All posts by Örn Óskarsson

13 days to Christmas

krossnefur-88
Krossnefur – Common Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra

It’s 13 days to Christmas and this Common Crossbill in its yellow colours is so beautiful in the snow. The Common Crossbill is well adapted to the cold winter and you can almost say that it is nesting time all year round for them.  This is probably a female bird rather than a yellow male. Males are more often in orange-red colours.

15 days to Christmas

rjupa-27
Rjúpa – Ptarmigan – Lagopus mutus

It’s fifteen days to Christmas and we bring you a photo of this beautiful Icelandic Ptarmigan (Lagopus mutus). The Ptarmigan used to be the classical Icelandic Christmas dinner but lately there are not as many of them as there used to be.  So hunters often come home with no prey at all. This does not make us sad because we are happy for each and every bird that survives the hunting season.

It’s fifteen days because Icelanders celebrate Christmas Eve, the evening before Christmas Day. That is when we have our Christmas dinner and open the presents.

Black-Tailed Godwit

jadrakan-14
Black-Tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa) – early spring

Black-Tailed Godwit  (Limosa limosa) is a common breeding bird in the low lands around most of Iceland. It lays its eggs in grown wetlands. In winter it is mostly in Ireland or by the coasts of West Europe all the way south to Portugal.

The population is around 10.000 pairs in Iceland. A lot of Black-Tailed Godwits have been marked in the last few years.  Many in the Nature Reserve in Flói, not far from Selfoss. These marked birds have been around. Below are pictures of two marked ones and their recovery stories.

jadrakan-12

 YN-YLflag07.07.06Friðland, Flói, Árnessýsla, S Iceland

Continue reading Black-Tailed Godwit

The Goosander on River Ölfusá

gulond-4
Goosander – male in winter colour

The Goosander is a winter guest on River Ölfusá, in South Iceland. Sometimes there are up to 50 Goosanders on the river where it flows through Selfoss. This is in fact a considerable part of the Icelandic breeding population which counts only around 300 pairs.

gulond-5
Goosander – pair in spring colour

The Goosander is a  breeeding bird by rivers and lakes throughout the country.

Snow Buntings arrive

The Snow Buntings arrived in town today. They prefer the open fields in the highlands but when it gets colder and the snow covers everything, they come in huge flocks.

snjotittlingar
Snow Buntings

They change colours with the seasons. In the summer the males are white and black but in winter they are browner and darker. Beautiful birds but because there are so many of them people tend to take little notice of them.

solskrikja-2
Snow Bunting – male in summerform (July)

In Iceland the Snow Bunting is called Snjótittlingur similar in meaning to Snow Bunting but in the summer it is called Sólskríkja which means the bird that sqeaks in the sun, Sun Bunting. The song of the male is very vocal and high and the Sun Bunting is the symbol of the highlands.