2009 Tour Narrative
In Brief: What Iceland lacks in total number of species it more than makes up for in quality—and in the sheer numbers of certain species. During our ten-day tour we recorded all of the specialties and had incredible views of some stunning birds. The quality came in the form of amazing views of Gyrfalcon, an adult female approached to within 50 yards; a Snowy Owl on a warm sunny afternoon in the middle of nowhere; an adult female Steller’s Eider and a distant King Eider; Ring-billed and Little Gulls, both scarce in Iceland; three adult Long-tailed Jaegers; a flock of drake Harlequin Ducks at close range; rafts of Barrow’s Goldeneye; Red Phalaropes; and Red-necked Phalaropes too close to focus a camera on! That last species also features under the quantity heading, with a single lake holding several hundred. Nearby we had large flocks of Arctic Terns; it’s always humbling to think how far these birds travel to their wintering grounds in Antarctica. The seabird cliffs at Latrabjarg were spectacular again, with an eerie quality cast over them by low-lying mist.
In Detail: Tens of thousands of alcids were busy feeding young, flock after flock continuously whizzing out to sea. We relished great views of Brunnich’s Guillemot and sat within just yards of a Black Guillemot as it returned to its nest hole. Equally memorable encounters included the pair of Snow Buntings feeding below us on the stunningly beautiful island of Flatey, and our experience of two Parasitic Jaegers and a pair of Whimbrel in equally dazzling scenery. A couple of pairs of White-tailed Eagles, herds of Whooper Swans, Pink-footed Geese with chicks, Great Skuas, Atlantic Puffins at a distance of six feet, Long-tailed Ducks, Horned Grebes (the pair with stripy young on their back were particular favorites), Manx Shearwaters, singing Redwings, Eurasian Merlins, Common Redpolls, and all those incredibly showy shorebirds lining the road: from Common Redshank and European Golden-Plover to the local race of Black-tailed Godwit and noisy Oystercatchers.
The first of our two whale-watching trips, this one from Olafsvik, provided us with great looks at White-beaked Dolphins, which we watched for an hour. Going out from Husavik, then, we enjoyed close-up encounters with Humpback and Minke Whales. Our luck ran out after that—or did it? Our boat had slight engine trouble and while we waited for assistance we drank hot chocolate, ate cinnamon rolls, and sat on a mirror-calm sea with Puffins, Northern Fulmars, and beautiful scenery all around us.
I can’t think of a single day where we didn’t enjoy spectacular scenery, with numerous stops for photos. We were especially lucky with the weather: eight days of great light, blue skies, and light winds. We took time to enjoy some of Iceland’s natural wonders including the stinky sulphur pools, pseudo-craters, geysers, Pingvellir (where the tectonic plates are pulling apart creating some of the newest land on the planet—again, humbling!), and waterfalls including the mighty Dettifoss, the most powerful waterfall in Europe.
With the local and expertise of our local guide, we were well looked after from start to finish, driven superbly on some long drives, never went hungry, and got the impression that there were few birds in Iceland that we didn’t know about or actually see during our trip. Brilliant!
- James Lidster
Updated: February 2010