Sunday, 16 February 2025

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

No comments: