The Atlantic Puffin is on the list of threatened species. It is listed endangered (EN) within Europe. In Iceland this decline has not gone unnoticed. It is especially noticeable in South Iceland where breeding has been poor for years.
The European Commission issues the European Red List of Birds 2015, compiled by BirdLife International.
The Barrows Goldeneye has arrived at its winter grounds in Sog River, South Iceland. Sog River is the biggest spring-fed river and does not freeze even in the coldest of weathers. It is the perfect place for the Barrows Goldeneye that prefers to stay in spring water the whole year round. It is not a migrator and does not go out to sea like many non-migratory birds.
I came across another vagrant today, a Red-eyed Vireo. In Icelandic we call this bird Græningi, which translates to the Green Bird. That is a bit more descriptive than its English name.
Two weeks ago I saw a Red-eyed Vireo in Stokkseyri but this one was in in Hellisskógur by Selfoss, South Iceland.
The Common Chiffchaff is the second most common warbler seen in Iceland. They are vagrants here and most of them are seen in the autumn. Sometimes they manage to survive the winter and they are known to have bred here a few times. The Chiffchaff is a chubby little bird, a little bigger than the Wren.
Last weekend we saw six of them in several places along the Eyjafjöll Mountains, or under Eyjafjöll, as it is called in Iceland. In the last few weeks they have been seen in quite some numbers in Southeast and South Iceland. Now we just have to pray for a mild winter so our foreign guests will survive their visit up here.
Holtsós is a tidal lagoon separated from the ocean with only a thin strip of sand. In the calm weather at dusk on Saturday, it was lit up by the setting sun as we were driving home from our day’s outing under Eyjafjöll, South Iceland.
The Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) is a vagrant in Iceland. Every year several of them come from Scandinavia and stay for the winter. A few are also seen here in the summer time. They stay near lakes, rivers and ponds where they catch fish which is their favourite food.
The Grey Heron is a big bird and on flight sometimes mistaken for a bird of prey.
This Grey Heron was in the Eyjafjöll area in South Iceland. We saw it around mid day resting on one leg and also later near the close of day where it was fishing.
We spotted this season’s first Blackcap, a male, in the garden today. Blackcaps are annual vagrants and the first ones are usually seen in the end of October but most of them come in the first week of November. Blackcaps have sometimes stayed in the garden the whole winter. How well they cope depends on how mild the winter is. They mostly eat berries from shrubs and the apples that we put out. They also like fat and compete with the other birds for food.
This Blackcap was in our garden in Selfoss today.
We had a full Moon tonight and the sky was clear so you could not have missed it if you were looking. We watched as it crawled up into the sky, changing colours from almost orange to yellow and then to white as dusk was falling. –Such a wonderful sight.
The Moon is full when it is completely illuminated as seen from the Earth. This occurs when the Moon is opposite to the Sun. The lunar month is 29-30 days so we have a full Moon about 12 times a year.
Yesterday was the First Day of Winter. According to Icelandic tradition First Day of Winter is on the Saturday in the period 21st to 27th October. This day is not celebrated in Iceland, although in the olden days there was a tradition of feasts at this time of year when the meat supply was at its greatest. The winter weather was e.g. predicted by the behaviour of mice, birds and other animals.