Great Northern Diver 2015

In Denmark, Great Northern Divers are scarce migrants most often seen during the winter months or in late spring. In Iceland the species is a fairly common breeding bird in the northeastern part of the country. The species can be found on large lakes or along the coast where it is often possible to get really good views. An evening trip to Myvatn with phalaropes, thousands of ducks and the calls of Great Northern Divers is truely an amazing experience - try it!  

14/6 Great Northern Diver Raufarhöfn NE Iceland. This is how we typically see the species in DK.

14/6 Great Northern Diver Raufarhöfn NE Iceland. Large feet, beer belly, dark neck/face and an obvious neck ring.

14/6 Great Northern Diver Raufarhöfn NE Iceland. A favorite of mine

14/6 Great Northern Diver Raufarhöfn NE Iceland. Huge feet!

RDN

Iceland 2015 9/6

Back in Iceland for another field work season. The spring has been cold up here so breeding activity is not as high as we had hoped for, yet. This season we will be focusing on Long-tailed Duck and Scaup. Ib found a very nice Ring-necked Duck in a nearby lake shortly before I arrived and the bird was seen again today. Other than that a short shopping visit to Husavik provided some nice Iceland Gulls and the resident albino Great Black-backed Gull. Hopefully the weather will improve in the coming week so we will be able catch a duck or two before my return trip. 

10/6 Ring-necked Duck at Yxnatjörn near Silalækur. 

10/6 Ring-necked Duck at Yxnatjörn near Silalækur.

10/6 Ring-necked Duck at Yxnatjörn near Silalækur.

9/6 1st summer Iceland Gull Husavik.

9/6 Adult Iceland Gull Husavik. Notice the dark eye.

9/6 1st summer Iceland Gull Husavik.

  9/6 Great Black-backed Gull Husavik. Not a true albino.

9/6 Great Black-backed Gull Husavik.

RDN

Sea Duck Conference in Reykjavik

The fifth international sea duck conference was held in Reykjavik during 8-12/9. With a late start on the first day I had planned a day out with my old friend Yann Kolbeinsson. The weather was absolutely horrendous but this was the only day during the conference with time off for birding. We started off in Gardur - which is one of the best places for american shorebirds in Iceland. Good numbers of plovers and snipes were seen and it didnt take long before icelands first American Golden Plover this autumn was found. It was seen at quite close range. Several other stops in the area didn't bring anymore interesting sightings. At Hafnir we caught up with a Bar-tailed Godwit and at Reykjanes Light House we had two passing Sooty Shearwaters both new Iceland Ticks for me. 

8/9 American Golden Plover Gardur, Iceland. 

8/9 American Golden Plover Gardur, Iceland.

8/9 American Golden Plover Gardur, Iceland.

8/9 American Golden Plover Gardur, Iceland.

8/9 American Golden Plover Gardur, Iceland.

8/9 American Golden Plover Gardur, Iceland.

 The days were pretty full with talks so not much time for birding during the conference. A quick visit to Seltjarnarnes gave ok views of the adult Ring-billed Gull which I saw for the first time in 2009. Other than that the site had good numbers of more common birds. A Shoveler was only my second in Iceland.

9/9 Ring-billed Gull adult Bakkatjörn. 

The 10th saw us going to Gardur again. Five man strong we covered as much area as we could. Simmi did best with a Buff-breasted Sandpiper just south of the light house at Asgardur. Finding rare birds in Iceland is fun and quite different from Denmark. 

RDN

Iceland 2014

Another year catching ducks in northern Iceland. A small project that started out with Red-throated Divers has evolved a lot during the last five years. This year we are mainly focusing on Long-tailed Ducks and Common Scoters but also taking DNA samples of Aythya ducks and catching Red-necked Phalaropes. Long days in the field though always rewarding. 

3/6 Barn Swallow at Sandur. My first swallow in Iceland.

5/6 Red-necked Phalarope. A favourite of mine.

8/6 Snowy Owl and Redwing local subspecies coburni at Hraun. 

8/6 Snowy Owl at Hraun. Rare in the lowlands. Tried to catch Greylags. 

8/6 Common Snipe at Sandur. 

8/6 Gadwalls at Hraun. Quite common this year.

As every year I had half a day off and went birding with Yann Kolbeinsson. After having gone to Melrakkasletta and Myvatn the last two years we wanted to try something new this year. We decided to go to Langanes, a peninsular in the northeastern part of the country. On our way east we saw a Lapwing next to N1 - a bird already found in April. 

We checked shorebirds (Sanderlings, Knots and Dunlins) heading for Greenland for more rare species. The first couple of hours didnt reveal anything good but then a light brown bird flew up on Yanns side of the car alongside two Golden Plovers. Quickly id'ed to species but the observation didnt last long as the bird flew west not to be relocated (has subsequently been refound). In nearby Thorshøfn we checked the gardens but didnt find anything else besides the local Redwings. A House Martin flew over the church and was a new icelandic tick for me. Impressive to see this species so far north. From here we checked small gardens along the coast all the way to Melrakkasletta where unfortunately the fog made conditions hard. At Grøtnes on the western side of the peninsular two Long-tailed Skuas where being harassed by the common Arctic Skuas. 

The highlight of the evening was not to be the BB Sand. In Oxarfjördur a Blue Whale was spotted from the main road. It was feeding only one km from the coast with a supporting cast of three Humpbacks, a White-beaked Dolphin and a Harbor Porpoise. The Blue Whale was watched and heard for almost an hour before leaving it and going back to Husavik arriving at 0130. The day ended with a nice glass of whisky.

10/6 Northern Common Eider at Langanes.

9/6 Buff-breasted Sandpiper at Langanes. The third spring record for Iceland. Only seen for two minutes.

9/6 Lapwing at Kelduhverfi. A successful breeding record with the first bird found in April. 

10/6 Blue Whale at Oxarfjördur. Picture taken from the coast, fantastic. 

10/6 Blue Whale at Oxarfjördur. The Blue Whales around Husavik rarely show their tail but this individual was really showy.

10/6 Blue Whale at Oxarfjördur. A really nice experience. 

RDN

Iceland 2013 (2)

An evening trip with Yann provided some good birds even though we did not find any megas. We started out by checking up on the only breeding site for Long-tailed Skuas in Iceland. There had been no reports so far this year so Yann wanted to give it a check. We saw three birds (probably two pairs) at the traditional site in the middle of nowhere.

9/6 Long-tailed Skua, somewhere in the northern part of Iceland. 

9/6 Long-tailed Skua, somewhere in the northern part of Iceland. 

From here we drove towards Myvatn - a place I had never been to before. Myvatn is an extraordinary place. The number of breeding ducks is totally amazing with literally thousands of Aythya-ducks and loads of dabbling ducks. Add to this hundreds of Slavonian Grebes and Phalaropes then you've got a nice evening setting. We checked last years breeding site for Wood Sandpiper (the only one) but failed to see it. Two Gyr Falcons, Merlin, American Wigeon and just tons of waterfowl was the end result birding wise. To round the night up we went to a secret place, "The Fissure" (a linear volcanic went (wiki)). You climb about 5 meters down an opening in a lava field and end up in fantastic natural hot tub, absolutely amazing. The water level varies a lot but in the broader spaces you can swim. 1.5 hours later we were in the lava field again listening to Great Northern Divers and Wrens at 0030 in the middle of the night. Iceland at its best!          

9/6 American Wigeon, Reykjahild at Myvatn. 2-3 birds are summering in the area this summer. 

9/6 Yann climbing up the fissure.

9/6 Happy campers after a nice day!

RDN

Northern Fulmar

Had an enjoyable hour with some Northern Fulmars at Husavik Lighthouse situated just north of town. Its a very good place to look for whales and to some extent birds. It is possible to overlook most of the bay so finding the bigger is never a big problem if they are there. Black Guillemot, Puffins and various gull species can also be seen from the lookout. 

8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.

8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.

8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.

8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.

8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.

8/6 Husavik Lighthouse.

RDN

Iceland 2013

Another year with field work in Northern Iceland. Departed Denmark in sunny and warm weather and arrived in Reykjavik in strong winds, heavy rain and only 8 degrees. Fortunately it was only a short stop in the capital of Iceland as we were off for the north the following day. A quick stop at Seltjarnarnes didn't provide anything good. 

The weather in the north has been really good so far. A quick stop at Svalbardseyri saw us dip on either of the three King Eiders that had been seen during the 10 previous days but we did find our own 2nd cal. year bird (would rather have seen one the adult males though..). The first night we were invited for Guillemot steaks at Yann Kolbeinsson, a real treat! The whiskies that night tasted really good as the bay had at least 5 Humpback Whales and 2 Blue Whales. Husavik might be a bit isolated but who gives a .... when you can see whales from your balcony! A shopping trip yesterday produced around 15 Humpback Whales and several Minke Whales as well. This all from the road!!!! Hopefully one of the next days there will be time to go out on a boat. Also in Husavik was a exillepes-type Arctic Redpoll

The field work has been nice and a bit challenging due to the very wet conditions. We have managed to find most of the Common Scoter nests from last year and it looks as though breeding success has again been very high. Birds seen "wearing" a logger include Long-tailed Duck, Red-throated Diver and Greater Scaup. The best bird in the survey area has been a male Ruff.

4/6 King Eider at Svalbardseyri. 

5/6 Miklavatn. Common birds, even one in our garden.

5/6 Barrows, Laxáurvirkjun. Not present in the survey area.

5/6 The worlds second best grebe.... Quite common in the survey area.

5/6 Miklavatn. An immense pleasure every year. Very common, +100 seen daily!

5/6 Hraun. Common everywhere. 

6/6 Male Ruff just south of Miklavatn. Annual in small numbers in Iceland

6/6 Ptarmigan. Common this year

6/6 Herring Gull X Glaucous Gull?. Ghosting some markings in the hand

6/6 Herring Gull X Glaucous Gull? Quite a lot of Herring Gulls in the Northeast have very little black markings in the hand. Hybrids?

6/6 Mixed Gulls. Please do comment on the left one! 19 Iceland Gulls in Husavik Harbor on the 6th. 

RDN