Category Archives: Birds

Birds

Owls in Iceland

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Short-Eared Owl (Asio flammeus)

The numbers of owls in Iceland are increasing.  There are three species of owls here. This is the Short-Eared Owl (Asio flammeus) and it is the most common, with around 300 -500 pairs in Iceland.

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Long-Eared Owl (Asio otus)

The Long-Eared Owl (Asio otus) comes in second place and then there is the Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus). Their numbers in Iceland are unknown. The chance of seeing an owl is most in the twilight in  summertime when they are looking for food for their young ones. The owls mostly eat mice. – It is always a treat to see an owl 🙂

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Birds

Hoopoe – Upupa epops

The Hoopoe is a very special looking bird and a vagrant that is very seldom seen in Iceland. This one was spotted near IKEA in Kauptún, Garðabær, Iceland. I saw it on October 23 last year and managed to catch a few good pictures of it.

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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.

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Birds

Flói Nature Reserve

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Red-Throated Diver – Gavia stellata

A good place to view and photograph the Red-Throated Diver and the Red-Necked Phalarope is in Flói Nature Reserve in the Southern Lowlands of Iceland. Fuglavernd– BirdLife Iceland runs a reserve there in co-operation with Árborg community. This is a wetland area rich with birdlife. The reserve is a river delta at the eastern bank of the river Ölfusá, in the Flói area not far from Selfoss.

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Red-Necked Phalarope – Phalaropus lobatus
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Birds, Garden

Blackbird – Turdus merula

This Blackbird is one of a group of eight Blackbirds that are in the garden now. This is a young male which can be seen from the dark brown colour and the colour of its beak, similar to the female’s colours.

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Blackbird – young male

When it grows up it becomes black and the beak becomes bright orange-yellow. It also gets an eye-ring of the same colour.  This makes the adult male Blackbird one of the most striking garden birds. The song of the Blackbird is also very vocal so it does not go unnoticed.

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Blackbird – Adult male
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Birds, Garden

Today’s garden birds

This weekend my students at the local secondary school are counting their garden birds. Of course I took part in this interesting project and counted the birds in my garden in the hours between 11 and 12 am. I also took some photoes, but that goes without saying 😉

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Chaffinch / Bókfinka

Weather: NE 12 m/sec, clear sky and temperature 0°C.
In this one hour I counted:
Redpolls  40
Starlings 27
Blackbirds 6
Chaffinches 4
Redwings 2
Blackcap 1

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Redpoll / Auðnutittlingur

Nú um helgina eru nemendur mínir í FSu að telja garðfuglana sína. Ég tók að sjálfsögðu líka þátt í þessu skemmtilega verkefni og taldi garðfuglana mína á milli kl. 11:00 og 12:00 í morgun. Jafnframt tók ég myndir af nokkrum tegundum.

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Starling / Stari

Niðurstaðan:
Auðnutittlingur  40
Stari 27
Svartþröstur 6
Bókfinka 4
Skógarþröstur 2
Hettusöngvari 1

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Birds, Garden

In the palm of my hand

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.

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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.

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Birds, Garden

The smallest bird in Europe

glokollur-5The Goldcrest is the smallest bird in Europe, weighing only 5-7 grammes. In 1996 the first known breeding in Iceland was confirmed and since then their numbers have increased. Today they are common breeding birds in spruce forrests.  For two years now they have been breeding  here and in spruce trees in adjoining gardens. We see these tiny little birds with their golden crown almost daily.

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Birds, Garden

Overnight guests

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Hundreds of Starlings stay in our garden every night. Just before dark they come from all directions and in huge flocks they fly in big circles before they land in the trees. They found this place to overnight 25 years ago and have now decided to return.

Starlings have overnighted in different places around Selfoss through the years, changing places regulary.

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Birds, Drawings

What bird is this?

Can you guess? Well, this is my Common Crossbill, a bit different from the one outside in the garden.

krossnefur 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 😉

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