Iceland introduction

It's been a funny old Spring, especially when you come to Iceland from London and it feels a fair bit warmer. Having arrived late on Saturday night, the last few days of another 'non-birding' holiday have been action packed, with Karen and I making the most of the long days and enjoying the south and southwest of the country while staying in Reykjavik, a lovely city. First morning found us conveniently staying a mile or so away from a couple of American Wigeons at Njarðvík. Here's one of them: -


drake American Wigeon Njarðvík 31st March 2013

Did a nice little loop around the tip of the Reykjanes peninsular, where amongst the nice remote scenery I managed to locate a third American Wigeon of the day - at Garður - before sampling the thousands of distant Eider and gulls, and then half a dozen Harlequins and a Surf Scoter bobbing up and down in the surf at Hraunsvik were pretty neat, albeit a bit distant and into the sun. What have been nice all trip are the copious amounts of borealis-type Eiders, the males complete with sails and orangey bills: -

borealis Eider Bakkatjorn 1st April 2013

Yesterday and today have been predominantly about seeing the sites, which here in Iceland are pretty spectacular - the volcano Eyjafjallajökull that brought Europe to a standstill three years ago, Geyser, The Blue Lagoon and a couple of pretty spectacular waterfalls. Amongst this, though, I managed a couple of lingering Barrow's Goldeneyes on Lake Úlfljótsvatn, a regular adult Ring-billed Gull and an adult Little Gull on the small pond at Bakkatjorn, to the west of Reykjavik, another drake Harlequin at Vik and a bizarre hybrid Wigeon x Mallard. Not as many gulls as I'd have hoped, though local word told me this would be the case down here in the southwest. Off up northwest tomorrow, so hopefully there'll be a few more white wingers to see up there...