We have had endless rains and southeasterly storms in the last few weeks. With these quite a number of small European birds have been blown over here. This is not uncommon but this autumn is special because we have also had vagrants from Asia. The Red-breasted Flycatcher is one of these. It is originated all the way from Eastern Europe and Siberia. Its winter grounds are in Asia and instead going there it ended up in the North, in Iceland.

This bird was spotted in some shrubs in a garden near Vík in Mýrdalur, Southeast Iceland. This is a new bird for me! X

Earlier in the autumn Thrushes and Starlings preferred bilberries (Icelandic blueberries) and crowberries but now they have come into the towns and gardens to eat.

They are busy eating berries from the Rowans and some other garden shrubs.

The autumn is a tranquil time of year. When summer comes to an end in the Northern Hemisphere the trees shed their leaves. This is their way of surviving the cold winter. The leaves change colour becoming yellow, orange and red, as nutrients are moved to the roots for reuse next spring.

In warmer parts of the world trees shed their leaves on the onset of the dry season. The shedding of leaves is a mechanism to survive cold or dry weather.