The Birds of Iceland

Whew! I can't believe I'm still posting about Iceland... but I couldn't finish our Iceland blog series without having a post about the birds. As you can see from our much expanded 2007 life-bird lists to the side, we had some great birding in Iceland. Basically we saw 100% of the species that exist there commonly in the summer. Well, not quite 100%...I think we were about 3 birds short of that mark, but I was still very impressed that we were able to find most of them. Also, many birds that we had seen in the past but never got great views of were very accessible in Iceland. Below are a few pictures, mostly from Andy's film camera, of some of the common birds we saw:

Arctic terns were everywhere, literally. Even in the center of Reykjavik they were squawking away.

Iceland has very few passerines (songbirds)- I think there are only 4 or so that breed in the country (as opposed to the hundreds we have in North America). This is a Redwing (relative of the Robin) carrying some food back to the nest.

Northern Fulmars were also everywhere, which was great because I only had one pretty lame look at one in Newfoundland before. This one was begging for food in Husavik harbor!



Common Eiders also are as common as mallards at home. Here is a female Eider with ducklings in Husavik Harbor.

European Golden Plovers were our sentinels whenever we went hiking through the tundra. They popped up and peeped incessently.


Another Golden Plover

Greylag geese were common in Reykjavik, especially in the Tjorn.

This Dunlin was very concerned for its two fluffball chicks nearby in the scrub. It was cool to see so many birds in breeding plumage and with young that we never get to see at home.

Here is a juvenile White Wagtail (my favorite species that we saw) on the porch in Snorrastadir. These guys are so animated- they act like they are on speed, hopping around after bugs and wagging their tails at the same time.

Red Knots at Snorrastadir. Another bird that I had only seen once before, and got spectacular looks at in Iceland.

I can't mention birding in Iceland without bringing up our fateful excursion on the Saerun, a nature-watching cruise out of Stykklisholmur (near Snorrastadir). It was a stormy day but it didn't seem too choppy or wet when we got to the ferry docks so we decided to take Aiden on the 2 hour cruise around Breidafjordur Bay. The absolute highlight of the cruise is a visit to a breeding site for the rare White-Tailed Eagle. The Eagles were on the brink of extinction in Iceland but have made a comeback and now their nest sites are highly regulated and kept secret for the most part. This one tour company has offical government-sanctioned clearance to visit a known nest site though, so we were very excited for that.

About 10 minutes after the ship pushed out of the harbor, Aiden started BAWLING! And he bawled and bawled and bawled and bawled. We still don't know if he was cold, or seasick, or didn't like the wind, or the engine noise, or what. We took turns carrying him around and trying to placate him for an hour and a half before he finally fell asleep exhausted below deck on Andy's chest. Of course, that meant we got to do very little birding on the tour. Luckily, the guides were calling out what they saw in English over the loudspeaker, so by taking turns and looking out the window below we were actually able to get decent looks at the White Tailed Eagles and the Shag (a type of cormorant), the two species we really wanted to see most. No pictures though, as we were otherwise occupied.

After crying for over an hour straight, Aiden finally zonked.

And woke up happy!! Just as we were docking!

When Andy was pinned to his seat down below with Aiden, the crew of the Saerun sent a trawl line out to bring up some Icelandic seafloor delicacies. The dumped a huge trawlnet of crabs, clams, urchins, scallops, sea stars, and seaweed onto the decks and proceeeded to hand out samples of fresh raw scallops and sea urchin roe. The roe was quite sweet tasting, which surprised me. Andy missed it but said he thought I'd enjoy it more anyway. Probably true. Hope you enjoyed our Iceland blogs! Now back to reality...

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Icelandic Seafloor Delicacies, being prepared...