Iceland Day Five

Sadly our last full day in Iceland today and it was back to Akuryeri for a visit to the famous bakery, a whale watching session and then a visit to the Christmas garden before dinner at the Aurora. 

Ebird trip report HERE. Only 28 bird species but some good quality in there. 

Humpback Whale (above) 

Harbour Porpoise and Iceland Gulls. We had a single Humpback Whale and a few Harbour Porpoise on the whale watching trip.

Adult Iceland Gulls (above and below) - great to see these shearing over the sea rather than on a rubbish dump somewhere. Certainly an aptly name species out here considering we've seen over 100 of them. 

Adult Iceland Gull 

Adult males, first-winter males and female Northern Eiders and what looks like a nominate Common Eider (below) lacking the mustard coloured bill and instead being yellow-greenish. 

Whooper Swans on Lake Myvatn on the way back to Akuryeri this morning 

This Merlin was outside the Hotel this morning- not the falcon we were looking for. We've basically hit all our targets except for Gyr. 

Happy mini whale watcher

Iceland Day Four

Today we spent the day at Husavik, the coastal town where the film Eurovision, the Story of Fire Saga was set. It was a family day so I had to sneak in a few snippets of birding. It would have been great to go through all the gulls and seaducks properly but I did pretty well with a few minutes in between visiting the Whale Museum, the Eurovision Exhibition and Lunch at the Gamli Baukur and shopping. 

The drive from Myvatn to Husavik was stunning, we were the only car on the road crossing wild tundra. 

Managed to score another main target of the trip- Harlequin Duck. Pretty good scope views but no good for photos unfortunately.

Ebird list from today HERE

Male and female Harlequin Ducks and Eider

3rd-winter 'Kumlien’s ' Gull

2nd-winter 'Kumlien’s  Gull'

Adult Kumlien's Gull

A nice little selection of  adult and first-winter Iceland and Kumlien's Gull. The first-winter in top right appears to have a dark wash at the base of the primaries suggesting 'Kumlien's'.

Adult Iceland Gull- About 45 Iceland Gulls and 6 'Kumlien’s Gulls'

Adult Glaucous Gull (front bird) 

Adult Glaucous Gull x Herring Gull aka ‘Viking Gull’  (hybrid as some dark streaks in outer primaries and small size ) with Herring Gulls 

Black Guillemot

Male Long-tailed Duck

Female Long-tailed Duck

Purple Sandpipers

Adult and 2nd-winter Kumlien’s Gulls, Iceland Gulls and Herring Gull

2nd-winter Kumlien’s  Gulls (above and below)

2nd-winter 'Kumlien’s Gull' 

Adult Iceland Gull

First-winter 'Viking Gull' - at least two of  these

Herring Gulls in Iceland are argenteus but many show several features associated with American Herring Gull smithsonianus suggesting there might be some historical introgression. The bird on the left could actually be an American Herring Gull from that view with contrasting pale head and rather concolourous dark underparts, retained juvenile scapulars and a largely dark tail from what can be seen. However in other views the bird showed coarsely marked undertail coverts indicating it is one of these smith-like  'Icelandic Herring Gulls'.

Husavik- a stunning place

The drive across the frozen tundra- a mad place. Great that there are so few tourists out here this time of year 

Iceland Day Three

We started the day exploring the east side of Lake Myvatn, mainly from the car as it was minus seven degrees. We managed to find one of the main birding targets of the trip- Barrow's Goldeneye. There were about 195 of them - the most numerous waterbird on the Lake. There were also Whooper Swans, Goosanders, Red-breasted Merganser,Tufted Ducks and Mallards. We braved the weather for a quick walk at the Dimmuborgir Lava Fields but Isaac refused to wear a hat and we had a frozen and cranky toddler within a few minutes. 

We then went for lunch at the Nature Thermal baths and then spent the early afternoon at Hverir fumaroles and mud pools. By late afternoon Holly and the boys wanted to retreat back to the hotel for some respite from the cold so I spent the later afternoon checking out the River Laxa and waited by the largest flocks of Barrow's Goldeneyes hoping for a Gyr Falcon to come in hunting them- but no luck. The only new birds were a couple of adult White-tailed Eagles and about 10 Common Goldeneye in with the Barrow's. Amazingly a Wren was calling from some boulders by the lake edge. 

It was back at the hotel for dinner (local Lamb). 

Barrow's Goldeneyes, adult males and a single female (above) and female (below). The adult males are unmistakable compared to Common Goldeneye with the lozenge shaped scapular markings, the white face patch that reaches above the eye and the black bar on the sides of the breast. 

Female Barrow's Goldeneye (above and below)- compared to Common Goldeneye, the yellow/orange/pink bill colour extends from below the nostril towards the bill tip as is not so clear cut. The angular head shape is distinctive in all age classes with a vertical foreheand, peak above eye and long nape feathering creating a bulbous rear head.  The bill is more conical shaped too. The visible white in the greater coverts and secondaries is generally less in Barrow's with black tips indicating an adult female (not visible here so either a young female or an adult with concealed black tips)

Adult female Barrow's Goldeneye showing the black dark tips to the greater coverts (a first-winter bird in both Common and Barrow's lacks these). There are also tips to the median coverts forming three bars in this bird with limited white in the greater coverts. Adult female Common Goldeneye also has more white in the greater covers (see an adult female from Beddington HERE). I didn't see any first-winter birds, most of them looked like adults suggesting some kind of age related wintering filtering in this area

Male Common Goldeneye (front left) with Barrow's Goldeneyes. There were at least 10 Commons within the 195 Barrow's. 

Barrow's Goldeneye wintering it out in the bleakness of Northern Iceland. The population of Barrow's Goldeneyes on Iceland is resident and the only regular place for them in the WP. Barrow's Goldeneye is rather range restricted species globally, only occurring in Northwest Canada/Alaska and a smaller population on the east coast too. 

White-tailed Eagle

Lake Myvatn- mostly frozen apart from the south east corner where all the waterfowl were congregating

Plenty of geothermal activity on the east side of Lake Myvatn presumably contributing to wintering survival for wildlife

Hverfjall volcano

Iceland Ponies 

Jacob at Hevrir - nice to warm up a bit 

Iceland, Day Two

We started the day off at the Akureyri Botanical Gardens for a morning walk. Good numbers of Common Redpolls in the area, a few Blackbirds. Ravens and a couple of flocks of Common Starlings were the only birds present. Looking over the Fjord there were a couple of Iceland Gulls flying around and the Eiders, Goosanders, Red-throated Divers and Kittiwakes were still present too. 

We then checked out of our first hotel and headed over to the Daladyrd Petting Zoo for the boys HERE where they had a captive local Arctic Fox and an interesting selection of Icelandic breeds of livestock including Icelandic Sheep Dogs. 

We then headed over to the famous Godafoss Waterfalls for lunch (a nice local lamb stew) and then on to Reykjahlo on Lake Myvatn where will be based for the next three nights. Arctic Char for dinner was a food species lifer. 

Once we left Akureyri there were very few birds, infact the only birds we saw were five Whooper Swans feeding near the road. I had a look round our hotel and in an hour literally didn't see a single bird but found some droppings which looked like Ptarmigan. 

Last night I was sleeping lightly as was keeping an eye out for the aurora borealis from our bedroom window and luckily managed to wake up to check just at the right time with a pretty incredible display for about 10 minutes before it clouded over. The northern lights was one of the main target of our trip out here so a good result- from our bed! 

Whooper Swans- amazing that a few spend the whole winter out here

Captive Arctic Fox from local area, taken as a puppy from a hunted adult. According to the owners of the zoo, 80% of Arctic Fox in Iceland remain dark all year round. 

Godafoss Waterfalls

Frozen Lake Myvatn- will be heading to the south of the lake tomorrow where it should be unfrozen and hopefully there are waterbirds and the chance of a Gyr too. So far haven't connected with any of the bird targets. 

The Northern Lights, Aurora borealis. Photo taken literally from bed from the hotel

Jacob- Happy traveller