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 🙂
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.
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 🙂
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.
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.
The smallest bird in Europe is an immigrant in Iceland and now part of the Icelandic birdlife. Since the first breeding was confirmed in 1996 it has spread over the country and breeds in spruce trees.
After yesterday’s snowstorm three Fieldfares turned up in the garden. They were obviously hungry and tired and enjoyed frozen apples on feeding trays and branches. They are annual visitors in Iceland and visit our garden from autumn to spring. Then they leave for their breeding grounds in Scandinavia.
I caught sight of this Gyrfalcon over the river yesterday. It is a young bird, probably a male. It is always exciting to see a Gyrfalcon and I was ready with my lens when it passed by at great speed. It was pursuing a Mallard on Ölfusá River, South Iceland. The chase was without the desired result.
Photo taken on Nikon D90, Nikkor 200-500mm, f 5.6, 500mm, 1/1250, ISO 800.
In the last few years more and more Greylags choose to overwinter in Iceland instead of going to the British Isles. They are now unusually many on Ölfusá River near Selfoss. The group counts more than 500 birds. It is winter weather now with snow and frost and soon the river will freeze over. Whether the group decides to stay or leave remains to be seen. Will they decide to stay and struggle through the winter or flee to warmer places?
Blackbirds are becoming the most common garden birds in the winter time at least in some areas. In the garden we now have 12 Blackbirds all in search of food. Some are becoming quite tame and are not disturbed by my camera when I take photos of them.
