PeterHG's eighth BY

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful!

 

Thank you

[michael-ibk]

Glad to hear you had a good time Peter. I love your scenery shots, so more of them please! Really beautiful. 

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Soukous @pedro maia @Peter Connan @michael-ibk

 

228 / I 07. Snow Bunting. Iceland, June. We did not see many, but we did get a very confiding male, singing close to the footpath along the glacier lagoon.

 

 

- / I 08. Common Redshank. Seen almost daily.

 

229 / I 09. Common Snipe. Iceland, June. Very common. We often saw and heard them when performing their display flights, producing that peculiar bleating sound, which has given them the name of 'sky goat'. The sound is produced by the two outer tail feathers and in the flight shot you can see them protruding from the middle part of the tail. 

 

 

230 / I 10. Northern Raven. Iceland, June. The only breeding Corvid in Iceland and a constant threat to the newly hatched meadow birds.

 

 

[PeterHG]

We had only had one brief glimpse of a puffin, but we intended to visit one of the most accessible puffin colonies of Iceland at Borgardur Eystri. We had to make a considerable detour, some 70 kms there and back, but we felt it would be worth it. We decided to go there at the end of the day. Light would not be a problem as it does not really get dark there in June and we thought there would be a lot less visitors. The former was true, the latter wasn't. When we drove up to the location, we saw a cruise ship anchored in the bay. In one dinghy load after another loads of tourists were dropped off to see the puffins. All dressed in the same blue coat and carrying the same little rucksack with the ship's logo on it. This was the last batch, before we left the area ourselves. This doesn't even look very crowded, but in the preceding 40 minutes, there were probably three or four times as many on the steps.Well. they all had a good time and the puffins didn't really seem to mind the mass of people, so we patiently waited for some space to have a look and shoot some photos. According to the brochures some 10.000 pairs of puffins nest here every year. 

 

 

231 / I 11. Atlantic Puffin. Iceland, June

 

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Just gorgeous photos Peter - a wonderful experience despite the masses I take it.

[PeterHG]

51 minutes ago, michael-ibk said:

a wonderful experience despite the masses I take it.

Absolutely! Once we had accepted the fact that we had more company than we had expected we just enjoyed the Puffins. Beautiful creatures!

[TonyQ]

Beautiful Puffins, lovely photos

[Galana]

8 hours ago, PeterHG said:

All dressed in the same blue coat and carrying the same little rucksack with the ship's logo on it.

We had the same on Vatersay and there weren't any Puffins at all. Ours were all in red jackets and were looking for standing stones etc., so they  could all take selfies at the same spot.

Great shots of Puffins. They always cooperate with the cameraman and seem designed with colour photography in mind.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Galana

[pedro maia]

Beautiful Puffins!

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful!

[xelas]

Those Puffins ... what to say?! Gorgeous!

[Zim Girl]

Fantastic set of birds so far, love the puffins.  Also, the landscape pictures are stunning so do please post more.

[shazdwn]

Gorgeous scenery and puffins, so much to love

[PeterHG]

Thank you @michael-ibk @TonyQ @Galana @Peter Connan @xelas@Zim Girl @shazdwn!

 

After the puffin experience we followed the nr 1 ringroad to the Myvatn area, our next destination. On our way there we made a detour to the Dettifoss waterfall, another one of the many impressive waterfalls of Iceland.

 

 

Myvatn (' the lake of midges') is a large shallow lake hosting many waterbirds and especially some ducks that usually can't be seen anywhere else in Europe. One of them is the Harlequin Duck, a colourful little duck of fast-flowing streams. The Laxa River, close to Myvatn, is reputedly one of the best areas to sea them. We did not see them there, however, but on our way to Myvatn we stopped near a stream to have a picnic and quite unexpectedly we saw six of them. A lifer and a beautiful one!

232 / I 12. Harlequin Duck. Iceland, June. 

 

 

 

Another duck and another lifer:

233 / I 13. Barrow's Goldeneye. Iceland, June. Myvatn is the best area to see them and you can't really miss them there. Every now and then one was very confiding. The male looks like our common Goldeneye, but has a crescent-shaped white spot in front of the eye. Females are very similar to the common Goldeneye

 

 

234 / I 14. Long-tailed Duck. Iceland, June. Fairly common in the Myvatn area, but rather shy.

 

Already in the count, but also seen regularly in Myvatn: Greater Scaup.

 

235 / I 15. Great Northern Diver. Iceland, June. We had been looking for it before, but finally found it a few times in this area. I had seen it a few times in our country, but only in its winter outfit.

 

The Myvatn area:

Edited July 7, 2023 by PeterHG

[Zim Girl]

Super picture of the GN Diver!

[michael-ibk]

Great birds - beautiful! 

[Galana]

Another vote for the Great Northern. (I know. I am biased!)

[Kitsafari]

The sceneries are just too stunning to not share, so thank you!

A lot of Blue Bots but gorgeous shots of the enchanting puffins stand out. 

what a fabulous harlequin and so nice to see the birds in their breeding plumage.  

[TonyQ]

Beautiful birds from the Myvatn area, and you bring back some great memories.

Excellent photos, and keep including the scenery 

[pedro maia]

Top photos Peter!!

[Soukous]

I'd be happy to see any of those Peter, well all of them actually.

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Zim Girl @michael-ibk @Galana @Kitsafari @TonyQ  @pedro maia.

 

After a pleasant, but non-birding weekend in Portugal (well I did take a phone shot of a black redstart, just in case...;)), it's time to finish up the Iceland birds.

 

236 / I 16. Redwing, Iceland, June. Very common throughout the country.

 

I 17. Slavonian/Horned Grebe. Iceland, June. We did not see many, but especially on one occasion we could get really close. 

 

Arctic Skua. A duplicate. I had a great half hour quietly sitting down somewhere near the coast and watch some 5 or 6 skuas harassing an arctic tern colony. They are quite ferocious in hunting down a returning tern with a catch. As soon as one of the skuas has made the tern drop the fish, it catches it mid-air and immediately becomes hunted itself.  The backdrop of the distant gletcher added to the whole scene.

 

 

 

237 / I 18. Red-breasted Merganser. Not all that common, but seen on several occasions.

 

238 /I 19. Red-necked Phalarope. Iceland, June. Very common, especially around Myvatn and the Sneafellsnes Peninsula. At times very confiding. When I took these pictures there were about 25 of them swimming around, sometimes only a few metres from where I was sitting. They are nervous little birds in their behaviour, but not shy at all.

 

the female:

 

And the male. Slighly less colourful.

 

[PeterHG]

When we were driving on the nr 1 ringroad towards the Sneafellsnes peninsula Jeannette suddenly saw a large raptor sitting on a pole near the road. I stopped and reversed (not advisable on a road where cars are doing 90 kms an hour, but there was no traffic in sight....;)) At some distance from the bird I slowly turned the car around and got a look. I managed to get my bins on a large greyish brown falcon for a moment, definitely a Gyrflacon. It flew off before I got a chance to reach for my camera, but we were thrilled by the sighting anyway. The only one of the trip.

As a consolation prize I did take a nice photo of a Whimbrel on a similar perch.

 

I 20. Whimbrel. Also very common.

 

 

 

 

On the peninsula itself we found a lake holding some Red-throated Divers. I had only seen them far off until now, but this pair gave us some good moments, especially when the were showing their ritual water dance.

239/ I 21. Red-throated Diver, Iceland, June.

 

 

 

We even got a fly-by.

 

240 / I 22. Glaucous Gull. Iceland, June. Very common on the northern and western coasts. I tried to find Iceland Gull among them, but no definite sighting.

 

 

I may as well count the second species in the photo...

241 / I 23. Common Eider. Iceland, June. By far the most common duck along all coasts. Sometimes gathered in large groups out at sea, mainly consisting of males and juveniles. I did scan most groups for a possible King Eider, but no luck.

[Galana]

Some lovely birds there  @PeterHGFor me the RT Divers are the stars but the action shots of the Skuas gets an award too..

[pedro maia]

Great Diver photos!