Current view: Text account
Site description (2000 baseline):
Site location and context
A mountain island, situated about 1,000 km west of Bodø on the Norwegian mainland and 450 km east of Greenland. Volcanic ash covers large parts of the island, and Beerenberg volcano (2,277 m; inactive and covered with a glacier) dominates the rocky tundra landscape. There is very little vegetation. The island was annexed by Norway in 1921.
There are large and highly important breeding colonies of seabirds; other notable species include
Rissa tridactyla (4,000-17,500 pairs),
Sterna paradisaea (500-1,000 pairs) and
Fratercula arctica (1,000-10,000 pairs). A total of 96 species have been recorded on the island, mainly as vagrants.
Pressure/threats to key biodiversity
No threats are known.
National None
International None
Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Important Bird Area factsheet: Jan Mayen island (Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)). Downloaded from
https://datazone.birdlife.org/site/factsheet/jan-mayen-island-iba-svalbard-and-jan-mayen-islands-(to-norway) on 22/12/2024.
