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Birding Iceland on the Fly

10,000 Birds

We boarded the 8:40 pm red-eye from JFK to Reykjavik on May 28; the intention was to sleep on the plane but with the excitement of travel and possibilities swirling around my head I didn’t sleep a wink (*tip – Iceland Air offers free stopovers for up to seven days as you travel from the US to Europe!

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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. Even when the feet, the characteristic physical difference, are not visible, it is probably safe to assume. The Common Ringed Plover’s two-toned call is lower and less sophisticated than the Semi-palmated’s.

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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. One assumes Iceland, but there’s no proof. Black-tailed Godwits on the move.

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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 states that populations of Whooper Swans grow 30 times faster inside nature reserves than outside.

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What is a Kumlien’s Gull?

10,000 Birds

Most birders, including the American Ornithologists’ Union, accept Kumlien’s Gull as a subspecies of Iceland Gull. Still others say that Thayer’s Gull , Iceland Gull , and Kumlien’s Gull are all a single species and we all are kidding ourselves by pretending otherwise. What the heck is going on here?

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My Year so Far – Modest but Satisfactory

10,000 Birds

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. A lone Whooper Swan on a grey January day in Norfolk As for the ducks – I’m now up to 15 species.

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