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Operation Harlequin, plus 3,000 Iceland Gulls (1 Viewer)

Edward

Umimmak
Iceland
I spent last weekend birding with visiting British birder Steve Lister, who was on his first trip to Iceland. He was most keen on seeing Icelandic specialities such as Harlequin Duck, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Gyr Falcon and Brünnich’s Guillemot, as well as getting good views of winter plumage Ptarmigan. Steve very much stole my thunder by finding all four of his main targets before he even met me (the ingrate ;-), his Brünnich’s Guillemot a truly excellent find in winter in Reykjavík. After surviving three days of “interesting” Icelandic weather on his own (interesting means wind chill as he’s never experienced before, winds literally well in excess of hurricane force on the south coast, and pretty unpleasant in Reykjavik, with sleet as well) I met up with Steve for an evening’s birding on Friday, where we relocated a wintering drake Ring-necked Duck and finally after a bit of driving around saw a superb male Ptarmigan, snow white despite the fact that there hasn’t been any snow to speak of for several weeks – very easy pickings for its arch enemy the Gyr Falcon.

Saturday was mild but with a strong south-easterly making conditions difficult early on. The main aim of the day was to get good views of Harlequin Duck, as Steve had only had fairly distant views of one on Friday. Stopping at a site just north of Reykjavik, a dead certain Harlequin wintering site, we quickly saw eight birds together, and a further three flying past. Steve braved the elements by actually getting out of the car, and was immediately assaulted by the wind. As an experienced Icelandic birder I stayed put in the car. I also was confident we’d get better views later.

After missing out at a Harlequin breeding site (a bit early but some do return up the rivers in March) we stopped by the shores of lake Þingvallavatn where a pair of ducks close to the shore proved to be Barrow’s Goldeneye and we were able to enjoy scope filling views of this very attractive duck.

We then followed the river Sog south, and we approached a big bend in the river. I told Steve that this is a cast iron Barrow’s Goldeneye wintering site and a cast iron Harlequin spring and summer site. We quickly saw two birds together, and wouldn’t you know it, one was a drake Barrow’s Goldeneye, the other a drake Harlequin. Barrow’s are often very wary and it swam off with the current but the Harlequin wasn’t in the least perturbed and swam to the bank and began to preen in full view, allowing us to admire its bizarre plumage, a mixture of ashy grey-blue, chestnut red, and truly shocking white stripes and spots, surely one of the world’s most attractive ducks.

After Steve rattled off a series of photos I decided that it was time to boost Steve’s Icelandic passerine list, and stopping at a birder’s house in the town of Selfoss we saw “Icelandic” Redpoll and an overwintering Fieldfare in his garden. Next stop was the coast and after a few short stops we arrived at the port of Þorlákshöfn. If you want to get some practice in comparing Iceland Gulls and Glaucous Gulls then Iceland is easily the best place in Europe to do so, as we have literally thousands of each. Adult Glaucous Gulls have mostly returned to breeding grounds in west and north-west Iceland but there are still plenty around, of all ages, and huge numbers of Glaucous x Herring hybrids and plenty of Kumlien’s Gulls. As for Iceland Gulls then we made a conservative estimate that we saw about 3,000 at the weekend, and there were many hundreds in the harbour at Þorlákshöfn. When we arrived Steve got out to look at the 2,000 strong Common Eider flock in the harbour whilst I got on the phone to my friend to find out the United v Fulham score (Cristiano Ronaldo you beauty!!). Steve was quickly back at the car, beaming, as he’d just found a superb adult drake King Eider. We had great views of it and then I noticed that there was another one with it, two Kings holding court. Although a regular winter bird, it’s always a thrill to pick one out. Steve had now seen three in his trip as he’d found a first-winter drake in Reykjavík on his first day.

We spent the next hour or so admiring the ducks and looking through the masses of Iceland Gulls, Glaucous Gulls, Kumlien’s Gulls, and a further six gull species in the harbour. Eventually it was time to head back but not before we’d seen a White-tailed Eagle fly low over the road, and an adult Gyr Falcon patrol the cliff tops (which I missed as I was having a chinwag with a local farmer about something or other).

The next day we went out on the peninsula towards the airport with reinforcements (Franco-Icelandic birder Yann Kolbeinsson). It was more of the same, but we found another drake King Eider in Grindavík, saw plenty more Harlequins at a wintering site 10 minutes drive from the international airport (yes, it’s that easy to see Harlequins in winter in Iceland), saw old faithful (the Black Duck), my first Little Gull of the year, a drake American Wigeon, masses of Iceland Gulls, four Merlins including one eating a Purple Sandpiper, 25 Ptarmigan two minutes from the airport and at last Steve’s first Redwing in Iceland!!

Some weekend highlights from the Reykjavik area
Red-throated Diver – dozens
Great Northern Diver – 1
American Black Duck
American Wigeon
Ring-necked Duck
Common Eider – thousands
King Eider – 3 drakes
Long-tailed Duck – common
Harlequin Duck – 30-40
Barrow’s Goldeneye – c. 15
White-tailed Eagle – 1
Gyr Falcon – 1
Merlin – 6
Ptarmigan – 40+
Glaucous Gull – hundreds
Iceland Gull – thousands (1,100 in Reykjavik harbour alone on Friday)
“Kumlien’s Gull” – dozens

We don’t have as many species as most places but there are some good ‘uns to be seen here. Your trip list won’t get cluttered up by Blue Tits and Magpies!
Photos of some of the birds we saw can be seen here
http://www.hi.is/~yannk/photos05.html

E
 
Nice report Edward (aside from certain footballing references) and glad to hear Steve did so well. I shall have to find my way up there myself one of these days.
 
Great report Edward and some no bad birds there at all! I would settle for a drake Harlequin and perhaps a barrow's goldeneye when I'm up north next week!
 
Brilliant report Edward and what a trip for Steve. I will have to think seriously about doing a trip to Iceland.

I will have to e-mail you for the details.
 
Another enjoyable Iceland report, Edward.

Are the Barrow's Goldeneye and the Brünnich’s Guillemot there all year round, or have they gone by the spring? [you can guess why I'm asking!].
 
Great report Edward - I'm certainly tempted to visit. But it would have to be Summer - the Mrs. would never put up with such weather!
 
Thanks for the replies. There were 14 snow white Ptarmigans in the dark brown field near the airport today - not very bright with Gyr Falcons patrolling. Slavonian Grebes back at breeding lake today too. Shame you missed that white morph Gyr taking that drake Spectacled Eider in Reykjavik harbour the day you left, Steve. Or did I dream that?

For those interested in coming then the best time to visit Iceland for birding purposes is mid-late May and throughout June (yep, Chris best listen to your Mrs in that respect), as all migrants are in and very conspicuous - for example you'll never be out of earshot of Whimbrel or Snipe in the countryside. There's also 24 hour-daylight and your chances of experiencing winds of 41 metres a second are considerably reduced! Feb-March is best for Iceland v Glaucous Gull practice.

You won't exactly get a trip list matching a trip to Ecuador or Kenya, perhaps 70+ in spring but those birds we do have are in many cases extremely common e.g. 300,000 pairs of Golden Plover, 200,000 of Whimbrel, 3,000,000 of Puffin, 40,000 of Red-necked Phalarope etc.

Answering Alan's question then you shouldn't expect to see Brünnich's Guillemot in winter but there are 600,000 pairs between May and July so it's easy to find then. Barrow's Goldeneye is very easy at Mývatn, but there are usually a few birds near Reykjavík in summer (except last summer). Harlequin are widespread and probably the easiest of the "specialities" to find.

Jules, I'm also expecting Andalusian Hemipode when we meet at yours in May. Get searching!

E
 
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