10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2015

Even more exciting than close range waterfowl was the Iceland Gull I picked out from among the gulls that roost on the ice. Iceland Gulls look good even when surrounded by goose poop. Though this Pied-billed Grebe is less adapted for cold weather than the Ruddy Ducks it was more active and seemed to be doing alright.

Geese 239

Geese Iceland New York City Ducks 239

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 10, 2014

Along the wayward route, the Phalarope made stops in Iceland, Greenland, the continental U.S., Scientists who attached tracking devices to 10 of the birds in 2012 were shocked to discover that one had flown west across the Atlantic Ocean, and eventually settled down on the shores of the Pacific Ocean in South America.

Iceland 238

Iceland Stray Ecuador South America 238

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 15, 2015

Iceland Gull. Iceland Gull 2. Chumming commenced once we cleared the inlet and we quickly had a nice flock of gulls behind us with the occasional Northern Gannet swinging into the chum scrum to see what was available. Northern Gannet. Numbers of some of the better birds are below, stolen from Sean Simes email to the state listserv.

New York 241

New York Iceland 2015 Ducks 241

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 22, 2012

Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was any one of the five Iceland Gulls spotted at the Beacon Train Station where a massive-by-New-York-standards twitch for a Slaty-backed Gull seen the day before failed to turn up the guest of honor. What was your best bird of the weekend?

Iceland 200

Iceland 2012 New York Birds 200

10,000 Birds

MARCH 11, 2012

Pied Wagtail – male Our Pied Wagtails are a different race to the familiar White Wagtail of Europe many of which will also pass through Britain heading for Iceland.

Iceland 241

Iceland Europe Species Birds 241

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2015

And, most recently, I returned to Bush Terminal Piers Park, where I saw an Iceland Gull a few weeks back, to try once more for the long-staying Eurasian Wigeon. All the usual gulls were around, but nothing that my inexperienced eye could pick out as a rarity, not even the Iceland Gull from last time.

Iceland 207

Iceland Owls Ducks Montana 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 4, 2013

Sure, we got a couple of young Iceland Gulls that didn’t stay with the boat for long and, yes, a couple of nice Lesser Black-backed Gulls were cool, but no Black-legged Kittiwakes , no Glaucous Gulls , and nothing else other than Great Black-backed Gulls , Herring Gulls , and a few Bonaparte’s Gulls.

New York 203

New York Iceland Puffins Albatross 203

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

Over Thursday and Friday we also began to see large numbers of Northern Wheatears on the British east coast and small numbers of Lapland Buntings on the west coast appear.

France 258

France Estonia Ireland Finland 258

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 12, 2012

European Golden-Plovers ( Pluvialis apricaria ) on their breeding ground in Iceland CC-BY Elma Morphological analyses placed the tundra plovers squarely among all the other plovers — including dotterels , Killdeer , and Snowy and Kentish Plovers — for many years.

Family 245

Family 2007 Iceland Louisiana 245

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 4, 2013

It breeds in a broad and not quite coherent band from Iceland in the west through central Europe and southern Scandinavia all the way to eastern Russia, wintering in Africa, parts of India, and Southeast Asia to Australia.

Germany 232

Germany Russia Iceland India 232

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 26, 2012

Whooper Swans ( Cygnus cygnus ) The Whooper Swans of the UK and Ireland generally come from Iceland. The site is an important wintering site of Whooper Swans , a large Arctic migrant that is found across the northern extent of Eurasia. They are popular birds, and are the National Bird of Finland.

Finland 154

Finland Ireland Iceland Birds 154

Critter News

FEBRUARY 12, 2009

What about Norway and Iceland? Iceland recently announced a quota of 100 fin whales - an endangered species - which is a dramatic increase its original self-assigned quota of nine. Tags: norway iceland whale Japan whaling. And they flagrantly continue killing. They also almost doubled their quota of Minke whales. ".

Whales 100

Whales Whaling Norway Iceland 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 3, 2012

The gulls were basically roosting at least 20 birds deep, often more, for as far up and down the beach as we could see and more were flying in continuously.

Pelicans 215

Pelicans Iceland Wildlife California 215

10,000 Birds

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

. “Climate change is likely to be driving this change because godwits nest earlier in warmer years, and birds that hatch earlier will have more time to gain the body condition needed for migration and to find good places to spend the winter, which can help them to return early to Iceland when they come back to breed.”

Taiwan 249

Taiwan Iceland United States Chickens 249

10,000 Birds

APRIL 15, 2024

Another location factor is highlands versus lowlands – Whooper Swans breeding in Icelandic lowlands had a much higher breeding success than the highland birds ( source ). It states that populations of Whooper Swans grow 30 times faster inside nature reserves than outside.

China 246

China Iceland Whaling Whales 246

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 17, 2015

The Iceland Gull at Wanchese was a no-show. The addition of Blue-winged Teal and Marsh Wren at Bodie Island, owl-less during the day, pulled me to 198. The ducks, like this Northern Pintail , are plentiful and unworried at Bodie Island. It was then that things started falling apart. The Little Gulls at Jeanette’s Pier were out to sea.

North Carolina 225

North Carolina Alligators Geese Owls 225

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

A pair did lay infertile eggs in Iceland in 2018, but that’s about the only record I can find). Intriguingly, the population of Dark-bellied Brent Geese has also increased hugely during the same period, but the birds show no signs of colonising Europe, and there are hardly any records of them nesting away from the arctic tundra. (A

Netherlands 246

Netherlands Geese Denmark Feral 246

10,000 Birds

JULY 18, 2013

First was an awesome stay in Iceland. Here’s his second stop: Our second destination after Iceland was St. Petersburg on Iceland Air, which saved us time and helped us avoid a night’s stay at a hotel. Between finishing one graduate program and beginning another, he embarked on a whirlwind tour of Europe. Petersburg, Russia.

Russia 150

Russia Iceland Europe Birds 150

10,000 Birds

JUNE 27, 2011

At the same time as he was doing his study on Kumlein’s (Iceland) Gulls and Thayer’s Gulls Smith supposedly gathered data on both Common Ringed and Semipalmated Plover (which both nested in the area) and the hybridization of the two species.

Iceland 229

Iceland Europe Panama North America 229

10,000 Birds

MAY 26, 2011

Eurasian Wigeon Ross’s Goose Upland Sandpiper Little Gull Wilson’s Phalarope Marbled Godwit Least Tern Iceland Gull Many of these would be great additions to the yard list. Now wouldn’t that be cool. A “Woodpeckery thing” with some number of toes. However, it was, in fact, a CACKLING GOOSE, as Corey guessed.

2011 160

2011 Geese Iceland Canada 160

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 30, 2011

While on a residency in Iceland, during which I pursued interests in music and invention, I brought a camera to record little moments in a strange new landscape. It was kindled by my grandmother when I was a child but lay dormant until I’d spent enough time in San Francisco to feel at home.

San Francisco 249

San Francisco California Condor Coyotes Iceland 249

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 9, 2014

It breeds in Greenland, Iceland and Svalbard and overwinters (singly and at mountain top hot springs – if Hollywood is to be trusted) along the coasts of northern Europe. discovered that the usual flock of several thousand Pink-footed Geese was wintering in the Broads National Park.

Geese 240

Geese Barn Owls Serbia Sheep 240

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 12, 2014

In June of 2013 he embarked on a whirlwind tour of Europe, spotting birds in Iceland , Russia , Finland , and, as you’re about to find out, Sweden: We took a quick flight from Helsinki and arrived in Stockholm, Sweden, arriving at our fourth country on this trip.

Sweden 220

Sweden Denmark Geese Finland 220

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

We finally connected with a decent gull there when we spotted an Iceland Gull but the real highlight of the bay was the flock of Greater Scaup that took to wing as we steamed past.

New York City 217

New York City New York Jamaica Seals 217

Critter News

APRIL 8, 2010

Tags: norway iceland whales Japan whaling endangered species.

Whales 100

Whales Whaling Norway Psychology 100

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 3, 2016

Listen up, listers: If you’ve got an Iceland list, you might need to amend it … the country has gained six new nesting species in the 21st century. It’s a sad day for nestcam watchers, as a Bald Eagle nonchalantly snatched one of Rachel and Steve’s Osprey fledglings. But thankfully, there’s other bird news that’s more positive.

Bald Eagle 100

Bald Eagle Iceland Eagles Birds 100

10,000 Birds

MAY 1, 2014

I asked if the butterfly stood a chance of returning to the shore, to find out that it is a long range migrant, braving the winds of the North Atlantic while traveling all the way from Africa to Iceland! After a light seafood lunch and some local brew, we went to the hills surrounding the Finikas.

Greece 252

Greece Malta Croatia Italy 252

10,000 Birds

JUNE 20, 2011

I was particularly pleased with the Ruby-throated Hummingbird , and the fact that I managed to rack up Glaucous , Iceland , and Lesser Black-backed Gulls on my pelagics. I now have 10 photos in my Crappy Bird Pics gallery of 9 different species.

Delaware 225

Delaware Iceland Birds 2006 225

10,000 Birds

JANUARY 11, 2014

First was an awesome stay in Iceland. Between finishing one graduate program and beginning another, he embarked on a whirlwind tour of Europe. Of course, birding was on the itinerary! Next came a stop in Russia.

Finland 225

Finland Estonia Birds Europe 225

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 2, 2024

These birds all breed in Iceland My visit to Brancaster concluded with a magnificent fly-over of Pinkfeet as skein after skein passed high overhead, all heading west. The geese feed on the unwanted tops of the sugar beet that are left in the fields when the beet is harvested, a clean-up service that the farmers are happy with.

Geese 245

Geese Russia Unwanted Breeding 245

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2024

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. Most of the Icelandic population winters in the British isles The sightings stopped, but then on 18 February 2019 EY70 137 was observed on Lady’s Island Lake, Wexford, Ireland.

Lithuania 130

Lithuania Morocco Iceland Ireland 130

10,000 Birds

MAY 29, 2011

Late this week I sorted through three hundred trying, unsuccessfully, to find the odd Iceland Gulls that turn up each year. A Snow Bunting takes a break from song to fuel up Then it was the Glaucous Gulls , a dozen to start with, now in the hundreds.

Bald Eagle 149

Bald Eagle Iceland North America Owls 149

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 25, 2018

All manner of spring species are turning up in the Finger Lakes region, but I’m still working on winter stragglers, which makes a self-found Iceland Gull my favorite of this weekend. Have you recognized how different your immediate surroundings are compared to the beginning of the month?

Iceland 100

Iceland 2018 Owls Birds 100

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 24, 2019

As promised, I teased a single Iceland Gull out of an endless horde of more common gulls. The shortest month of the calendar year tends to be one of the less birdy as well. Still, twenty-eight days hardly suffice when the world offers so much to see.

2019 100

2019 Iceland United States Wildlife 100

10,000 Birds

APRIL 11, 2011

Iceland Gull – Seen at Breezy Point in the middle of a huge flock of gulls on the same day as the Black-headed Gull , Short-eared Owl , and Redhead. Turkey Vulture – Wow! That is all I have to see about this bird which I spotted from my apartment. I don’t think I will ever have a day with four new Queens birds again.

Jamaica 194

Jamaica Owls 2010 New York City 194

10,000 Birds

APRIL 5, 2024

Pinkfooted Geese in North Norfolk – winter visitors from Iceland My British list is, in fact, merely an East Anglian list, as I haven’t (so far) ventured out of the counties of Suffolk, Norfolk and Essex.

Spain 130

Spain Eagles North America Ducks 130

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 4, 2018

There is extensive behavioral descriptions for familiar gulls like Laughing, Ring-billed, and Herring, but far less information on less common species like Iceland Gull, whose profile mainly consists of the differences between the Kumlien and Thayer’s subspecies. This is the kind of information I love to learn and use in the field.

North America 214

North America El Salvador America Nicaragua 214