It was very cold today, the coldest day this winter. The temperature was -12°C this morning and 10 cm of snow. The Ölfusá River started to freeze. Now it’s only daylight for perhaps five hours.
This picture was taken at 14:30 in poor daylight.
There were twenty Redwings in the garden today. It seems that more of them choose to overwinter in Iceland than in former times.
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.
The Goosander is a breeeding bird by rivers and lakes throughout the country.
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.
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.
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.
The Harlequin Duck (Histrionicus histrionicus) is a common bird on the River Ölfusá near Selfoss in March and April. In the wintertime the Harlequin duck stays in the ocean around Iceland but in early spring it goes up the rivers (March-April) and lays eggs near spring rivers and streams. Sometimes they can be seen on the River Ölfusá in winter.
The Harlequin duck is one of the most beautiful ducks. It is often tame and easy to approach and observe at short distance.
Iceland is the only nesting place for Harlequin ducks in Europe. It is, however, a nesting bird in Greenland, North America and the eastern regions of Siberia. The breeding population in Iceland is around 2000 to 3000 pairs.
In the darkest time of the year, which we have now, it is nice to know that these beautiful birds are waiting for spring off the coast all around the country.
After a stormy night with some very heavy winds (20-30 m/s), snow and 0°C, this winter’s first Fieldfare has arrived in the garden. Every autumn groups of Fieldfares come from Scandinavia and overwinter in Iceland. They are annual visitors in the garden. Once in a while they breed in Iceland, mainly in the northern part of the country. Only one known breeding has been reported in Selfoss (1980).
Other birds in the garden this morning:
Blackbird 6
Redwing 6
Starling 22
Blackcap 3
European Robin 1
Chaffinches 4
Redpolls 70
Common Crossbills 6
The Redwing is one of the most common birds in Icelandic forests and probably the most popular bird in Iceland, – everyone knows the Redwing. Most of them go to UK in the wintertime but many overwinter in Iceland. The Icelandic Redwings are bigger than the European ones and you can also recognize them by their underwings which are redder. There are always some of them in the garden every winter.
Now we have four of them but a lot of them are still in the forests. Their numbers will increase if we get some real winter weather and the forecast predicts colder weather in the coming days.
When the weather gets colder small birds come in flocks to seek shelter in the the garden. In the last few days there have been more than one hundred Redpolls here.
There are at least seventy in the picture from yesterday, –eating sunflower seeds.
