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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Happy Days Are Here Again (1 Viewer)

Edward

Umimmak
Iceland
Greetings birdmen and birdwomen

The title of the thread refers to the fact that now, late Feb, it's finally light enough to go birding after work (c. 6 p.m.). This is a big difference from the four hours of daylight in December!

To celebrate the end of a wonderfully mild sunny day in south-west Iceland I did a lightning quick tour of my patch, a sea bay extending into suburban Reykjavik.

Eider - everywhere as usual
Long-tailed Duck - in large numbers
Gadwall - a scarce breeder in Iceland and the first I've seen this winter (they're not incoming migrants though).
Mallard - obviously
Wigeon - fewer than usual
Red-breasted Merganser - one or two
Iceland Gull - a couple of dozen of all ages
Glaucous Gull - ditto
Razorbill - a single bird loosely associating with Eider
Raven - everywhere, THE most conspicuous bird of a Reykjavik winter

To round it off we had one of the best displays of the Northern Lights a.k.a Aurora Borelais last night. Great swathes and tendrils of green phosphorescence sweeping across the sky. Wow!
 
Edward
Its great that the nights are getting later and daylight hours extending. It brightens up the whole day (scuse the pun ) when you can get out in daylight after work!.
Sounds like two fantasic sights.
All those birds, over half I have yet to see!.
And, the Norther Lights. Ditto.
Ah well maybe sometime!.
 
Hi Edward

Im coming to Iceland in June and this has whetted my appitite, I cant wait. Should be many more birds about by then as well.

Martin
 
Hi Martin,
June is a great time to visit Iceland, especially the early part. There is 24 hour daylight, all the summer birds have arrived and they are in most cases easy to find. There is also plenty for non-birders to see. Drop me a line if you want any info on where to see this and that.

Edward
 
Edward

I would love to see the Northern Lights. When I helped ring Stormies on an isolated island of the North Scottish coast we had hoped to witness this spectacle. The previous years my companions had seen this event but for the two years I visited the island we didn't see it. From what I have seen of it on TV it does look spectacular. Oh well!! one day I might get to see it.
 
Now that's one of my dreams, the Aurora Borelais! My dad spent time as a seaman in the Arctic, not a poetic man by any means but when he described the Northern Lights.....
 
Hi All, just reading about your wishes to see the Aurora Borealis. Edward, we have had a few displays this month but usually pretty late (after midnight). Or perhaps I should say I have only seen a few. Did you catch the red displays on November 5/6 in 2001? Here is a site from a photographer who caught it on film. http://personal.inet.fi/koti/tom.eklund/aurora.html I saw it while we were sitting in the hottub. Instead of taking photos I got the telephone and spent the time calling everyone I could think of, even getting a few people out of bed! I wish for all of you to be able to experience the lights sometime in your lives. They are pretty amazing even though here we consider them commonplace.
 
Great photo Eve. I do remember seeing red and purple lights for the first time some time before Christmas, could have been early November. It really was impressive. We also get very regular displays but they're often obscured by clouds.
Edward
"North of 64"
 
To see the borealis is one of my great wishes! I'm far enough south, tho, that borealis displays are very unusual, although not unheard of. I have a vague memory of seeing some as a child, years and years ago.

Guess that's what I get for living 'down at 41'.
 
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