All posts by Örn Óskarsson

Birds

Enough birch seeds

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Auðnutittlingur – Redpoll – Carduelis flammea

Birch seeds are the main food for Redpolls in the winter months. Last summer a lot of birch seeds matured in the natural Icelandic forests so there is still enough food for them. Redpolls have not been seen in any numbers in gardens and there has been some concern that their numbers are decreasing.

Happy New Year :)

Last winter was harsh and natural feed scarce. The numbers of Redpolls decreased considerably but the drop was far from drastic. In the last few weeks Redpolls have come in the garden in search of food on our feeding trays. The most we have seen recently is 18 birds together.

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Garden, Landscape, Weather

Happy New Year

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Happy New Year dear readers and thanks for following our blog. Our resolution is to continue posting photos of the birdlife around us and bringing you photos and info from interesting places we visit.
Today there is a little more snow than yesterday and the storm Frank has left the country.  It is a beautiful first day of the year 🙂

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Landscape

Glymur in Hvalfjörður

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View from the trail

Glymur in Hvalfjörður is the second highest waterfall in Iceland, 198 metres high. It is about an hour’s drive from Reykjavík, the capital, a trip worth taking. The hike from the parking area takes about 2 hours, more if you go the roundtrip. The trail is marked and there are footpaths. See: Best hiking trails

The cave
The cave

On the way you pass a cave and have to go over a creek below the waterfall. The climb is sometimes a bit strenuous and can be muddy and rocky in places so you need good walking boots.

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If you go the round trip you have to wade this river above the waterfall. This is below the waterfall.

For the round trip, that takes up to 4 hours, you have to go over the River Botnsá above the waterfall. There is no bridge there.
– This is a trip worth taking in the summer time 🙂

Glymur
Glymur
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Landscape, Weather

Cold Christmas day

Christmas Day was cold and windy in Selfoss. Lots of snow and temperatures below zero, – 9°C.  The same can be said for most of the country but in the North temperatures went down to – 20° C.

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Christmas day. Selfoss and Ölfusá River

Reykjavík is the only capital in Europe to have snow this Christmas. That is unusual for this time of year  because in most capitals in East Europe and Scandinavia that would be the norm.

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Birds

Christmas Greetings

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Jól is the Icelandic term for Christmas. The word stems from the Nordic word Yule which refers to the old solstice celebrations when the Vikings celebrated longer days and coming of the new year. Season’s Greetings to all of you. “Peace on earth and goodwill to all men”

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Landscape

Day before Christmas

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One of the busiest days of the year, Saint Thorlakur’s Day, and the Christmas preparations are almost finished. It is beautiful outside, temperatures around zero, it is calm and snow is falling lightly. Tomorrow the children and their other halves, grown up people now, will come and spend Christmas Eve with us. Merry Christmas 🙂

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Atmosphere, Weather

Tonight is winter solstice

We call the shortest day and the longest night of the year winter solstice. It is when the sun’s elevation in the sky is at its lowest which will be tonight at 4:49. So December 22 is the shortest day of the year.

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In Reykjavík the sun crawls over the horizon at 11:23, it is at its highest at 13:26 and sets again at 15:30. After tomorrow the days will start to get longer, something almost everyone looks forward to. Happy Solstice 🙂

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Birds

Berries and birds

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Svartþröstur – Blackbird – Turdus merula

There are still some berries left on the Rowan. Some of the birds prefer these frozen berries over the feed we put out, like this female Blackbird who so graciously allowed photographing.

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Birds

Third winter for the Hooded Merganser

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Kambönd – Hooded Merganser – Mergus cucullatus

The Hooded Merganser is a breeding bird in North America but is considered rather rare. This Hooded Merganser was on Lake Helluvatn just outside Reyjavík this week. It was first spotted there in the middle of November after having been seen in Álftanes, south of Reykjavík, several times. This is the third winter that this bird is seen on Lake Helluvatn and on nearby lakes.

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