May-June a week in Iceland (1 Viewer)

Hi

I am planning a one week trip to Iceland 26th of may - 3rd of June. I am travelling with my wife so it's not going to be a completely birding trip but we will have plenty of time to do birding also. The plan is to go to Myvatn for mostly birding and stay there for 2 days (look for Gyr, Harlequin, Barrow's). My target species would be:

-Gyr Falcon
-Harlequin Duck
-Barrow's Goldeneye
-Iceland Gull
-(Leach's Storm-Petrel?)

Do you think Myvatn is the best place to see these species? Is there some special areas in Myvatn that are the best? We will have a rental car and drive from Reykjavik. What would be the possibilities to see Iceland gull during this time of year? and where? I guess the only possibility to see Leach's Storm Petrel would be overnight in a offshore island, so that's maybe out of question?

Thanks!

-Finbirder

I spent a very enjoyable week in Iceland last year in the same week you are planning to go this year. The Myvatn area is superb, with some fantastic scenery that is packed with birds. Barrow's Goldeneye and Harlequin were both easy to find and very obliging. The area is also very good for Gyr Falcon, and while they are nowhere near as easy to find as the ducks, we did bump into a couple while we were in the area. We also saw a few Iceland Gulls in the south-west, near the airport, but I think you are right that Leach's Petrel is not a realistic possibility. On our trip we did cheat a bit in that we had a lot of help from BF member Edward, who is a co-author of this useful webpage. I'm sure he'll be along soon with more information on Icelandic birding.

Thanks very much Stuart!

Hi Finbirder

Stuart has already answered your questions but basically Mývatn is a perfect place to spend time with your non-birding wife as there are plenty of other things to see and do in the area, all the birds are easy to see and there is 24-hour daylight so you can bird around the clock if you have the energy!
Mývatn is certainly the best place to see Barrow's Goldeneye in Iceland and they are unmissable there. The best places for close views is often where Road No. 1 runs parallel to the river Laxá (by the farm Laxárbakki,for example) and also where the rioad crosses the river.
Harlequin Duck can be seen at many locations right across Iceland but the upper reaches of the Laxá have a particularly dense population. Just park by the bridge (Road no.1) over the river and have a look in either direction. Stuart got quite a few pictures of Harlequins there last spring. Another unmissable species in Iceland in May.
NE Iceland is THE place to look for Gyr Falcon and there are several pairs in the Mývatn area. A certain amount of luck is required but I have always seen Gyrs at Mývatn on every visit I've made there. Another hotspot for Gyr Falcon is the Melrakkaslétta peninsula in the far NE, which is about two hours from Húsavík, especially the area between Kópasker and Raufarhöfn. This is one of the best birding areas in Iceland but is rarely visited by birders - it's remote, desolate and wild but is great for birding. Highly recommended and possible to do on a day trip from Húsavík/Mývatn. You can also see Brunnich's Guillemot at the colony at Rauðinúpur at the far north of the peninsula and I found a drake King Eider here in June 2010.
Iceland Gulls, which are present in their thousands in winter, disappear almost completely in summer but a few birds do remain. As Stuart said, you can sometimes see them in places like Garður and Sandgerði in summer, and I've also seen them on the Snæfellsnes peninsula, Blönduós, in the Húsavík area, so you just have to keep your eyes open.
Leach's Petrel is the most difficult Icelandic breeding species to see and usually a stay on one of the outlying islands of the Vestmannaeyjar is necessary, and while this is wonderful it's difficult logistically. They are sometimes seen from the Vestmanneyjar ferry in the evening but never when I've been on it!

You could look at the map of sightings on eBird
http://ebird.org/ebird/GuideMe?repo...cations=countries&continue.x=35&continue.y=13
Just click on "Map" to the right of the species name. It should give you some idea of where species can be found but the data are far from complete and there is a considerable observer bias for Reykjavík and Húsavík, where the most active e-birders live.

E

Thanks so much for your informative reply Edward. It seems that Myvatn is definately the place to go for us. Do you think it would take something like 6h to drive there from Reykjavik? Any interesting spots to stop on the way?

Since Edward has mentioned my photos, here they are: https://picasaweb.google.com/sardine17/Iceland2011Wildlife

If you're in the area I'd recommend taking a whale-watching trip out of Húsavík. I didn't quite see all I wanted to see, but we did have excellent, prolonged views of Humpback Whales and more distant/briefer views of Minke Whale & White-beaked Dolphin.

Great photos Stuart! A seawatching trip sounds good too. Can't wait to go :t:

Finbirder said:

Thanks so much for your informative reply Edward. It seems that Myvatn is definately the place to go for us. Do you think it would take something like 6h to drive there from Reykjavik? Any interesting spots to stop on the way?

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Yes, 6 hours is about right for Reykjavík-Mývatn. As for places to stop then there are birds pretty much everywhere along Road No. 1 at that time of year. You could try checking out the river mouth at Blönduós for Iceland Gulls and keep your eyes open for breeding Pink-footed Geese on islands in the wide river by the road a few km south of Varmahlíð. Otherwise you'll find plenty of places to stop. Húsavík is generally a good place for Blue Whale, although Stuart was unlucky on his trip.

Was just checking the data on eBird for Iceland Gull last summer and there were up to 28 birds present in the harbour in Húsavík at the end of May/beginning of June.

Thanks for the information again! I will have a look of the sightings from the database before we go, maybe some birds will stay local for a couple of days in the same area. Blönduós sounds like a good place to stop on the way, maybe have a lunch there and have a look of the rivermouth for possible Iceland Gulls. I will post information about the interesting birds seen after the trip!

Cheers!
-Finbirder

Cheers from Myvatn!trip has been a success so far and I have seen all my 4 target species. Blöndyos produced 20 harlequins (only ones so far) and Iceland gulls 2.also 1at Akureyri and Husavik. Barrows goldeneye is numerous here in Myvatn. One gyr falcon seen from a whale watching trip near Husavik. The views and weather has been excellent.

Finbirder said:

Cheers from Myvatn!trip has been a success so far and I have seen all my 4 target species. Blöndyos produced 20 harlequins (only ones so far) and Iceland gulls 2.also 1at Akureyri and Husavik. Barrows goldeneye is numerous here in Myvatn. One gyr falcon seen from a whale watching trip near Husavik. The views and weather has been excellent.

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Good to hear that you are having a good time and you are lucky with the weather. If you want to see more Harlequins then there are always lots of them on the upper reaches of the river Laxá at Mývatn (where the bridge crosses the road). In fact you should find Harlequins on pretty much any clear, fast-flowing river if you look for them.

E

I did find quite a lot more Harlequins, thanks a lot for your help guys.

During the week we had 67 species including 4 lifers (not bad for a "non-birding trip") A lot of beautiful views, and sunshine almost every day. Iceland was really nice place which I hopefully will visit again.

Blonduos was a great and we did it twice both ways on the way to Myvatn, Glaucous- and Iceland gulls, Harlequins, Common Loon etc. In Myvatn lots of Harlequins, Barrow's Goldeneyes, islandica Godwits, on the way also Pink-footed geese and Ptarmigan.

In Husavik the whale watching was a success, Minke whale and harbour porpoise seen, among Gyr Falcon, Great skua, both Guillemot species and lots of Puffins. On second of June we tried to look for the Lesser Scaup at Vifilstadavatn, but saw only 4 drake Greaters. Before leaving Keflavik we had looks from Gardour, the cape nearby, Purple sandpipers, Sanderlings were numerous, also Manx shearwaters was seen.

I've put some photos to http://birdphotos.1g.fi/kuvat/
There's more pics under the folders and still some more to come after a little bit of editing.

-Finbirder

Glad you had such a good trip. You have quite a few birds there that I still haven't seen on my year list (I'm a very lazy year lister these days). I particularly like the photo of the Harlequin and the Barrow's Goldeneye together. Shame you missed the Lesser Scaup as it was seen there on 2 June (and again yesterday).

E

We did quite a lot driving, 1700 km and tried to see everything possible in one week just to make sure it was a greater scaup I saw, I attached one scaup picture from Vifilstadavatn if you could have a look? I am not very familiar with all the differences between lesser and greater scaups because I've never seen a lesser.

-Finbirder

Finbirder said:

We did quite a lot driving, 1700 km and tried to see everything possible in one week just to make sure it was a greater scaup I saw, I attached one scaup picture from Vifilstadavatn if you could have a look? I am not very familiar with all the differences between lesser and greater scaups because I've never seen a lesser.

-Finbirder

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Yes, that's a Greater Scaup. Here's the Lesser Scaup from Vífilsstaðavatn
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sindri_skulason/7328583060/in/photostream
Note the different head shape and coarser patterning on the back.

1,700 km isn't too bad in one week. I did 3,400 km on snow-covered roads in a week in Sweden last year chasing down all the owls! I needed a holiday when I came home

E

Edward said:

Yes, that's a Greater Scaup. Here's the Lesser Scaup from Vífilsstaðavatn
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sindri_skulason/7328583060/in/photostream
Note the different head shape and coarser patterning on the back.

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That's a good photo. I didn't see that one, the head shape looks quite different. Well, I guess you have to leave some species for the next trip too