I expected that I would have a fairly easy time gathering a decent-sized selection of new bird species observations during my visit to the island nation of Iceland, and that indeed turned out to be the case. However, being a mid-oceanic island in the Arctic region, the list of resident birds found there is not especially large. As a place that was totally covered by ice as recently as 5,000 years ago, there has not yet been enough time for evolution to produce any species endemic to the island, and so today the majority of birds found there are either marine birds, or shorebirds, which are found throughout much of the northern polar region, and a handful of Eurasian terrestrial species that have found their way there in the relatively recent past. By looking at various checklists, I expected that I should be able to see up to twenty-five new species, given the amount of time, and the specific locations, that I had scheduled. As it turned out, I saw most of those, with only a few disappointing misses, some of which I could have opportunities to see elsewhere.

In my experience with birds on islands, it often is the case that that there are a number of common species that, due to a relative lack of competition from other species, exist in generally large numbers, making them fairly easy to see. Additionally, it is my policy, when visiting a new part of the World for the first time, to go out right away and observe all of the common species, especially those that like to live in towns and cities, or other human places, and get them out of the way, so they won’t distract from more interesting pursuits later on. That is what I did during Day One in Iceland, by taking a walk through whatever green areas I could find in Reykjavik, on an otherwise gray, damp day. The first new bird in the country was Eurasian Oystercatcher, always a fun family to see, which I actually first observed on the ride in from the airport.

I short order, I found Black-Headed Gull, the only one of Iceland’s seven-to-ten Gulls that was new to me…

…and then Redwing, the common Thrush of the area…

…with White Wagtail coming along after that…

…and Greylag Goose on a popular pond in the city…

…and, though it was not very common in the country, I was glad to see Tufted Duck. They occasionally turn up mixed in with flocks of similar ducks in the western USA, but I had never seen one before that day, so I felt satisfied.

Once the cycling began, several more species were easily seen from the roadways during the next few days, starting with Common Redshank, which were so Common and conspicuous, that I almost tired of seeing them…

…and the default Little Brown Job of Iceland, Meadow Pipit, also so common that they were essentially ignored before long…

…and next were Common Ringed Plover…

…and Black-Tailed Godwit, which nicely closed out that genus on my List…

…followed by lovely Whooper Swan. I struggled to see both North American swans in recent years, but this species was observed many times throughout Iceland.

On the way to the Latrabjarg Cliffs, I found my first Northern Wheatear, a species I would frequently see again later on.

The rest of the birds of the Cliffs will be described in a separate post. At that point I effectively hit a wall with respect to new sightings, after claiming most of the common species in the first few days of the section. From then on, I basically tried for better photos of some species, and kept an eye out for anything more unusual. Nothing really unusual turned up, however, but I was pleased, if a little unsatisfied, with the last new bird I saw during this section. One morning, on the Island of Heimaey, I flushed a bird from the ground near the road as I rode along. My first thought was Gyrfalcon, but the sighting was very brief. I did get a strong impression of the birds tail, which was fan-shaped and splotchy white and black. By the time I could come to a stop and turn to look, the bird was already a good distance away, and I could only get one unzoomed photo. However, it was circling in just the way a falcon would, and, since there are few other birds it could have been, I feel confident that it was indeed the national bird of Iceland.

To close out this section, I add one more species that was not precisely a new bird, since I had recently seen examples in Newfoundland, but is included because I finally was able to get a photo of one, namely, Northern Gannet, and it has the added bonus of having the island of Surtsey in the background.