Birds in Iceland

In June 2022 I spent a few days in Iceland and saw lots of birds. I am not a birder, but like to take photos of the birds that I see - here are a few of those photos.

Being on a cruise, we saw lots of seabirds. The most common around Iceland seemed to be fulmars. I loved watching them flying around. They skim the waves, flying just above the surface and almost look as if they are playing. I'm surprised how much energy they must use doing this. They fly with a fast wing beat and stiff wings. They look a bit chunky compared to other seabirds such as gulls and gannets. 

Fulmars are very common around Iceland and the Faroes. They have learnt to feed behind whaling boats and now fishing boats in the North Atlantic. They usually breed on sea cliffs and lay one egg a year. 

Arctic terns nest on the ground and are notorious for dive bombing humans who get too close. They breed in colonies. They have long narrow wings and a long forked tail. The adults have a dark cap during summer, a dark red bill and legs, a grey body and white rump and tail. 

Oystercatchers also nest on the ground and screech at humans who get too close. Firstly the one on the left was shrieking at me then the other one came over to join in.

Eider ducks, the common eider, are probably best associated with eiderdowns, the quilts that are stuffed with their feathers. The males are mostly black and white whereas the females are reddish brown. There were 2 large groups on the beach at Grundarfjord. As I approached the first group, even though I was quite a distance away, they all took to the water. 

They slowly spread out until they were in one long line -

I walked along and the second group also took to the water -

A ringed plover, well camouflaged on the beach -

The Northern Gannets are known for their fast high dives into the water like a torpedo. Unfortunately they are badly affected by avian flu. We saw quite a few bodies in the sea. And I saw this one on a beach at Grundarfjordur.

 

Avian flu has become a really big problem in 2022. Initially it was thought to affect gannets, but it is now known that it is not confined to one species or area. This sad report is from 16 June on BBC "Avian flu hits world's largest gannet colony on Bass Rock". Bass Rock is in Scotland. As this report says, others birds such as gulls, puffins and the great skua are also dying from the flu. There are several linked reports from previous weeks. And a report in Nature from 26 May "Why unprecedented bird flu outbreaks sweeping the world are concerning scientists".

On a happier note, I saw some puffins. These have to be one of people's favourite bird. They appear on so much tourist merchandise in many countries. I did a boat trip from Grundarfjordur to to the island of Melrakkaey. We saw puffins on the way, in the water and also flying - they fly with fast beating wings. They still have their large, colourful beaks, of red, black and yellow.  

There were quite a few on the cliff top, but it was very hard to get good photos as our boat was bobbing up and down in the rough sea. They breed in colonies on grassy, steep slopes where they dig a nesting burrow.

We also saw gulls, shags and cormorants. A gull and puffin eyeing each other up -

Black guillemots- In the summer they are black, with red feet and a large white patch on the wing. This photo was taken in the Shetland Isles, I wonder if they are just talking or is one scolding the other! -

Inland I saw redwings, which belong to the thrush family.

A white wagtail, aka pied wagtail -

I only saw one raven. It was large but too far away for a photo. The raven is the emblem of the Icelandic Institute of Natural History. The raven is a prominent bird in Icelandic nature and traditional beliefs.

And finally, a really cute photo of a puffin on the book "Birds of the Faroe Islands" -