) and 11 (69%) of the gardens.

Public education

Education is an important part of Fuglavernd's activities. From autumn through spring different kinds of events are organised, such as lectures and field trips. Fuglavernd publishes an annual magazine named Fuglar (Birds), which is only available to members. Brochures abd leaflets are also published on a regular basis and recently Fuglavernd produced a 24 page garden bird brochure.

Membership

In 2009 there were just short of 1.100 members in Fuglavernd. Most of the members live in the south-west part of Iceland. There are also a few members in other countries than Iceland. If you are interested to become a member and to support the work of Fuglavernd, bird and habitat conservation in Iceland, please send us Þetta tölvupóstfang er varið gegn ruslpósts þjörkum, Þú verður að hafa JavaScript virkt til að sjá það. .

Links to Institutes and other organisations in Iceland

We have a strong link with the Icelandic Institute of Natural History (Náttúrufræðistofnun) and some part of our work, including the White-tailed Eagle monitoring and Important Bird Area work is carried out in co-operation with the Institute. We have also good contacts with the Institute of Biology at the University of Iceland (Líffræðistofnun háskólans), the Icelandic Conservation Society (Náttúruverndarsamtökin) and Landvernd (The Icelandic Environment Association).