At first glance, this doesn't look like a bird picture at all. But look closer (click photo to enlarge) at both the sky and the water. Those myriad little dots are puffins, who flock to Heimaey Island every spring to breed. If you can't enlarge, or want more "action", there's a video clip of the puffin flock at the end of this post.
The puffins share the island with other birds, such as the Fulmar, a relative of the albatross. . .
and the kittiwake, a mild mannered smallish gull with lovely coloring and delicate features.
Even the plucky white wagtail makes a (blurry) cameo. . .
as does the industrious redshank.
On the mainland, summer is the time when 5,000 or so breeding pairs of great skua mate along the rocky southern coastal flats. These are large birds, and they make a living harassing smaller shore birds into regurgitating up hard-earned food in mid flight. A puffin or an arctic tern is no match for this rascal.
In Iceland, the oystercatcher has evolved into more of a generalist, and is as likely to be seen working the soil of a paddock as he is wading along the shore.
Here's a shot of a young golden plover we encountered on the Skaftafell highlands. We spotted mom first, perched on a rock 30m away, and heard the lad below peeping from the marshy flat just alongside the trail.
Also near the glacier we ran across this ptarmigan, who eyed us suspiciously and emitted several guttural croaks, but made no haste to get out of our way. In winter, the ptarmigan's plumage turns snowy white and the red brow patch turns bright scarlet.
Other species encountered but not shown include the wheatear, arctic skua, great norther diver (aka loon), arctic tern, turnstone, greylag goose, black guillemot and a variety of waterfowl.
Love the puffin photo! Amazing to see the "flecks" turn into birds when enlarged. I think it takes real skill to photograph birds and you do a great job. Thanks for sharing - and educating about Icelandic birds.
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