PeterHG's eighth BY

[Zim Girl]

Great set of pictures there, Peter.  Love the Divers and a wonderful close up of the Slavonian Grebe.

[Soukous]

Wonderful diver sighting beautifully captured

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Galana @pedro maia @Zim Girl @Soukous

 

We spent the last few days on Snaefellsnes Peninsula and booked a whaling tour from the town of Olafsvik. Orcas were the main target, but other whales and dolphins were also a possibility. As it turned out, we did not see any killer whales, but we got one brief view of a Minke Whale and no less than 4 encounters with Sperm Whales. An impressive sight!

 

 

 

We also saw quite a few guillemots, razorbills and puffins, but mostly no real photo opportunities. There were, however, two additions I could get a shot of.

 

242 / I 24. Northern Gannet. Iceland, June.

 

243 / I 25. Great Skua. Iceland, June. Fairly distant, but we only saw a few on the trip, so I was happy to get a photo.

 

On the western tip of the peninsula, near one of the lighthouses, we could get good views of some rocks with guillemots and auks. The midday light was harsh, so not great for photography, but as plenty of them were swimming near the coast I took a few shots of those.

 

244 / I 26. Common Guillemot. Iceland, June

245 / I 27. Razorbill, Iceland, June.

 

 

246 / 28. Black Guillemot. Iceland, June

 

I scanned the groups of guillemots and razorbills for the Brünnich's Guillemot, which is supposed to have a stronghold here, but I could not find any. As this was definitely one of my target species I kept on searching until I finally spotted one swimming among the regular guillemots. Pretty far off, but I had scored my lifer!

 

247 / I 29. Brünnich's Guillemot. Iceland, June.

 

Content with our success, we sat down on the rocks with a thermos flask to have some well-deserved coffee and enjoy the beautiful view over the ocean. Suddenly we saw some black and with patches in the waves and a pod of 6 Orcas passed underneath. We had missed them on the whaling trip, but this felt even more special as there was no-one else around and we had spotted them ourselves. A worthy ending to a great trip!

 

Edited July 21, 2023 by PeterHG

[Zim Girl]

Enjoyed reading about this trip Peter, and what a great sighting of the Orcas to end with!

[Galana]

Extremely envious of both the Sperm Whales and Orcas. That private sighting was well deserved.

Well done on the Brunnich's too.

[pedro maia]

Really cool sightings, I would love to see orcas.

[PeterHG]

I see I've skipped two already...

 

248 / I 30. Black-legged Kittiwake. Iceland, June.  Very common along all the coasts.

 

249 / I 31. Common Scoter. Iceland, June. Only seen in the Myvatn area. They were the most skittish of all the ducks there, never allowing any close approach.

 

[TonyQ]

You did very well on your trip to Iceland, lovely photos, and great Whale sightings

[michael-ibk]

Agreed, top photos Peter - I can see how you were thrilled with your private Orcas, I definitely would have been. 

[Peter Connan]

Beautiful!

[PeterHG]

Thank you @TonyQ @michael-ibk @Peter Connan

 

Back home I needed to pick up the home country species again. There are still quite a few common birds I haven't added yet. Even this one....

 

250 / NL 115. House Sparrow. Amersfoort, June.

 

When I went for a walk in the nearby wetland area I was pleasantly surprised by the sighting of a Little Bittern, still a rare breeder in our country.

251 / NL 116. Little Bittern. Arkemheen, June.

[xelas]

Excellent birding in Iceland, and I am sure the landscapes matches the birds in quality!

[PeterHG]

Another uncommon bird showed up in the same area last night.

 

252 / NL 117. Black-winged Stilt. Arkemheen, July. Still a very uncommon breeding bird, but slowly gaining ground.

 

[Kitsafari]

wow on your shots of those skuas, though my sympathies are with the terns. 

i'm also envious of your sightings of the sperm whales and orcas. 

[Dave Williams]

Great stuff from Iceland! I'd love to go back but it's finding the right time...and an economical place to stay!

[PeterHG]

Thank you @Kitsafari @Dave Williams

On 7/31/2023 at 3:38 AM, Kitsafari said:

i'm also envious of your sightings of the sperm whales and orcas. 

Those were very special moments for us!

 

On 8/15/2023 at 6:08 PM, Dave Williams said:

and an economical place to stay!

Yes, Iceland puts quite strain on the buget!

[PeterHG]

It's been very quiet here over the last few weeks. Or perhaps I've been lazy, that could also be true. Well a few more then from a little walk recently.

 

253 / NL 118. Wood Pigeon, Arkemheen, August. Neglected so far...

 

254 / NL 119. Green Sandpiper. Arkemheen, August. They have started to appear again in the wetland area in small numbers.

 

 

255 / NL 120. Wood Sandpiper. Arkemheen, August. One or two present in the same area, but also keeping their distance.

[mvecht]

@PeterHGStunning photos from Iceland.

[PeterHG]

2 hours ago, mvecht said:

Stunning photos from Iceland.

Thank you, @mvecht! It was a memorable trip and I was amazed at how approachable some birds were.

[PeterHG]

Towards the end of september we drove south to the south of France, where my brother (together with some 70 others) was going to cycle up the Mont Ventoux as part of a spoinsor event to gather money for research into children's heart diseases. We went there to support him and take photos of the event. It was a memorable day, with dense fog and howling winds at the top, but he made it and a lot of money was raised for the worthy cause. We then decided to go all the way south to the Camargue as it was only a few hours' drive from there. The number of species seen was perhaps slightly disappointing, bt we had a good time anyway and I could at least add some to the BY list.

 

256. Yellow-legged Gull. Camargue, September. That would have been hard to miss...

 

 

257. Greater Flamingo. Camargue, September. Also present in large numbers. I waited till early evening to try and get some photos of them in the setting sun. Well worth the wait...

 

 

One morning we took our folding chairs to the banks of the vast Etang de Vaccarès. We sat there for a few hours and just waited to see what would fly past. Not many raptors this time, but we did get a few nice ones.

258. Short-toed Snake Eagle. Camargue, September. Only seen once in the midday sun.

 

When I was looking at the eagle I noticed that, even higher up, was a second bird of prey.

259. Red Kite. Camargue, September.

 

We were entertained several times by one or two Ospreys hunting for fish in the shallow waters. Although they mostly kept their distance we did get some close views.

260 Western Osprey. Camargue, September.

 

 

 

 

[michael-ibk]

Love the second Flamingo photo, beautiful. Great what your brother did there!

[Galana]

Me too.

The 2nd Osprey is also commendable.

[TonyQ]

Excellent photos and the sunset flamingo photo is beautiful 

[Kitsafari]

awesome shots, including the flamingoes in the golden light

[PeterHG]

Thank you @michael-ibk @Galana @TonyQ @Kitsafari

 

We did see a few hoopoes in the course of our stay in the Camargue, but never close and never perched. In a last desparate attempt to add it to the BY list I managed a distant flight shot. Extreme crop, but, as is the case with a hoopoe, still unmistakeable.

 

261. Eurasian Hoopoe. Camargue, September

 

One wader that I had already seen here, but not yet added to the list. Quite common in the Camargue.

262. Common Sandpiper. Camargue, September

 

263. Greenshank. Camargue, September

 

264. Western Swamphen. Camargue, September

 

265. Little Egret. Camargue, September.

 

266. Slender-billed Gull. Camargue, Serptember. I was happy to find a little group of them again on the banks of Etang de Vaccares. 

 

And a few duplicates from the area