Birds

Pectoral Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs

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Two American waders together at Breiðabólsstaðatjörn/Álftanes (SW-Iceland), Pectoral Sandpiper and Lesser Yellowlegs

This spring three Lesser Yellowlegs have been spotted in Southwest Iceland.  Lesser Yellowlegs are rare vagrants and until now only 19 birds had been seen here, most of them in the autumn.  Lesser Yellowlegs are breeding birds in North America, and fairly common.

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Hrísastelkur – Lesser Yellowlegs – Tringa flavipes

The Pectoral Sandpiper is a more common vagrant in Iceland. It is a breeding bird in North America like the Lesser Yellowlegs.

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Rákatíta – Pectoral Sandpiper – Calidris melanotos

Two Lesser Yellowlegs and the Pectoral Sandpiper were in Álftanes yesterday evening.  The Lesser Yellowlegs is a new bird on my list but the Pectoral Sandpiper was already on the list.

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Birds

Harlequins still here

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Straumönd – Harlequin Duck – Histrionicus histrionicus

A group of Harlequin Ducks are on River Ölfusá. They are common here in  April but will leave when it gets warmer and the river becomes muddier because of snow melting in the highlands. Clear spring water rivers are their favourite.

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The Harlequin Duck stays in the ocean around Iceland during the winter time but comes inland, on rivers, with the coming of spring.

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Birds

Breeding has started

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Tjaldur – Oystercatcher – Haematopus ostralegus

The Oystercatcher is a common breeding bird in Iceland. Its typical breeding places are  near the sea and lakes in lowlands. The nest is usually in gravel or sand, but sometimes by the side of a road.

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This Oystercatcher, that was ringed last summer in Floi Nature Reserve, is back with its siblings

Part of the Icelandic breeding stock goes to the British Isles for  winter and comes back in the middle of March. Now in the beginning of May breeding is already on its way and the first chicks will be arriving in the end of the month.

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Ringed Oystercatchers are seen from time to time.  These have mostly been ringed in their winter grounds in The British Isles but some in Iceland in recent years.

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Birds

Flying inland

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Kría – Arctic Tern – Sterna paradisaea

The first Arctic Terns were seen by Selfoss today. They flew up River Ölfusá against the northern storm in a temperature slightly above zero. They are used to all sorts of weather here in the North but still they arrive every spring year after year all the way from the southernmost part of the Atlantic Ocean.
As early as the end of April they were first spotted by the seaside but now they are on their way inland in search of breeding places. The breeding time is the only time of year that the Arctic Tern searches inland, at other times it is constantly on flight over the open seas.

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Birds

Chirping incessantly

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Redpoll nest with chicks

Redpolls are among the first birds to lay eggs in the spring and now the chicks have already started hatching.  On my walk today I came across this nest in a spruce tree. Two chicks were in it but three were already out of it sitting on nearby branches, chirping incessantly for food. The parents must be very busy finding food for all these little mouths.

Auðnutittlingur - Redpoll - Carduelis flammea
Auðnutittlingur – Redpoll – Carduelis flammea
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Birds

Crossbill with chicks

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Krossnefur – Common Crossbill – Loxia curvirostra juv.

The first Common Crossbills are now with chicks. They breed very early, sometimes in the middle of winter if there is enough feed. Yesterday I found three week-old chicks on my walk in spruce and pine forests in Grímsnes, South Iceland. In previous years the first chicks have also appeared at this time of year, in the latter part of April.

Common Crossbill, male
Common Crossbill, male

The photos are of the chick and the parents.

Common Crossbill, female
Common Crossbill, female
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Birds

Black-Tailed Godwits

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Jaðrakan – Black-Tailed Godwit – Limosa limosa

Migrants are now coming to Iceland from Europe in flocks. In the last couple of weeks there has been headwind on the 800 km migration route over the ocean from Scotland and Ireland. Now weather conditions are better and in the last two days many migrants have started their long and difficult flight.

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Among these is the Black-Tailed Godwit that overwinters on the west coast of Europe from Holland to Portugal. A group of around 300 birds was by the banks of Hvítá River in Grímsnes yesterday. The birds are obviously dead tired and eagerly searched  for food in the in the sand.

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Black-Tailed Godwits – a little part of the group
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Atmosphere, People

First day of Summer

Today is the first day of summer in Iceland, – a holiday celebrated every year on the first Thursday after the 18th of April. Iceland is the only country that has a special holiday to celebrate the coming of summer. It is part of an Icelandic folklore. In olden days there were only two seasons, equally long, summer and winter.  In this respect the first day of summer was actually new years day.

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First day of summer on the banks of Ölfusá River this morning before 8 o’clock.

The folklore says that if there is frost the night before the first of summer the summer will be good. Tonight the temperatures went slightly below zero and there was frost on the ground. The sun rises at 5:30 now and the sun is shining so it seems we will be having a nice warm day. According to the folklore the summer should be a good one.

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