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Birding Iceland on the Fly

10,000 Birds

Being technically outside the summer tourism season, one can enjoy the somewhat less expensive travel and hotel costs, less crowded venues, great weather and nearly endless daylight—and of course many birds migrating and beginning the breeding/nesting season! In fact I don’t think the sun ever set while we were in Iceland.

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Iceland Gull Larus glaucoides

10,000 Birds

Iceland Gulls do not breed in Iceland. But if one detaches “Ice&# from “land&# and puts a hyphen between the two the name seems much more fitting, because while they do not breed in Iceland they are usually seen when the land is covered in ice. … a.

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Common Ringed Plover

10,000 Birds

The voices are different however and one can distinguish between the two species through their vocalisations. Very occasionally though, one might stray down the eastern seaboard of the USA, but for the most part, those that breed in arctic Canada migrate towards Europe and swell numbers there during the winter.

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Whooper Swans at Lake Kussharo, Hokkaido

10,000 Birds

And now we get to the part of the post in which I briefly and unscientifically mention a few research papers on the species to have a reason to post a few more of my photos. It seems the paper is on the effect of swan feeding and swan movement on the release of nutrients, but given the language, I cannot be too sure about this.

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What the rings reveal

10,000 Birds

Black-tailed godwits winter in large numbers on the estuaries of both Norfolk and Suffolk, and we know that nearly all these birds breed in Iceland. They are of the race islandica , a sub species of the nominate race, limosa. In breeding plumage islandica godwits develop a deeper red plumage than their limosa cousins.

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Godwits are bad ambassadors of conservation

10,000 Birds

Or else I’d be tempted to mention that the cold rainy weather has given way to a massive heat wave and drought, or that the summer doldrums this year are more boring than ever, or that it is so unfair that Corey is more than 100 species ahead of me in his year list, or that I really would enjoy some nice birds for a change!

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When will the Pluvialis tundra plovers get their own family?

10,000 Birds

Their rather nondescript winter nature conceals some fascinating secrets, not the least of which is that they and their closest relatives, the three golden-plover species, are among the planet’s greatest flyers. The four Pluvialis plovers are sometimes called “tundra plovers” because of their breeding range.

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