Good morning birders, twitchers, ornithophiles, and Democrats looking for a suitable expatriation destination if Trump wins.
My wife and I spent a week in Iceland in June. As I mentioned in last week’s London bird-o-logue, I could barely walk on account of a swollen knee. As our top priority was hiking, we almost cancelled the Iceland week. But I ended up buying hiking poles and limping up the lush hillsides with my camera gear.
Iceland is fast becoming one of the trendiest destinations in the world (I’m pretty sure “bucket” and “list” are now key words under its encyclopedia entry). Tourism is growing at an estimated 20% per year, while the lodging and rental-car stock is not — in other words, planning ahead is essential. We took advantage of the brilliant Icelandair stopover promotion, which gave us a week each in London and Iceland for less than the cost of flying only to London on other airlines.
The highlight of the winter season, of course, is the Aurora Borealis. For our first trip to the 64th parallel, however, we decided to go during the summer solstice. In addition to 21 hours of daylight, gorgeous greenery, and wildflowers, the primary perk of June is that it falls during puffin season.
Puffins nest high atop seaside cliffs. During nesting season they jump quickly into their holes after returning from fishing expeditions, spending little time in photographable poses. As a result, we had more trouble than expected locating them — but we did find small colonies on the Westman Islands (a short ferry ride from the mainland), and near the lovely town of Vík. If you’re expecting Nat Geo-type closeups of a puffin with five fish in its mouth and hundreds of puffins in the background, then I apologize for disappointing. But I did get a few decent shots.
Though they look hilarious when they fly — frantically flapping their wings to propel their chubby bodies — they’re actually quite fast.
They really love their puffins on the Westman Islands:
As Iceland mostly lacks trees, it has relatively few passerines. The most common one we saw was the white wagtail. This fly-muncher was on the roof of our wonderful guesthouse near Vík:
We also saw some meadow pipits:
Northern wheatears:
And redwings:
As the sun set just after midnight, sunset photography was not always practical. But I did plan one shot, at the amazing Kirkjufell (meaning “church mountain”) on the Snæfellsnes Peninsula northwest of Reykjavík:
The peninsula is a great destination for a short Iceland stopover. It is often described as a microcosm of the country, with beautiful cliff-laden coastlines, volcanic formations, and a glacier — all an easy drive from Reykjavík. It also has a distinctive church:
And other nice scenery:
Shorebirds are abundant in this Island country. As my mobility was compromised, however, I saw only a fraction of the species — usually the ones with “common” in their name. We saw some common redshanks:
A common ringed plover:
And a common eider duck at the Jökulsárlón glacier lagoon:
Speaking of which, the lagoon is one of the most famous Iceland sights, and for good reason. It’s where pieces of the Vatnajökull glacier break off and float into the ocean. The glacier covers more than 8% of the mainland’s surface.
Arctic terns love the lagoon. They were fishing by the hundreds while we were there.
When humans with cameras get too close, the terns hover like this:
And if you don’t take the hint, they swoop down and attack. One of them drew blood on my scalp.
On a more peaceful note, here are some whooper swans flying past a glacier:
Most tourists who venture out of Reykjavík drive along the Ring Road, which encircles the entire Island along the coast. You could conceivably drive the whole circle on a week-long stopover. However, that wouldn’t leave much time for activities. Instead, we focused on the south coast.
The well-maintained Ring Road was easy to drive, at least once our brains adjusted to looking for turnoffs with names such as Kirkjubæjarklaustur. For those who aren’t comfortable driving, several companies run tours from Reykjavík of popular south-coast sights, most commonly the “Golden Circle” of attractions just east of town. Highlights include the giant geo-thermal water flinger called “Geysir,” from which all others derive their name, and the ginormous waterfall Gullfoss:
Self driving, however, afforded us the flexibility to go at our own pace. My wife and I are a good match — she likes driving and I like sticking my head out the window to get shots like this:
Finally, here are some additional pics from the Vík area:
The town:
Thanks for reading! And as usual, please share your birding highlights of the week.