The Chaffinch is a vagrant in Iceland and here in the Selfoss area they had not been seen since 1980. This winter there have been four to five birds in the garden most weeks since October. They have come and gone for a couple of days always returning. These photoes were taken yesterday.
In the beginning of November we had three types of Finches, a Brambling and a Siskin, but the Chaffinches are the only ones that have stayed up until now. We can not help wondering why they are here this winter?
On New Year’s Eve the fireworks, which have become louder and more powerful, often chase the birds away but today on January 2 there are five Chaffinches here in the garden. One male has joined the group of four that were here before the New Year. Here in the Selfoss area there have not been as many Chaffinches since 1980.
This picture was taken on New Year’s Day.
We also have about 100 Redpolls, 100 Snow Buntings, 15 Starlings, six Blackbirds, four Redwings and two Common Crossbills. – And it continues to snow…
This Chaffinch has been with us since October and seems to be quite up to the Icelandic climate.
At last we have a beautiful day with bright skies and no blizzards in this part of the country. Tomorrow it will not be so bright. There is a lot of snow everywhere so it’s not easy for the birds to find food but a lot of people set out food for them. This Chaffinch in our garden has her bill full of sunflower seeds. Picture taken today 🙂
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 😉
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
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.
Niðurstaðan:
Auðnutittlingur 40
Stari 27
Svartþröstur 6
Bókfinka 4
Skógarþröstur 2
Hettusöngvari 1
This autumn three different finch species visited the garden. All rare birds in Iceland.
A male Siskin was here in the beginning of October, a female Brambling in the middle of October and now there are two Chaffinches, a pair.
It is getting darker in the afternoon and difficult to get good photoes of the birds, especially on cloudy days like today.
But I managed to get these three photoes, –not as bad as I thought.