582 kittiwake nests destroyed in Tromsø: is anyone benefiting?

Despite ongoing efforts to support the highly endangered kittiwake and promote coexistence in Tromsø, a surge of interventions over the winter threatens recent conservation gains, and will amplify disturbances for local residents.

As the breeding season started, concerns are rising over the future of one of Norway’s most endangered seabirds.

There is nothing to look at anymore. This kittiwake pair won’t be raising chicks here this year. This netting is a discreet reminder of how we are destroying biodiversity, starting right outside our windows, in our own backyards and city centers.

In 2024, the Kittiwalkers surveyed the kittiwake nests in Tromsø city center.

The area surveyed includes a portion of the kittiwake breeding population on Tromsø island. More colonies are found on the southern edge of the study area, and a few kilometers to the north. However, this area is surveyed extensively by volunteers during the breeding season. It is unlikely that a nest will escape the Kittiwalker's attention!

In this perimeter, the Kittiwalkers have mapped 320 nests between May and August 2024. But during the winter 2024-2025, owners have fended off their buildings, using various types of bird deterrents: spikes, boards, nets, wires, electric fences, so-called firegel and spider-looking devices.

Out of the 320 nests mapped in 2024, 211 nests have now been either destroyed, or made inaccessible using one or a combination of bird deterrents. That is 66% of the nests in the Kittiwalkers' perimeter.

In addition, a few kilometers north of the city center, the cliff in Skattøra used by 128 breeding pairs of kittiwakes has been covered with a net in response to the complaints from the workers using the nearby buildings. Too loud, too smelly, too messy. Like Tromsø city center, this cliff is a few hundreds meters away from the sea, home of seabirds and other loud and smelly creatures.

A pair of kittiwakes coming back to their nest in April 2024.

In addition, two very successful kittiwake hotels situated near Framsenteret at Strandvegen 8 were removed by Tromsø municipality. These hotels were the first prototypes in Tromsø -installed in February 2023 - made of scaffholding and plywood, cheap and effective. Last year, 93 pairs of kittiwake were breeding there - instead of breeding on buildings - and the colony was growing.

Before-and-after views of the first kittiwake hotels built in Tromsø.

In addition, about 150 breeding pairs breeding on the Mack Øst building (ex Storgata Camping) are now without a home. This massive building is now being torn down, and will be replaced by a new neighborhood. How kittiwakes are included in the planning of this modern extension of the city center remains very unclear.

Demolition of the Mack Øst building to extend Tromsø city center (April 2025).

In total, the loss concerns at least 582 kittiwake nests. This is more than half of the entire breeding population of kittiwakes on the island of Tromsø.

If the goal is to remove the kittiwakes, this may seem like good news. But actually, it is not. The dislodged kittiwakes are simply going to relocate to nearby buildings. The outcome of fending off a building is twofold: first, it creates a lot of stress and distress for the kittiwakes - a species driven to extinction by our own species. Second, it exacerbates conflicts within the local community whenever a colony splits into multiple smaller ones.

That is precisely why kittiwale hotels are such a smart solution for everyone: they provide kittiwakes with an alternative breeding site, away from buildings. Without kittiwake hotels that partly compensate for the destruction of their nests, kittiwakes colonies split. Each time a building owner fends off their own property, they might solve their personal problem, but they also send a clear message to everyone else in Tromsø: hold up! Kittiwakes coming your way, good luck!

Tromsø’s dilemma: are we hastening the kittiwake’s extinction, or just spreading conflict?

Below are a few examples of individual initiatives aiming at getting rid of kittiwakes in Tromsø, starting with the most efficient strategy of all: the substraction of the support itself, as it happened in Peder Hansens gate 15 with this street lamp.

Before/after at Peder Hansens gate 15, Tromsø.

The Tollbodgate ticking bomb

The colony at Søndre Tollbodgate was one of the largest colonies in Tromsø in 2024, with 113 pairs observable by the Kittiwalkers from the street. This winter, the owner deployed electric devices on the roof. The ongoing nest monitoring will show where these kittiwakes are relocating.

A kittiwake hotel near the buildings could be used to attract the dislodged kittiwakes to a location where nuisance is not a problem, rather than sending them to the neighbors like hot potatoes.

Despite several meetings and conversations with the owner, they decided that building a kittiwake hotel nearby is not an option for the time being.

Before/after at Søndre Tollbodgate 3, Tromsø.

Still some spikes!

As far as we know in Tromsø city center, all the spikes that can potentially harm kittiwakes have been removed. Spikes are not always effective, as kittiwakes can build their nest onto them and get impaled. There is one exception though, and it is at Sjøgata 12. We only just became aware of this and have reached out to the building owner, whom we know does not have bad intentions.

Before/after at Sjøgata 12, Tromsø.

Meshed windows

At Sjøgata 31, windows have been covered with netting to keep kittiwakes from nesting on the window sills. In 2024, three pairs were breeding there, and will now relocate to neighboring buildings.

Before/after at Sjøgata 31, Tromsø.

No more shopping for kittiwakes

Nerstranda, the shopping mall in the city center, was home to 22 pairs in 2024. This metal building stands high just a few meters away from the sea. Boards were put up above the windows to keep the kittiwakes from coming back this year, an effective and harmful way to get rid of kittiwakes. These 22 pairs will now relocate to neighboring buildings.

Before/after on the seaside of Nestranda.

Where is my hotel?

Clarion Collection hotel found the most efficient way to get rid of their single kittiwake pair. They removed the lamp and the sign. This pair will most likely relocate nearby as it sucessfully raised chicks here for several years in a row.

Before/after at the Clarion Collection hotel in Tromsø.

Out of sight isn't enough

This private alley, inacessible to the public, was home to at least 13 pairs of kittiwakes. We have not asked the owner what motivated them to destroy this colony, which was mostly out of the way, and how much it cost to rent scaffholding. At least 13 pairs will now relocate to neighboring buildings.

Before/after private alley behind Bankgata 5, Tromsø.

The High North without seabirds

Ironically, the High North Research Centre for Climate and the Environment (Fram Centre, or Framsenter) is not setting an example either.

Kittiwakes had established nests in several spots on the building in the past. It's worth remembering that these seabirds are being displaced from their natural habitats by rapid, human-driven environmental change. Following complaints from employees about noise and other disturbances, the building owner installed netting on the windows and removed the Framsenteret sign. The Research Centre for Climate and the Environment is now free of birds. Is this, perhaps, another sign of what the future holds for the High North?

Before/after, Framsenteret, Tromsø, 2024.

Trolls versus kittiwakes

Several pairs had established their home on the Troll Museum when the owner decided in 2024 that this had to change. The following season, despite the deterrents, some kittiwakes relocated to the roof and gutters. Six nests were still active in 2024.

Couldn't kittiwakes be used by business owners as a tourist curiosity? If that was included as part of a marketing stretgy, wouldn't tourists be supportive and more incline to visit businesses, shops, cafés and museums that actually protect a highly endangered species?

Before/after Kaigata 3, Tromsø.

Earplugs for tourists

Anticipating renovation of the Nord Norsk Museum, scaffolding was erected against the wall where about 20 pairs of kittiwakes had originally nested. As expected, the dislodged kittiwakes moved to the neighboring building, which was a hotel. To help their guests cope with the noise, the receptionist provided complimentary ear plugs to the guests. Eventually, and unately before all the chicks had fully fledged, the management put up boards to get rid of the birds. This year, these six pairs will relocate to neighboring buildings.

Before/after, Kaigata 2, Tromsø

Last year, at the start of the 2024 breeding season, 56% of the nests had been covered with deterrents.

The destructions we observe this winter confirm the trend that was already observed and documented between 2023 and 2024. However, these destructions did not keep the Tromsø kittiwake population from increasing significantly in 2024. This shows that the "deterrent strategy" fails, if its purpose is to get rid of the kittiwakes in the city. It is like fighting gravity by attaching helium balloons around our necks. Undoubtedly, there are some results and some will get their feet off the ground for a while, but building owners are using their resources in the most irresponsible way, sending their problem from one building to the next.

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Who should bear the cost?

The responsibility of managing kittiwake colonies shouldn’t rest solely on individuals or businesses that happen to host them. While practical solutions are important, we must also recognize that the black-legged kittiwake is one of Norway’s most endangered bird species. Preventing its extinction is a responsibility we share as a society.

• A fair compromise would involve building owners funding deterrent measures, while public authorities such as the municipality support the creation of alternative nesting sites, like kittiwake hotels, placed near existing colonies.

• When planning new buildings or neighborhoods, developers should integrate nesting sites for kittiwakes from the earliest stages as a preventive and proactive measure. The cities of the future must be designed with inclusivity in mind, extending care not only to people but also to the wildlife we share our spaces with.

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Cleaning once a week is enough to get rid of the smell.

Coexisting with kittiwakes: Rather than seeing kittiwakes themselves as the problem, it is more constructive and cost-effective to find solutions to reduce the inconveniences they bring.

There is hope for coexistence!

Not everything is doom and gloom!

While kittiwakes are going through a critical time, they have also never received as much support and attention as now.

Scientists at the Norwegian institute for nature research-NINA have been studying "urban kittiwakes" since the first pair nested in Tromsø in 2014. Ornithologists Tone Reiertsen and Karl-Otto Jacobsen have been kittiwake ambassadors for a while. More people joined the cause in the last years, and their influence has been instrumental in advocating for coexistence. Robert Lund Mentzoni at Tromsø kommune and architect Kjeld Nash at AT Arkitektur have shown the way to many. Artists Lawrence Malstaf and Kåre Grundvåg have designed and built the kittwake hotels. Camilla Fagerli, the curator of the Tromsø Center for Contemporary art- Kunstforening, initiatiated with others the public-acclaimed exhibit "Jeg Elsker Måke" (I love seagulls). Since 2024, the Kittiwalkers have been playing an important role in this network of people sharing a common goal: to make coexistence with kittiwake possible.

Last but not least, a series of new kittiwake hotels have been deployed this year with the support from Tromsø municipality, and as a collaborative endeavour. Let's hope now that kittiwakes will adopt them, and will choose them over buildings. One thing is certain: kittiwakes are in Tromsø to stay, unless new environmental changes send them away, or until they go extinct.

New kittiwake hotels deployed in Tromsø early 2025, as alternative breeding sites.