La Tour du Valat

Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes

Titre :	Large-scale utilization of Shelduck eggs on certain islands in the past
Auteurs :	Sven Thorsen, Auteur
Type de document :	Article
Dans :	Dansk Ornitologisk Forenings Tidsskrift (104(2) 2010)
Article en page(s) :	51-58
Langues:	Anglais
Résumé :	Scattered descriptions can be found of the utilization of Shelduck Tadorna tadorna eggs on the Wadden Sea islands Amrum, Sylt, Fohr, Fano and Romo. The inhabitants of Amrum used to "fish" eggs from old rabbit holes where Shelducks had built their nests. On the other islands eggs were collected from artificial holes the inhabitants had dug for the ducks, either simple holes dug in sloping terrain (e.g., dikes) or bigger burrow complexes. A main cause that ducks were "kept" in this way probably was that it was difficult to grow sufficient grain for poultry on these islands.In 2008 the present author learned that a similar exploitation of Shelducks had been widespread on the island of Laeso in the Kattegat, and that people even had built houses for the birds around 1900. Both here and in the Wadden Sea it was custom to let the birds keep a reasonable number of eggs to incubate, and Shelduck were not hunted.Apparently, the described utilization of Shelducks was first practised on Amrum from where it spread to neighbouring islands, culminating on Sylt in the late 1800s. In 1901 there were still 280 active nests in a single village on the island.

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