At midnight
All posts by Örn Óskarsson
Five Crossbill chicks
Today a male Crossbill appeared in the garden with as much as five chicks. The chicks let the father feed them sunflower seeds which they seemed to like a lot. The chicks are probably approximately a month old and possibly about 1 -2 weeks since they left they nest. Crossbills have not been seen here in the garden since the first week of April.
At the same time last year a female Crossbill appeared here with two chicks.
Yesterday we saw several Crossbills with six chicks in Grímsnes, South Iceland.
The first Redpoll chicks
We saw the first Redpoll chicks in the garden yesterday. Two chicks were looking for food in the feed leftovers from this winter. We usually see the first chicks at the same time every year.
Redpolls breed more than once every summer and the eggs are most often 4 -6 in each breeding although more than four chicks are very seldom seen.
Marsh Marigold in bloom
Despite the cold weather and late spring plants are in bloom. The Marsh Marigold (Caltha palustris) is a plant you can not but notice with its beautiful bright yellow flowers. Its habitat is mostly in marshlands, on banks of ditches and cold springs.
The Pintail
The Pintail (Anas acuta) is a common duck and has a wide distribution all over the Northern hemisphere. In Iceland there are only around 500 breeding pairs, scattered all over the country including the interior.
The Pintail is a dabbling duck like the Mallard, only dipping its head in the water to find food, not the whole body.
Sanderling
The Sanderling (Calidris alba) is a small wader, quick in movements, and only a guest in Iceland in the spring. It has a stopover here in May on its way to Northeast Greenland where it breeds. Its winter grounds are in West Europe all the way south to Namibia in West Africa.
It is estimated that around 25,000 birds stopover here, mainly on the Southwest coast. The photos are taken near Eyrarbakki, South Iceland.
Annual American visitor
Today I saw a Ring-necked Duck on a pond by Þingvallavatn Lake. This was an adult male in a group of Tufted Ducks. Ring-necked Ducks are annual vagrants in Iceland and usually the visitors are males. Sometimes they mate with Tufted Duck females and once in a while you see hybrids of these species.
Ring-necked Ducks are North American and there they are common on woodland ponds.
Busy Wagtail
The White Wagtail pair is building a nest in a big spruce tree in the garden, the same tree as in recent years. This is the female collecting horse hair that will in all probability serve as a lining inside the nest.
Flocks of Barn Swallows
In the last few days the wind has been blowing from the Southeast and flocks of Barn Swallows (Hirundo rustica) have been seen around the Southwest part of the country. Today there were 12 Barn Swallows soaring over River Ölfusá by Selfoss and there were around 23 on the beach by Stokkseyri, South Iceland. Flocks have been seen in several places. These are the biggest groups of Barn Swallows to be seen in many years. They are annual vagrants in Iceland and have bred here a few times. If numbers are anything to go by it is very likely that they will breed here this summer.
This photo is taken today by Ölfusá River.
This swallow was at the beach in Stokkseyri, South Iceland.
Courtship in full swing
Courtship is in full swing with the Red-throated Diver in the nature reserve in Flói (Fuglafriðland í Flóa) and soon they will start breeding. This place probably offers the best circumstances to observe the Red-throated Diver while courting, breeding and caring for their offspring. The area is popular among birders and photographers because here you can come quite close to them. The Divers are especially tame and probably more used to people than in many other places.
It is very important during the nesting time to respect the birds privacy by not coming too close. If the Divers get tired of trespassing people they might abandon the nests.