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Previous Tour Highlights

from some of FONT's Birding & Nature Tours
in  ICELAND

The "Northern Lights" or Aurora Borealis (called "Norourljos" in Icelandic), 
seen during FONT tours in Iceland in October.
More regarding the "Northern Lights".

Links:

Birds during our previous Iceland Tours

Complete Iceland Bird-List

An Iceland Photo Gallery

Upcoming FONT Birding & Nature Tours in Iceland

 

The following summaries are with the most-recent tours first. 
Click on the tour that you find of interest in the following list to go directly to that tour summary in this file.
In the summaries, there are further links to UPCOMING TOUR ITINERARIES, BIRD-LISTS, and PHOTO GALLERIES


TOURS:

September/October 2006

June 2006

June 2003

May-June 2003

October 2002

June 2002

 

September/October 2006

Links:

List of Birds during our Iceland Tour - Sep/Oct '06

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour.

There have been 14 FONT birding & nature tours in Iceland, and oddly, in a way, most of them have been in the Fall.
Yes, we've also enjoyed Iceland in the late Spring (late May & early June), and it is wonderful then with all of the breeding birds and the wildflowers in addition to the fascinating geology and wonderful scenery.
But Iceland in the Fall also has its strong points. The geology and scenery of course are still there. The days are still long enough. After dark, the "Northern Lights", or Aurora Borealis, can be seen dancing in the sky.
FONT started, years ago, going to Iceland in the Fall as something interesting to do in conjunction with the tour in southern Sweden for the southbound bird migration. Our Fall Iceland tours, until this one, were in October. In 2006, we went about a week earlier, being there for the first time during September, and then spilling a day or two into October.

In relation to birds, Iceland in the Fall is when some are coming and others are going, and their paths are in a number of directions. During our Fall '06 tour, we saw Eurasian Curlews and Bar-tailed Godwit along the southern Icelandic shoreline. Both species had come from Norway to spend the winter in Iceland. Nearby, at a pasture with Icelandic Horses, there were Wheatear and White Wagtail. Those two species were about to leave Iceland to go to mainland Europe - to Spain, or even to Africa.

From North America, that same day, we saw a Long-billed Dowitcher (an Icelandic rarity - the 6th record for the island), a Sabine's Gull (a species that breeds in the Canadian Arctic, and not in far-northern Europe), and a Snow Goose that joined in other geese. The dowitcher was on a pasture with European Golden Plovers (they were staging prior to their migration to the British Isles). The Sabine's Gull was in a flock of assorted Gulls in a fishing village. In that assemblage there were Black-headed and Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls (of a European race), and Glaucous and Iceland Gulls. The Glaucous Gulls stay in Iceland year-round, but the Iceland Gull, it's name notwithstanding, has just arrived from Greenland. It breeds there, and not in Iceland at all. Some Lesser Black-backed Gulls were still about, but that species, now abundant in Iceland during the breeding season, otherwise departs (to southwestern Europe, and probably elsewhere).          

The Snow Goose, mentioned a moment ago, was 1 of 5 species of geese during our tour. It was the rarest, as we only saw one. It was in with a flock of Greylag Geese. That's the most commonly seen goose in Iceland, widespread in the lowlands. The Pink-footed Goose nests in Iceland in the interior highlands, but our encounter with that species was an interesting one at sea level. The birds were in a large, tight flock out on a bay. There were hundreds of birds close together in that group. When we stopped our vehicle, and even before we exited, the big flock simultaneously did the same, to be further from us. I read later that such wary behavior is normal for that species, outside their breeding season. The large flock was soon to go to where the birds would winter in England, Belgium, and the Netherlands.
In northwestern Iceland, at the entrance to a large fjord, we saw a massive number of Brant (or Brent Geese as they're called in Europe). We've seen them staging there during previous years. Those birds, from Greenland, would continue on their journey to winter in Ireland. What we had not seen during any of previous Iceland tours, was a flock of Barnacle Geese, migrating as they do through Iceland in late September into October. That was because they normally occur in another part of the island where we don't normally go in the fall. This time, however, we did, and so we saw a large flock of Barnacle Geese, resting during their migration from Greenland to Scotland. They were in southeastern Iceland on rather barren terrain where in the summer more Great Skuas nest than anywhere else. Barnacle Geese are nice to see. As I looked at them, I thought of how the fluffy young goslings in Greenland had plummeted down seaside cliffs.    
The only normally-occurring goose that we did not see in Iceland during our Fall '06 tour was the Greater White-fronted, a species that also passes through Iceland from Greenland to elsewhere. In Iceland, its path is usually through the southwestern part of the island. Well, we couldn't be everywhere (even though it could be said we tried!)

During our '06 Fall tour, there were no Great Skuas, where we saw them earlier in the year during our May/June tour, in barren southeastern Iceland (where, as just noted, in October we saw the Barnacle Geese). Actually, during FONT Iceland tours in the past, prior to Oct '06, we'd only seen Great Skuas in Iceland in the late Spring. But during our Fall 2006 tour, we did enjoy seeing a few Great Skuas in northwestern Iceland, flying over a fjord where often we've had good birding. It's a fjord where apparently numerous fish often cause there to be, in our experience,  numerous birds and marine mammals such as seals and whales.
Our Great Skuas in the Fall '06 were seen on the last day of September, so still we haven't seen a Great Skua in Iceland in October.
The same also applies to the Arctic Tern. During our Fall '06 tour, at the same fjord, we also saw a few Arctic Terns. When we've been in Iceland in the late Spring, the Arctic Tern is one of the most abundant birds, occurring at nest sites throughout the Country. As with the Great Skua, prior to the fall of '06, we'd never seen an Arctic Tern during that season, and still have not in October. Of all the Icelandic birds, the Arctic Terns that leave after they nest travel the furthest. They go south beyond South Africa into the Indian Ocean and to waters off the west coast of Australia.  

A Shag, photographed during 
the FONT Sep/Oct '06 Iceland Tour,
by Claude Bloch   

In northwestern Iceland, a picturesque area of bays and islands is the stronghold in the country for the White-tailed Eagle. During our Fall '06 Tour in that area, we enjoyed sightings of 5 of them. Our first were from a boat, from which, in addition to the nice scenery, we saw, closely, Shags, along with flocks of Eider, and, on the water, Black Guillemots, not-so-black in their non-breeding plumage.
The White-tailed Eagle population in Iceland is not large, with only about 30 nesting pairs. The first pair that we saw (from the boat) we were told did not nest successfully in 2006. The species ranges across northern Eurasia, as far east as northern Japan, as far west as Greenland.   

But is Greenland in Eurasia? No, it's said by most to be part of North America. So, birds that come to Iceland from Greenland, such as the geese, various shorebirds, the Wheatear, the Iceland Gull, and even another race of Black Guillemots that come for the winter, are, in essence, changing continents.
In Iceland, itself, there are just 3 bird species that are "North American". They are: the Common Loon (called in Europe the Great Northern Diver), the Harlequin Duck, and the Barrow's Goldeneye. None of these nest anywhere else in Europe. Some of the Loons (or Divers) spend the winter off, for example, the coast of Scotland. But the Barrow's Goldeneye and Harlequin Duck do not normally occur anywhere else in Europe.

During our Fall Iceland Tours, we do not usually visit Lake Myvatan, a large lake in the Icelandic northern highlands that is, in the late spring and summer a nursery for many ducks. But in the Fall of '06 we did go there, and found that a number of ducks were still there too (as the lake had not yet frozen). The Common (or Black) Scoter, for example, that nests there, was still present. It had not yet gone to the sea. The Harlequin Ducks that nest by rapids along a rushing stream near the lake were gone. We had seen them the previous day along the northern Icelandic seacoast, bobbing about on the ocean, just a very few miles from the Arctic Circle. Where the Harlequins are in the late spring and summer, however, we did see something fascinating - a large flock of dozens of male Barrow's Goldeneyes in the rapids of the stream. Certainly, that was the largest such grouping of Barrow's Goldeneyes in Europe. It was quite a sight, and with a background not to be forgotten with volcanic craters, and dark clouds in sunlight with the most vivid of complete, colorful rainbows.
About an hour or so, further along the road in the highlands, we saw one of the very few land mammals in Iceland, a Caribou (or Reindeer). It was a male with a huge rack of antlers - a descendent of animals brought to Iceland years before from Lappland.

In this narrative, mention has been made of where Iceland birds come from, and where they go. And the mixture of what's European and American has been noted. Actually, Iceland, itself, (although a European country) is a mixture of European and American. It's the only place where the Mid-Atlantic Rift is above the surface of the ocean. A bridge over the rift, where it appears as a channel of water, is actually a bridge between continents. And that's just another thing of what's interesting in Iceland  .

Interesting, too, is the Iceland bird-list. Although about 70 species of birds breed, during the late-spring and summer, in Iceland, and a few other birds routinely come to spend the winter (such as the curlew & godwit mentioned earlier), the number of birds on the Iceland list is substantially more, about 350 species. That's due to the number of rarities and vagrants that come from either Europe or America.
We look forward to going to Iceland to see what unexpected birds we find. During our next tour, the FONT Iceland bird-list should top 100 species. As of now (the end of 2006), we're at 96.                     
      

Icelandic scenery, during our Fall '06 Tour          

Red-throated Loon
(photo by Howard Eskin) 

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tours:

Our June 3-11, 2006 birding & nature tour in Iceland was our 13th tour in that country, and our 48th tour in Europe since 1990. 
During that June '06 Iceland Tour, there were both wonderful birds and wonderful experiences.

Iceland is a fascinating country. In relation to nature, its geology is particularly notable. Its scenery is especially superb.
Even though the island country nearly touches the Arctic Circle, and even though it's called "Iceland", it's not as cold as other places with such a northerly latitude. The proximity of the Gulf Stream has an affect.      

But there is ice in Iceland. There are glaciers, including the largest in Europe. When we visited that glacier late one evening, during our June '06 tour, it was really a magnificent sight, all the more enhanced by a beautiful male Harlequin Duck swimming in the water close to us. 
Harbor Seals were lifting their heads above the water, peering at us, as we admired the panorama of frozen ice and evening sky. In that sky, there were numerous and noisy Arctic Terns flying about.    

When we visited that glacier a couple years previously, during a tour in late May, the ice was covered with many resting Black-legged Kittiwakes. 

During our recent '06 tour, in early June, there was not a single kittiwake at the glacier, but there were hundreds of Arctic Terns, either sitting on the ice or in flight above it. Looking at them one thinks about how they came such a long way to be there. 
The Arctic Terns that breed in Iceland, when not there, travel many miles over the Atlantic Ocean, to off the southern tip of Africa, and even beyond, into the Indian Ocean to waters off western Australia, before retracing their journey back to Iceland. No other bird in the world travels that far. And as we watched and listened to them, just before midnight, when there was a substantial amount of light, one could also think of how no other bird in the world that experiences as many hours of daylight.     

Iceland is place of both ice and fire. In addition to glaciers, there are geysers where hot water emits from the ground. The word "geyser" is Icelandic. 

And there are volcanoes throughout the island. During recent decades, there have been eruptions and fiery fissures. Less than 50 years ago, an eruption on the ocean floor off the southern coast of Iceland produced an island.

Mid-Atlantic Rift

Only in Iceland is the Mid-Atlantic Rift above the surface of the sea. Elsewhere it's on the ocean floor. In Iceland, one can walk across a short bridge over the rift between "continents". The landmass of North America, of course, is a few hours by plane to the west, while that of Eurasia is a flight of a few hours to the east. 

Most of the birds in Iceland are Eurasian. The 3 exceptions, that are American birds, are the Common Loon, Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica), and Harlequin Duck. These 3 species nest nowhere else in Europe.

As we were at the Mid-Atlantic Rift, during our June '06 tour, there was, to be heard, the beautiful song of the wren, the "Icelandic Wren", an endemic subspecies of what's called the Winter Wren in North America. In Europe, it's simply called the Wren. 
It's the only one of the world's 74 species of wrens that ranges throughout the Northern Hemisphere. 
It's the only wren in Eurasia. 
It has 41 subspecies. 
Watching the one in Iceland that day, Troglodytes troglodytes islandicus, as it moved about on the rocks at the rift, we could see that it appeared slightly larger and longer-tailed than the Winter Wren of North America.              

Given the latitude of Iceland, it's rather surprising how many bird species have actually been recorded there. 
The list of species for the country, prior to our tour, was 354. 
Of these, 73 are regular breeders. We saw nearly all of them during our June '06 tour. Of those 73 regular breeders, 17 are resident. 9 are partially migrant. 21 are largely migrant. 26 of the regular breeders are totally migrant. 
Another 26 species of birds are irregular breeders in Iceland. 

Excluding vagrants, 9 species of birds occur in Iceland only during their migration. 
10 other species occur in Iceland only in the winter. 
2 species (both pelagic) are summer visitors, having bred in the Southern Hemisphere. 

35 species of birds on the "Iceland List" are vagrants that occur annually. 
And, lastly, there are 126 species on the list for the country that have occurred in Iceland as what might be called irregular vagrants, either recorded once or just a few times. 
Vagrants in Iceland come from opposite directions, with some from Eurasia and others from the Americas.          

A complete list of 354 species of birds in Iceland is elsewhere in this website. There's a link to it above. In the list, the number of sightings (as of 2002) is given in parentheses. 
That number may not reflect every sighting, but it gives an interesting measure of how often the Icelandic vagrant birds occur.    
Actually now, that list of Icelandic birds contains one more species. The story follows: 

With such an extensive country-list, it would seem incredulous that we would add a species to it during our tour. But that we did. 
Just after leaving the small island of Flatey, in a large bay in northwestern Iceland, from the ferry, a Yellow-billed Loon was spotted on the water, at first very close to the boat. Seen well, the bird appeared large, as did its bill that was lightly-colored throughout, including the culmen and tip. Its head was also lightly-colored, more so than the head of the Common Loon in winter plumage. 
We did see a number of Common Loons, or Great Northern Divers, in a few plumages, during our tour. 
The White-billed Diver (as the Yellow-billed Loon is called in Europe) nests there only in the High Arctic region of far-northern Russia. 
West of Iceland (and west of Greenland), it nests in North America, in the High Arctic of Canada and Alaska. 
In Europe, the species has been found, away from its far-northern nesting area, off the Norwegian coast (mostly from late April into the first few days of June), and off Britain and Ireland (between October and mid June). Our sighting, off the western Icelandic coast, was on June 9, 2006.     

That little island known as Flatey, in the big bay filled with small islands known as Breidafjordur, in western Iceland, is quite a place. On the island, there are 4 or 5 year-round residents, 5 if the son of the elderly lady who operates the little post office is there (he was hurt in a boating accident and sometimes is away). We met that lady from the post office during a previous tour. Her name is Leena, and in June '06, we sat with her outside in her yard, having coffee and cake. As we did so, we were serenaded with the constant winnowing of diving Snipe in the air right above us (they may have been nesting in the tall grass just the other side of the wooden fence).
The common bird of her yard was the Snow Bunting. She was feeding a flock of them, as she fed us (but I think bread, and not cake and coffee). 
One of our favorite experiences on the island of Flatey, was, as we were near the dock waiting for the ferry to return, watching adult Snow Buntings, close to us, feeding their adolescent young. 

During our 3 to 4 hours on Flatey Island, there was always the sound of birds. There were, in addition to the song of Snow Buntings and the winnowing of Snipe, the constant calls of shorebirds such as Redshanks, Oystercatchers, and Golden and Ringed Plovers. 
But it was to see another shorebird that we primarily went to Flatey. That species was the Red Phalarope, which is a rare breeder in Iceland (with just a relatively few pairs). 

Throughout Iceland, we saw many Red-necked Phalaropes, in their breeding garb, either spinning around on small pools, or along coastlines. As we disembarked from the ferry onto Flatey, Red-necked Phalaropes, by the pier, were nearly close enough to touch. 
Our target, the Red Phalarope, we surmised would not be as easy. However, with a bit of luck, and being at the right place, we watched 3 bright brick-red females circling about in the water, near to where we assumed 3 duller males were sitting on the nests. We were told by the post office lady (and surely it was true) that those birds had just returned to the island. The Red Phalarope is the last of the birds to arrive in Iceland in the spring, having come from the ocean off the southern African coast.

A while back, the Red-necked Phalarope was called the Northern Phalarope. 
But that was a misnomer, as the Red Phalarope is a more-northerly breeder than the Red-necked.  
In most European bird guidebooks, the Red Phalarope is called the Grey Phalarope. In Iceland, however, it's called the Red Phalarope as that's its color there when it visits for a short while to nest before going back out to sea.       

So, like the Yellow-billed Loon, the Red Phalarope is a High Arctic breeder that we were fortunate to see (and on the same day). 
But, in the case of the phalarope, we saw it near a breeding site. It's a site, it might be mentioned, is protected, but that's due to Eiders being there. There's a sign indicating in 4 languages that entry beyond it is strictly prohibited. You see, to the 4 people on Flatey Island, the down from the nests of Eiders is very important. 
When we sat on large rocks and observed the Red Phalaropes, we were before the sign, to our left. To our right, and not much more than an arms-length away, Black Guillemots stood tamely on a couple other rocks, neatly-dressed in their black-and-white breeding attire. And so it seemed quite appropriate that as they stood there, they were "well-behaved", generally still and quiet. 

Behind us, on top of a little knoll, there was a small church. We were generally "well-behaved" as we entered to take a look. The colorful murals inside were not of saints or deities, but instead of fisherman. Overhead, on the upper wall, puffins were depicted. On the ceiling, directly overhead, there was a large painting (nearly life-size) of a White-tailed Eagle.     

From the ferry-boat, after departing Flatey, after the unexpected loon, during a ride when the Icelandic weather was the best it could possibly have been, we enjoyed watching a number of birds including: Shags and Cormorants, Fulmars, Arctic Terns, Common Murres (including the bridled form), and many Atlantic Puffins, either sitting on the water (usually prior to diving), or in the air with their short fluttery flight. 

However, when we returned to the dock back on the Icelandic mainland, that we had left earlier in the morning, we had not seen, as we had hoped to during the day, a White-tailed Eagle (other than the one painted on the ceiling of the church). 

So, after a fine seafood dinner, we made some rather spontaneous arrangements for another boat-trip into another part of the big bay, hoping to see a White-tailed Eagle. And that we did, as we watched a frosty-colored adult circle in the sky around our boat 3 or 4 times, sometimes being pursued by a couple Ravens.            

The young captain of the boat, called in for our mission on short-notice, also enjoyed our successful endeavor. The eagle was at a place where the normally-scheduled boat-trips don't go. A pair along the normal route had apparently abandoned their nesting efforts due to previous bad weather.
The young captain, who grew up on one of the more-remote little islands, also enjoyed talking about other birds that we saw, such as cormorants and shags, and the fulmars, kittiwakes, terns, and puffins. He asked what we liked better to eat, cormorant or shag. (Our fine seafood dinner, about an hour earlier, we told him, was neither.) He told us that a bird not to be eaten was the Fulmar. He also said that if we ate the eggs of either Arctic Tern or Kittiwake, we'd prefer not to eat ever again the egg of a chicken.    

The White-tailed Eagle was not the only raptor we saw during our June '06 tour in Iceland. We saw Merlins. 

And again, as during our Iceland tours in the past, we were fortunate to watch Gyrfalcons. We saw 2 adults, a pale male and a slightly darker and larger female, on a cliff-ledge on the other side of a gorge with an invisible stream far below. 
We heard the calling of a young Gyrfalcon, "kerreh-kerreh-kerreh", elsewhere on a cliff, not visible from where we were. But as we stayed still and quiet, close to the ground in high tussock-grass, we certainly did have a tremendous opportunity to observe the Gyrfalcons at a place, remote and wild. 
When we were quiet, the only sounds, at that place, were those of birds: in addition to the call of the Gyrfalcon, there were also those of the Whimbrel, Golden Plover, Greylag Geese, and the ever-present sound of the Snipe in the air.                 

At that remote and wild spot, when we were, as I said, still and quiet, two other creatures, not far from us, were even more so. More still and more quiet were 2 Pink-footed Geese crouched low to the ground, protecting their nest. They were so still. In our telescopes we could see that one blinked an eyelid, maybe. 

Raptors are not the birds in the Iceland spring and summer that most nesting geese and shorebirds need to be concerned most about. No, the most common predator in much of Iceland is the Parasitic Jaeger (or, as it's called in Europe, the Arctic Skua). The species occurs in Iceland in two color forms, both a light and a dark morph. Interestingly, in the Icelandic population, the all-dark form seems to be (at least where we were) about as common as the light morph. Many pairs that we saw were one of each. Not too far from the Gyrfalcon location, we watched a pair feed. One bird (the light one) went to the ground and got an egg (apparently of a Golden Plover). It flew to a nearby spot where it was joined by the other jaeger of the pair (the dark one). They shared the egg. From our vantage point, we could see that the egg was not hard boiled!         

But the Parasitic Jaeger, however, is not the top avian predator in Iceland in the spring and summer. It is the Great Skua may well have that distinction. That powerful species is not everywhere in Iceland, but in the southeastern part of the island it is particularly common. During our evening drive mentioned earlier to a glacier, we went along one stretch of highway with a fantastic number of Great Skuas by the road. In less than a half-hour, we passed by over a hundred Great Skuas! And that was without a concerted effort to count more. 
There are more breeding pairs of Great Skuas in Iceland than anywhere else. 
(Other islands on which they nest include: the Faroes, the Orkneys, and the Shetlands.) It's said that there are 6,000 breeding pairs of Great Skuas in Iceland. The species is among the earliest to arrive in the spring. They're at their nest sites in late March, having spent their non-breeding months at sea.

There's something that can be said about the Great Skuas near the road we took to and from the glacier. It's this: While many birds, in open vast areas, fly away when approached by a person (even if only a short distance), skuas, however, from wherever they are in such an area, fly TOWARD a person who ventures out from a vehicle! 
It's said that they're even aggressive toward Icelandic Sheep that happen to wander into an open area where they nest on the ground.    

Atlantic Puffin

Another species with more breeding pairs in Iceland than anywhere is the Atlantic Puffin. During our Jun '06 tour, in southern Iceland, one morning, as we walked along a trail by grassy ledges at the top of an ocean-side cliff, we enjoyed our looks, eye-to-eye, with the Atlantic Puffins that were positioned outside their burrows. 
As our tour continued, we saw many Puffins in a number of settings: sometimes on cliffs, sometimes not, but always on, or by, the water. There are many Puffins in Iceland to see, with as many as 3 million pairs in the breeding season.

Another seabird that we saw in large numbers during its breeding season in Iceland was the Northern Fulmar. They nest on cliffs, where we often saw swarms of them flying about. Estimates are now that there are more than 2 million breeding pairs of fulmars in Iceland.

About 20 species of waterfowl nest in Iceland, among them the Whooper Swan (that we saw with cygnets), a few species of geese (that we saw with goslings), and an assortment of ducks (that we saw with ducklings).
Particularly enjoyable among the ducks were, of course, the Harlequins, the Long-tailed Ducks, and the Common Eiders. 

The Common Eider is the most common of the ducks in Iceland, with a population greater than that of all of the other duck species combined. 

When we visited ponds in southern Iceland at the beginning of our tour, we saw ducks. 
But when we returned to those ponds about a week later, near the end of the tour, we found that there had been, when we were gone, a population explosion. Those ponds had become like nurseries with parent ducks (mostly Eiders and Mallards) and parent geese (Greylag) with strings of offspring.              

Those numerous waterfowl babies were not the only very young birds we saw during our tour. We also saw baby shorebirds, and among them, we particularly liked the little Oystercatchers.

As we were birding along a remote and picturesque stretch of the northern Icelandic coast, we found, among the Common Eiders, Eurasian Oystercatchers and other birds of the coastline, one of our best sightings of the tour. What a treat it was! There, in full breeding plumage, a male King Eider on a stony beach with Common Eiders.

There is, maybe, no drake waterfowl in the world that's as striking to see, in full breeding plumage, as the King Eider. Oh yes, male Mandarins and male Wood Ducks come to mind as exquisite and beautiful, and the male Harlequin Ducks (that we certainly enjoyed in Iceland in June '06) are definitely colorful. 
And yes, the other eider species are not bad either, but to see a drake King Eider in its full breeding attire, as we did in such a scenic setting on a clear day, is, simply put, superb. It doesn't get much better.
To begin with, there's the "shark-fins" on the bird's dark back. They're unique. You might take a look at that feature of the breeding male in a good field guide. And there's the blue, and green, and orange, and red on the gaudy head.

Also, regarding the King Eider that we found along that Icelandic north coast, it was unexpected. 
Even though King Eiders can be found in Iceland, they are, like the Red Phalarope and Yellow-billed Loon, breeders in the High Arctic, that is north of Iceland. There's a population that breeds in Greenland. Most of those found in Iceland are from Greenland. 
Otherwise in Europe, the King Eider breeds only in far-northern Russia. In far-northern Norway, it occurs in the winter.

King Eiders can be found in Iceland throughout the year, but they are mostly found there in the late winter. 
It's said in the books that female King Eiders rarely occur in Iceland in the late spring and summer. So imagine our surprise when we realized that our spectacular male King Eider, along the northern Iceland coast on June 8, 2006, was with a female King Eider! Yes, there were 2 King Eiders that appeared to be a pair. Again, according to the books, King Eiders have not been known to breed in Iceland. It's too bad that we just couldn't go back sometime later to that spot to see if there were little King Eiderettes.    
                                        
There have been cases where male King Eiders have bred in Iceland with female Common Eiders, producing hybrids. In fact, it's said that such hybrids can annually be found in Iceland.
We were so pleased to find as we did, along that north Iceland coast, male and female King Eiders without even a hint of hybridization.

After the King Eiders, a short while later, along that same dirt road by the north Iceland coast, there was another rather notable duck, a vagrant from North America. A male Green-winged Teal, Anas carolinensis, was by itself on a pond, with the sun shining brightly on its features that showed it to be geographically out of place.

Yet another vagrant waterfowl in Iceland was seen later during the tour, a drake Garganey. 
And the last bird added to our trip-list was another vagrant waterbird in Iceland, the Eurasian Coot.   

Prior to our June '06 tour, the best vagrant found during FONT tours in Iceland was a Great Crested Grebe, in May 2003, in a bay along the north Iceland coast. According to Icelandic bird data on the internet at the time, there were only 6 records for that Eurasian species in Iceland (We do not know if the bird we saw was included in those 6.)         
As good (that is, as far north) as that sighting was, I was a bit surprised when I later read that a Great Crested Grebe was recorded even further north yet, in western Greenland, back in the summer of 1857, in the notes of the explorer Admiral Sir Leopold McClintock. Admiral McClintock, a competent naturalist, was, during that voyage, on his way from England to northern Canada, in an effort to ascertain the facts regarding the ill-fated expedition of the earlier explorer, Sir John Franklin, after whom the Franklin's Gull was named.       

Regarding gulls during our June '06 Iceland tour, and again along the northern coast of Iceland, one morning in a small fishing town, we tallied 8 species of them, including: 
Black-headed, Herring, Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed, Common, Glaucous, and Black-legged Kittiwake, in addition to the Iceland Gull. There were a few Iceland Gulls on the shoreline with Glaucous Gulls, providing a nice comparison.

Seeing the Iceland Gull in Iceland is easy during our tours there in October. Numbers come south at the end of the summer from Greenland where they breed. Iceland Gulls don't nest in Iceland. 
During the late spring and summer, only a few Iceland Gulls can be found, locally, along the north coast. 

The Iceland Gull of Greenland & Iceland is not the same population as the Iceland Gull found in North America. It is Larus glaucoides glaucoides, whereas the American bird (that breeds in northern Canada) is Larus glaucoides kumlieni, and thus is called, by some, the Kumlien's Gull.       

From the internet we learned of some other gulls in Iceland as we were, but we were unable to see them. They were:: Sabine's Gull, Ring-billed Gull, and a Laughing Gull. 
The Icelandic birders were most excited about the Laughing Gull (with only 9 previous records for the country). It's quite something, really, that such a bird from eastern North America would end up in Iceland. It's 3,882 kilometers from Boston to Iceland, and Laughing Gulls are really not abundant as far north as Boston.

There's much more I could still say about the birds in Iceland, but it's time now just about time here to conclude. 
 
So, in conclusion, other birds, not yet mentioned, that were good to see during our June 2006 Iceland Tour included:
- the (Rock) Ptarmigan - We had a number of good looks, but the first bird we saw had the most red on its head.
- the Horned Grebe (or Slavonian Grebe as its been called in Europe) in its wonderfully colorful breeding plumage,
- the pairs of Red-throated Loons (or Red-throated Divers), in their nice breeding attire, as they sat so still on the also-still water of glacial pools.

Also notable were the flocks of shorebirds including:
brilliant Black-tailed Godwits (an endemic breeding subspecies in Iceland), 
Purple Sandpipers in their breeding plumage (an endemic resident subspecies in Iceland), 
and those other shorebirds that would continue further north to breed in the High Arctic, notably Red Knots, and also Sanderlings and Ruddy Turnstones.

Looking back to our first day of the tour, we stood on shore at the end of a cape, by where a large bay and the ocean meet. We were not far really from the offshore island where the last Great Auk sadly died over 150 years ago. 
We were looking out at birds, so many birds flying about over the water. It was apparent that there were large schools of fish underneath the surface, attracting the large and actively feeding, flocks of birds above them. 
Many Gannets were diving. There were also many Gulls. Numerous Arctic Terns were noisily flying and feeding. Parasitic Jaegers were harassing the Terns. 
Manx Shearwaters were flying about. And a continual procession of alcids flew by. In addition to Puffins, there were Razorbills, and both species of Murres (known as Guillemots in Europe). The Common Murres (or Guillemots) flew by in strings of birds, one group after another, seemingly without end.
 
With the birds and the fish, beneath the surface of the water and breaking the surface, there were Minke Whales (at least 2), feeding as well.

Iceland doesn't have many species of land mammals, but we were fortunate one evening to have a look at a dark (nearly black) Arctic Fox as it ran across the road in front of us. Then it stopped to look at us, as we looked at it.

We also saw a number of Harbor Seals, particularly along the north coast. Sometimes they were in water feeding on fish attracting groups of birds, and sometimes the seals were simply basking on the rocky shoreline in the sun.

Something that Iceland doesn't have much of are butterflies. We only saw one. (There are 82 species of Lepidoptera species in Iceland, mostly moths.)

But there are some wonderful wildflowers in Iceland in the late spring and summer. Among species seen during our June '06 tour, there were these:

Nootka Lupin, Lupinus nootkatensis
Wild Pansy, Viola tricolor
Common Butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris
Wood Crane's-bill, Geranium sylvaticum 
Sea Pea, Lathyrus japonicus maritimus
Hairy Stonecrop, Sedum villosum
Moss Campion, Silene acaulis
Sea Campion, Silene uniflora
Thrift, Armeria maritima
Lady Smock, Cardamine nymanii
Sea Mayweed, Matricaria maritima
Alpine Mouse-ear, Cerastium alpinum
Alpine Bistort, Bistorta vivipara
Wild Angelica, Angelica sylvestris
Bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris
Alpine Cinquefoil, Potentilla crantzii
Silverweed, Potentilla anserina
Roseroot, Rhodiola rosea

A more-complete list of wildflowers and some other plants in Iceland will soon be elsewhere in this website. 

The birds voted by the participants, following our June '06 Iceland Tour, as the "Top Birds" were:  

 1  -   Gyrfalcon
 2  -  White-tailed Eagle
 3  -  King Eider
 4  -  Atlantic Puffin
 5  -  Red Phalarope
 6  -  Great Skua
 7  -  Rock Ptarmigan
 8  -  Iceland Gull  
 9  -  Black Guillemot  
10 -  Snow Bunting
11 -  Garganey
12 -  Harlequin Duck
13 -  Northern Gannet
14 -  Pink-footed Goose
15 -  Black-tailed Godwit

Yes, we liked Iceland - again!

And we'll be going back, with the next FONT Iceland tours scheduled for June and October in 2008.

In October, not only are there birds, with some of them migrating and staging, and some of them regular and others rare, there is also something special - the opportunity to see, during clear nights, the brilliant Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights.

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The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour.

Beautiful, often spectacular, Iceland is quite a place. Clean and pristine, it's with coastlines, moors, mountains, valleys, waterfalls, volcanos, and glaciers. Travel into the countryside of the island, where people are few, is something enjoyed at the time, and remembered for a long time afterwards.

We've now conducted 11 FONT tours in Iceland. Our next tour there, number 12, will be in October. The bird-life is interesting then also, but different than it was during our just-completed 11th tour, June 4-10, 2003.

In October, birds are migrating, or preparing to do so. Many of them are in flocks Golden Plovers, Redwings, Whooper Swans together in numbers. Groupings of geese of various kinds are passing through, on their way south, from Greenland. Purple Sandpipers are together along rocky shores, with Harlequin Ducks in the coastal waters. And then on clear nights in October, there are spectacular displays of "Northern Lights" or Aurora Borealis.

But in early June it's very different. Birds are breeding, and generally spread out over the countryside. As we drive along, Golden Plovers, on territories, give their plaintive songs. Whimbrels, their melodious fluting trills. Dunlin display, raising their wings. Black-tailed Godwits are on pools, the race in Iceland with a stronger red coloration than other populations. Oystercatchers can't help but be striking. Redshanks tend to get attention by alighting atop posts and calling loudly. And Snipe do more than that. Their winnowing overhead is a constant in the Icelandic countryside. There must be thousands & thousands of Icelandic Snipe. They could be heard and seen virtually anywhere we stopped, day or night.

Where we stayed near Lake Myvatn, 
but really "not near anything" at the end of a 10-mile dirt road.
But a fine place for a walk, a home-cooked meal, and a thermal bath.   

Atlantic Puffins

Some of the smaller birds that we saw were notable:
Snow Buntings were in their dapper breeding plumage. A male, giving its song, was the first bird we saw by the parking lot at the airport.
An Icelandic version of the Winter Wren was heard giving its song in rocks above water, along the Mid-Atlantic Rift (along where, in Iceland, it's above the ocean). That little wren then flew along the rift (where Europe & America "meet".)

Mid-Atlantic Rift

In trees (where they were to be found), we sometimes found Redpolls. There are taxonomists who now tell us that those residing in Iceland are "split" from the Common Redpoll to be the endemic Icelandic Redpoll, Carduelis islandica.
In one Icelandic forest, in addition to Redpolls and Redwings, we found a Eurasian Siskin, and in conifers, a pair of Goldcrests. The latter was also seen during our tour a week earlier. The Goldcrest, the smallest of European birds, was only recorded as an Icelandic breeder as recently as 1999.

Our "top 10 birds", as we voted them, at the end of the tour, were

The waterfall known as "Godafoss", one of many in Iceland. 

Basalt columns, one of numerous geological formations in Iceland.

Our 10th FONT birding tour in Iceland ended on June 3, 2003. It was the first of two tours there this late-Spring 2003. 

In 2003, there would be two solar eclipses, the one that we saw over the Arctic, and another to be late in the year over the Antarctic. Our Icelandic experience was the 5th solar eclipse, during a FONT birding tour, since 1991. The others have been in Costa Rica, Bolivia, Venezuela, & Turkey.

In Iceland, during our May-June 2003 tour, not only was there nature in the sky with the eclipse, but also we visited a place where the Mid-Atlantic Rift, usually beneath the ocean floor, can be experienced at the surface of the land. It's a nearly unique occurrence. Along the Mid-Atlantic Rift, the North American and European Continents are ever so slowly drifting apart. As we were there, at a rocky, rushing stream, there was a striking male Harlequin Duck. Interesting, actually, as the Harlequin is one of 2 species of Duck, predominately American, that occur in Europe only in Iceland. The other is the Barrow's Goldeneye.

FONT has conducted a birding tour in Iceland, during October, annually since 1996. Our October '02 tour was the second FONT tour of the year on the scenic and interesting island, with the other tour having been in June.

In June, Icelandic nights are short indeed. In fact, at midnight, during our June tour, the red ball of the Sun was above the horizon. In October, daylight lasts from just before 8 o'clock in the morning to about 7 o'clock in the evening. That gives us ample time to see some fine birds during the day, and something to look forward to after dark: marvelous displays in the sky of Aurora Borealis, or "Northern Lights".

For those of us on the night-time flight enroute to Iceland, outside the window on the left side of the plane, a strong display of the Northern Lights was quite a sight. Viewing from about 30,000 feet in the air, the waves of floating green light were something to see, like tall curtains.
Our first two nights in Iceland were unfortunately cloudy, but on the third night, when we were far away from any ground lights, we stepped out of our vehicle, and looked up, this time from ground-level, at a sky full of those waves of floating green light. It was a long and wonderful show above us. The Northern Lights are known in the Icelandic language as "Norourljos". 
It's a great sight to see, yes, but also, at least for those of us not Icelandic, the word's a mouthful to say!            

"Norourljos" or Northern Lights

During the days of our tour, we enjoyed those fine birds we sought, also nice sights to see. Among them were numerous eiders, some colorful Harlequin  drakes, Barrow's Goldeneye, groups of Whooper Swans, and a few wonderful close looks at Rock Ptarmigan. Flocks of Purple Sandpipers and European Golden Plovers were close to us. Gulls, of various species, were plentiful. There were many Glaucous Gulls, in assorted plumages. We also saw Iceland Gulls in Iceland. In the summer, that can not be done. The Iceland Gull does not nest in Iceland. It arrives there in October from Greenland.      

One afternoon, during a boat-trip in a picturesque area of a large coastal bay, dotted with small rocky islands, we had the good fortune to see 2 adult White-tailed Eagles, certainly symbolic of the remote area where we were. Earlier in the day, a White-tailed Eagle had flown directly in front of us as we traveled along a dirt road, with the bay on one side and cliffs on the other.

Adult White-tailed Eagle

Also great to see, from the boat on the bay, were a number of Black Guillemots (not-so-black in October), and a boldly-patterned pair of Long-tailed Ducks.

Unusual during our Iceland tour, this year, were 5 Grey Herons. The species does not normally breed in Iceland, but in the autumn a few might wander to Iceland from Norway. Another autumnal wanderer from Norway that we saw was the Eurasian Curlew. It was along a coastline not far from some Wheatears and Meadow Pipits that were about to depart for the European continent.           
Landbird species are few in Iceland, but among others that we saw were Redwings and Redpolls. The former were particularly common, gathered in large flocks about to begin their migration to the British Isles. Redwings are thrushes.

However, this year, the most interesting of the landbirds were starlings, yes, starlings: Rose-colored Starlings. We saw 3 of them in a small town in northwestern Iceland. They were in the company of some Common Starlings. That species, itself, is a rather new addition to the avifauna of that area, having spread there only recently from the urbanized area of Reykjavik on the other side of the island. When I first saw Starlings in the remote northwest last year I wasn't pleased, but this year I was, as the trio of Rose-colored Starlings had joined in with them.
The Rose-colored, or Rosy, Starling is a species that breeds normally east of the Black Sea. But it can be irruptive, on occasion wandering northwest into Europe. To go, however, to northwestern Iceland, is about as far a bird can prior to reaching the icecaps of Greenland. Most Rose-colored Starlings, by the way, travel southeast (rather than northwest) from their breeding range, to spend the winter in northern India. What an unexpected addition the bird was for our Iceland list!

Some photographs follow from our October 2002 tour in Iceland (photos by tour participant, Eileen Dunn):

Where Europe meets America, in Iceland where the Mid-Atlantic Rift is above the ocean.

Icelandic sheep walking along the road.

Some of the participants of our October 2002
Iceland tour.

Upcoming birding & nature tours in Iceland          

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June 2002

The following account written by Armas Hill, leader of the tour.

On June 10, 2002, as midnight approached, we were at the front of our hotel in the small Icelandic town of Stykkisholmur, on the shore of the large bay called Breidafjordur. 
During our annual Icelandic tours in October, from the very same place, after dark, we've seen some tremendous displays in the sky of "Northern Lights" or Aurora Borealis. 
As we were there during our June 2002 tour, in the sky at midnight the orange ball of the Sun lingered low in the sky. It was near the horizon, appearing as if it were soon to set. But instead our "Midnight Sun" continued to slide ever so gradually to the north. About 40 minutes later, it finally slipped below the horizon, above which it would rise the following hour. The fishing town Stykkisholmur is not far (only about 50 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. It was quite an experience to see a full, bright disk of a "Midnight Sun" in the sky from this same place where previously we've seen overhead the colorful floating forms of the Northern Lights. Both of the  phenomena were so beautiful, in a land where the air is about as clear as it can be anywhere.

An Icelandic adult White-tailed Eagle

The following morning, from a boat, on the large bay called Breidafjordur, we enjoyed some other wonderful sights, including an adult White-tailed Eagle, sitting on its nest, atop a rock ledge, with the frosty feathers of its head blowing in the wind, while nearby there were Puffins, dozens of them, standing on the cliff-tops, flying about, and swimming in the water. The captain of the boat told us that examination of the eagle's nest, the previous year after the young had fledged, showed there to be many bones and other remnants of puffins. 
The White-tailed Eagle has a large range, from Greenland east to Hokkaido, Japan, and north of there in Siberia. But nowhere else in that range would a prime food of the eagles in the summer be the Atlantic Puffin. There are not many White-tailed Eagles in Iceland, only about 50 pairs. On the other hand, in Iceland, there are many Atlantic Puffins, with more nesting there than anywhere else in the world, about 3 million pairs.

Puffins in Iceland

Other enjoyable sights from the boat on Breidafjordur included numerous Common Eiders (with the males in brilliant plumage), Black Guillemots with their bright red feet, swimming in the water next to us, and Shags with their green eyes, sitting still cliffside on their nests (yes, the boat did get close enough to the cliff for us to see in our binoculars the green of the eyes).

A couple days earlier, we were in eastern Iceland, near the coast, by a very large glacial area called Vatnajokull. This vast ice-cap is said to be the third largest in the world, after those of Antarctica and Greenland. Near where the glacier is close to the sea, on big chunks of ice, some quite blue, there were large flocks of resting birds: mostly Kittiwakes, also Arctic Terns. 
In the water, near the boldly-patterned Eiders, there were ever-so-colorful Harlequin drakes. Nearby, on a small pond, there was a pair of breeding-plumaged Red-throated Loons in breeding plumage. 

But the highlights of eastern Iceland had to have been the Skuas and Jaegers. We saw Great Skuas, walking on the gravel where they would nest. One was seen displaying to another. Wow! In that region of Iceland, nearly half of the Great Skua global population breeds, between 5 and 6 thousand pairs.
The Parasitic Jaegers in that area, and elsewhere in Iceland, were tremendous to see, in flight and on the ground. Interesting was the large number of these jaegers that were dark morphs. According to the literature, about a third of the jaegers that nest in Iceland are dark.         

Very impressive, during our tour, were huge numbers of Northern Fulmars. There were millions. Nearly every cliffside had swarms of them flying about, with as many sitting on the ledges. Historically, Fulmars were not common in Iceland. They certainly are now. At one place, where there was a spectacular, large waterfall on the side of a tall cliff, as I looked at a group a tourists, I thought of how they must have thought that the many birds flying about, with stiff wingbeats, were "gulls".

Another species, also numerous, was the Arctic Tern. At one point, as we drove along a dirt road, we passed right through a large colony. We stopped our vehicle and were surrounding by the mass of flying, sitting, and calling birds. These birds are said to migrate, when away from Iceland, more than any other species, going thousands of miles to southern Africa, and even beyond into the Indian Ocean. As we were there, they were sitting on that dirt, ahead of us, and behind us, by the hundreds. 
When we continued further along the road, we found ourselves at a rocky coast with thousands of other seabirds: Gannets, Kittiwakes, Common and Thick-billed Murres, and Razorbills. By our parked vehicle, there was another black-and-white bird, a male Snow Bunting, in breeding plumage, singing its song.          

In the interior of Iceland, high on tundra, we saw a flock of Pink-footed Geese (Iceland is a prime breeding locality for the species). At another place, there was a Rock Ptarmigan doing its display flight.

Actually, during the tour, we saw a number of breeding birds, of various species, displaying. And among them a number of shorebirds: European Golden Plover, Ringed Plover, Eurasian Oystercatcher, Whimbrel, Common Redshank, and Common Snipe. And, about as attractive as a breeding shorebird can be, there were pairs of Red-necked Phalaropes spinning on pools.

On lowland fields, sometimes near the famous Icelandic Horses, were pairs of Whooper Swans. They did not yet have their cygnets. However, we did see female eiders sometimes with groups of a dozen or more ducklings (according to the books, some adults of the species raise their young and those of others). Ravens were seen at their nests. On lawns and fields, thrushes known as Redwings were paired, with their young of the year to come. Other passerines included Northern Wheatear and White Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, and a resident race of the Wren.    

Having such fine birding, in such a fascinating and picturesque country, was certainly a wonderful experience for all 9 of us on the tour.

FONT tour group in Iceland, June 2002.

Shags nesting near Stykkisholmur, Iceland.

Flocks of Kittiwakes on Iceland glacial ice, June 2002.

The following came by e-mail to FONT from June 2002 Iceland tour participants after the tour:

From Rebecca & Jack Matlock, of Princeton, New Jersey, USA:

Dear Armas,
We enjoyed every minute of our recent tour with you in Iceland... Again, thanks, thanks. 

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