Out on the ice

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Fálki – Gyrfalcon – Falco rusticolus

It is always exciting to see a Gyrfalcon, the biggest falcon in the world. Its main food source in Iceland is the Ptarmigan but it also hunts other birds such as ducks, geese and gulls. Last weekend we saw a Gyrfalcon eating a duck far out on the ice on Ellidavatn Lake, just outside Reykjavik.  The Gyrfalcon was shy and not prepared to let a photographer get anywhere near.

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By cropping the photo identification was possible and this time the Gyrfalcon had managed to catch a  male Red-breasted Merganser.