Now it’s 3 days and everyone is so busy doing all the things people are supposed to do for Christmas. Remember to think about the things that matter. Being healthy is not guaranteed, money can’t buy happiness and be thankful for the troubles you don’t have.
Lend a helping hand – and if not your hand your ear <3
Only 4 days to Christmas and December greats us with lots of snow and short days that only last about 4 hours from sunrise to sunset. Today we bring you this Brambling that was with us in October’s snowy weather. The Brambling is a vagrant in Iceland and as such always a treat.
It has been a difficult December and different from what we are used to, blizzards day after day and closed roads. Hopefully we will get nicer weather during the holidays so family and friends will be able to visit their loved ones.
It seem that the Blackbird quite likes Iceland. Some years a ago they were vagrants but that has changed. We have more than 10 in the garden most days.
The European Robin is a vagrant in Iceland. It’s a long time since we had them in our garden, 20 years actually. This winter we have had two and one is still in the garden. We really like having the Robin and take care to leave food in its favourite place. Hopefully it will manage to survive the winter <3
It’s 11 days to Christmas and there is snow everywhere. It’s been snowing all morning and I think my car will not make it through our driveway. We walked to the baker this morning and got some bread from yesterday which they birds have been busy at all day. When it’s cold you need to eat more to keep warm 🙂
The Merlin is the most common predatory bird in Iceland. They prey on small birds, mostly feeding on Meadow Pipits and Snow Buntings. Sometimes they even manage to catch Starlings and Redwings.
Most of them are migrating birds and go to West Europe for the winter. There are always some that overwinter here and they follow the flocks of Snow Buntings that come into towns for food in the winter time.
In the last few days they have been daily visitors in the garden, both males and females. Although it is always sad to see them catch their prey, one can not but admire them for their agility and beauty when they fly low between the tree trunks.
It’s 12 days to Christmas and this little bird is so beautiful and tranquil in the snow. It seems that Redpolls are just made for these surroundings. –Remember to take time to relax and enjoy the little things in life.
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.
It’s 14 days to Christmas and here we have three Bohemian Waxwings in the winter snow. They like apples and fight to get to them if neccessary. We wouldn’t say no to have these beautiful vagrants here at Christmas time this year. They are so decorative and would go well with the Christmas lights.
There were twenty Redwings in the garden today. It seems that more of them choose to overwinter in Iceland than in former times.