Iceland Trip Report

Iceland 2006

...with Edward Rickson

May 24th - 28th

This was the second organised tour to Iceland following 2005’s successful trip. Again it went very well with 74 species recorded, including excellent views of Iceland’s big four, Harlequin Duck, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Gyr Falcon and Brünnich’s Guillemot. We were also fortunate to see that elusive mammal Arctic Fox on two occasions and found scarce birds such as King Eider and American Wigeon. As a backdrop to the birds Iceland’s stunning scenery of icecaps, lava fields, waterfalls, dramatic coastlines all bathed in 24-hour daylight made this a memorable trip. Although the spring was late in arriving this year we enjoyed bright and clear weather throughout the entire trip.

May 24th: Keflavík – Sandgerði – Garðskagi – Borgarnes – Hellnar.

Weather: Bright with stiff northerly winds 3 C

Godfrey and Tony arrived mid-afternoon at Keflavík at the tail-end of the coldest spring snap for 25 years but not even the news that 70 cm of snow had fallen the previous day at Mývatn could dampen their enthusiasm, on the contrary it heightened their anticipation of a northern experience. A slight detour to Sandgerði brought a few Iceland Gulls amongst abundant Lesser Black-backed Gulls and we then enjoyed very close views of stunningly bright plumaged Red-necked Phalaropes, recent arrivals. We then headed out to the lighthouse at Garðskagi where the seaweed covered beach was thick with Sanderlings, Purple Sandpipers, Dunlin and Ruddy Turnstone. The stiff northerlies brought Manx Shearwaters and Northern Gannets close to shore and a Great Skua flew very low over our heads. In the village European Golden Plover covered every piece of grass, including people’s lawns. We then headed out towards the Snæfellsnes peninsula, seeing Whooper Swans, Greylag Geese and a few Pink-footed Geese in the fields on the way, as well as the ubiquitous Icelandic roadside birds such as Whimbrel, European Golden Plover and Common Snipe. One roadside stop found us our first Slavonian Grebes, Red-throated Divers and Arctic Skuas, whilst a huge flock of brick-coloured Red Knot roosted on the meadows. A stop at the river Hitará brought us our first of many Harlequin Ducks, a pair showing very well in the evening sun.

May 25th: Hellnar – Þúfubjarg – Svörtuloft – Rif – Grundarfjörður.

Weather: Bright, sunny, very light winds 6 C

We woke several hours after sunrise (as is normal in summer in Iceland) to find unobstructed views of the magnificent 5,000 foot icecap rising straight behind the hotel. Over breakfast we saw several small flocks of Pale-bellied Brent Geese migrating west along the peninsula and then off to Arctic Canada. Heading west ourselves we soon came across a male Rock Ptarmigan by the side of the road, easy to see as it was white in a snow-less lava field. Two more male birds followed before we stopped to walk out to the cliffs at Þúfubjarg, where we saw about 40 Brünnich’s Guillemots on the cliffs and hundreds of Common Guillemots and Razorbills on the sea and big numbers of Northern Fulmars and Black-legged Kittiwakes. Far out at sea a pod of White-beaked Dolphins broke surface. We continued round the end of the peninsula recording several Northern Wheatears. At Svörtuloft we saw more auks, including a few couple of Black Guillemots and a single Puffin, which is one species in Iceland you rarely see as a singleton! After lunch Godfrey and Tony got to see more Glaucous Gulls than they would normally in a lifetime in Britain and Ireland and around 20 lingering Iceland Gulls provided good comparisons between these two similar species. East of the village of Rif I suggested that we stop to look at a dense raft of Common Eider to see if we could turn up a King Eider. Although no drakes were apparent, Godfrey asked for a second opinion on a female bird which indeed proved to be a beautiful female King Eider and we spent the next 30 minutes admiring this subtle bird in our scopes and even saw it copulate with a drake Common Eider! At Grundarfjörður we came across 17 Harlequin Ducks together just off shore, as usual drakes greatly outnumbering ducks, whilst a pair of Long-tailed Ducks were added to our wildfowl list. A stop on the mountain pass to admire the views of the southern coast of the peninsula brought us a couple of singing Snow Buntings, one of the finest songsters of the north.

May 26th: Hellnar – Stykkishólmur – Reykjavík – Akureyri – Mývatn.

Weather: Bright, 5-8 C

An early morning start took us to some pools along the southern side of the peninsula where we saw our first pair of Great Northern Divers, four Northern Shovelers and then a drake American Wigeon. Red-necked Phalaropes turned circles on the ponds and the air throbbed with drumming Common Snipe, an ever present background noise in Iceland in May. Marshy areas held excellent numbers of Black-tailed Godwits and whilst Godfrey was watching some particularly agitated godwits he noticed what was causing their displeasure, an Arctic Fox. We watched this elusive mammal through our scopes for ten minutes before it disappeared from view. The boat trip from Stykkishólmur was a pleasure as always and we didn’t have to wait long before we saw the local specialty, a pair of White-tailed Eagles, one of which flew in a circle for us to demonstrate where it gets its name from. Puffins and Black-legged Kittiwakes were common and we had very close views of Shags on their nests. Driving back to Reykjavík for a late afternoon flight to Akureyri we saw a female Merlin flash by. A 40 minute flight to Akureyri brought us to another world, one where there was a lot more snow than in southern Iceland! After driving over snow-covered moorlands we arrived at the wonderful river Laxá, where Harlequin Duck and Barrow’s Goldeneye are both common and Tony and Godfrey were delighted to get them both in the same filed of view in their binoculars. Heading up the western shore of Mývatn we noted many species of duck including scarce breeders such as Common Scoter and Gadwall and common Mývatn birds such as Tufted Duck and Greater Scaup.

May 27th: Mývatn – Aðaldalur – Húsavík – Tjörnes – Mývatn.

Weather: overcast and cool Mývatn, bright and sunny Húsavík, 3-7 C

We started with a gentle exploration of Mývatn, the great duck factory of northern Iceland, and a pair of Pintails and a brief fly by Goosander brought our tally of ducks in Iceland to 17 species. We again stopped at the river Laxá where the three commonest species are Harlequin Duck, Barrow’s Goldeneye and Red-necked Phalarope, an attractive trio, before heading down to the coast. At Másvatn I slowed the car to admire a very close pair of Great Northern Divers. Suddenly a massive Gyr Falcon powered right past the car and settled on the hillside 100 metres behind us. The appearance of the Gyr triggered five minutes of nervous laughter from the Great Northern Divers and watching the world’s largest falcon sit on a snow-covered hillside with one of the most evocative birds calls in the nature as a soundtrack could hardly have been any more atmospheric. Delighted with this sighting we continued towards the coast, stopping to check the numerous wildfowl covered pools en route. Just past Laxamýri a Gyr Falcon shaped tussock turned out in fact to be another Gyr. It glided off over the crest of the hill and we got out of the car to see if we could relocate it. Godfrey soon spied it on a fence post. Whilst Godfrey and I were describing its movements Tony soon realised that he was looking at a different bird and we had two adult Gyr Falcons on the same fence. We then enjoyed lunch in warm sunshine at Húsavík before heading round the Tjörnes peninsula to look at thousands and thousands of Puffins on the sea and the cliffs. We then headed back for Mývatn and stopped at a native Icelandic forest, where we admired local races of Winter Wren and Common Redpoll and also a singing Brambling, a rare bird in Iceland. We finished the day at the geothermal field at Námaskarð, where boiling mudpools and steaming vents are clear reminders of the turmoil beneath our feet.

May 28th: Mývatn – Akureyri – Reykjavík – Garður – Keflavík.

Weather: foggy at Mývatn, clear and cool in SW Iceland, 3-8 C

An early morning start and another Arctic Fox by the road was followed by a short flight to Reykjavík, which seemed remarkably green and summery after the north-east. We again headed out to the lighthouse at Garðskagi where the same mix of seabirds and shorebirds were present in abundance. Tony and Godfrey found it strange to see a singing male Snow Bunting and female Ptarmigan at sea-level but even more interesting was perhaps the massive Common Eider colony where the local farmers harvest eiderdown and plant flags to attract nesting birds. The last addition to the trip list was found in Sandgerði, a Bar-tailed Godwit, and then it was off to the airport for the return flight to the UK.

For details of the full species list or to request further information about the next time we will be offering this trip. Contact us at enquiries@birdwatchingbreaks.com.