Kauptún, Garðabær, Iceland. I saw it on October 23 last year and managed to catch a few good pictures of it.
It is a very exotic bird which I did not expect to come across in Iceland. It has been seen here 11 times.
The hoopoe is widespread in Europe, Asia, and North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa and Madagascar. Most of the European and north Asian birds migrate to the tropics in the winter so this one went in the wrong direction.
In the winter time when it’s really cold outside the Redpolls come and eat from the palm of my hand. They like the seed blends you can buy for Canaries and Finches. You can usually buy them in grocery stores and pet stores.
Holding them in your hand gives you a very special feeling which is not easy to describe. You could say that I feel like I enjoy some privilege not everyone has access to. –It’s a wonderful feeling.
Can you guess? Well, this is my Common Crossbill, a bit different from the one outside in the garden.
I like drawing birds. Most of my bird-drawings originate from my imagination. They are usually not made to look like any special bird, they stand on their own and I would say they look like all birds, or no bird at all 😉
Next week the weather forecast is predicting colder weather. Then we can expect more birds in the garden. Today we have around 15 Redpolls, 10 Starlings, five Blackbirds, two Redwings,two male Blackcaps and a female Caffinch. There was also a Raven but they tend to stick to the treetops.
We can usually see several Ravens in the sky above our house and by the river. They are a sight to see and you might think they were showing off their flight agility. Sometimes when they visit the garden they remind us of naughty kids, – full of mischief, sitting in the top of the trees breaking off branches and crowing loudly.
Most of the Redpolls we see are just the ordinary Icelandic ones but once in a while you see an individual bird that stands out from the rest. This autumn we had a Redpoll that was quite different. It was a very beautiful and much whiter Redpoll than the ordinary ones.
Early in 2011 we also had a Redpoll that was different. News spread around town of a small white bird that came into gardens with a group of Redpolls. The local paper even had some news on this peculiar bird. The bird turned out to be a white Redpoll. It was first spotted in autumn 2010 and was seen in Selfoss most days until the end of March 2011.
Read more in articles: White Redpoll
The Redwing is very common in Iceland. Most of them migrate to Great Britain during the winter but some stay the whole year.
Watch this Thrush picking at an apple.
A lot of redpolls come to the garden everyday where we feed them sunflower seeds.
– This video is taken today and there is a lot of traffic to and from the feeding tray.
Another female Blackcap has now joined the pair from yesterday (see previous post). The three of them are feeding in the garden. Here is the male eating an apple that I placed on a twig. The girls are a bit shy and not at all fond of the camera.
– Stay tuned and see if I manage to get a good photo of them.
