Breeding records of birds in Greenland

This dataset consists of published and unpublished records of breeding birds in Greenland, in total 13,338 records. The published sources include technical reports, scientific papers, books, expedition reports etc., and the unpublished sources are multiple: my own observations in the period 1974 to 2021, the notebooks of colleagues and ornithologists, information send to me from numerous sources in Greenland, and information published on on-line media such as iNaturalist and eBird. These unpublished sources are referred to as own obs. (in case of my own observations), or in case of other observers by their name followed by ‘in litt.’, ‘pers. comm.’, ‘notes’ or ‘unpublished’. Data from the Greenland Seabird Breeding Colony database kept at my institute is also included here and the data from the on-line media are indicated by the name of the web site. The data dates back to 1843.

The information is classified into three categories under the headline ‘occurrenceRemark’: confirmed breeding records, probable breeding records and possible breeding records. The confirmed records are those where a definitive proof of breeding is given (e.g. nests, eggs, chicks recorded, or when behaviour of adult birds indicate certain breeding, such as adults carrying food for chicks). Probable breeding records are those where no proof has been obtained, but behaviour indicates breeding (e.g., injury feigning in waders) and possible breeding records are those where pairs of birds have been observed in potential breeding habitats and non-breeders can be excluded.

Only observation year is indicated, as the exact date is not relevant in this context.

Position is given by geographic coordinates. Site names are not indicated. Site accuracy is given in three categories more or less accurate (within 2,5 km), inaccurate (within 10 km) and concealed (within 150 km). The latter category is used for breeding sites of White-tailed Eagle, Gyr Falcon and Peregrine Falcon as a conservation measure.

The data are published as distribution maps in the book: Boertmann, D. 2025, Birds of Greenland, an annotated and updated checklist. – Aarhus University Press.

Published sources are given with full reference.

Associated parties:

Aarhus University, Department of Ecoscience, Section Arctic Environment

Greenland Institute of Natural Resources.

Funding: The sampling and compilation of these data was funded by Aage V. Jensens Fonde.