Birding in Iceland – enjoy special birds

Iceland is a Mecca for birding.
Birdwatchers come from far away countries to enjoy the special birds of Iceland and the impressive landscape. You don’t need to leave the capital of Iceland Reykjavik to experience some interesting birds. The lake in the city, Tjörnin, is a good starting point for birding. In Tjörnin you will [...]

Iceland is a Mecca for birding.

Birdwatchers come from far away countries to enjoy the special birds of Iceland and the impressive landscape. You don’t need to leave the capital of Iceland Reykjavik to experience some interesting birds. The lake in the city, Tjörnin, is a good starting point for birding. In Tjörnin you will find a number of bird species you might not be used to observe in your own country.

For me, I have always enjoyed observing the yellow billed swan the Whooper Swan (Cygnus Cygnus) very close at this city lake. The lake holds plenty of whooper swans and you can easily observe their courtship behaviour and other aspects of their behaviour at the springtime.

When I visited Iceland last time in early spring (3.-7. April) the Tjörnin lake was full of wildfowls: swans, ducks, cormorants and gulls, all to be seen easily. I have during earlier visits enjoyed seeing the Icelandic speciality (a speciality from an European perspective) the diving duck Barro’s Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica) but I wasn’t lucky to see it this time.

You are well helped to go to different birding localities if you buy the ‘Birdwatchers’s Map’, ‘Fuglakort’. This Birdwatchers’s Map’ is an overview of the birds of Iceland and includes some oversight maps of the best bird localities. The price of this birding in Island map was 1.290 Icelandic kroner.

I also bought the very detailed topographic map of Iceland ‘Naturturufarskort’, called ‘Gródurkort 1:500.000 that is also a vegetation map and therefore very useful for bird tours, too. The price of this Island map was 1.290 Icelandic kroner, too.

Birding in Iceland is really rewarding and I will post more about where to go bird watching near Reykjavik in future posts at IslandVacationTips.com .

You can buy these Icelandic maps at the rather large bookshop in the centre of Reykjavik.

Here, I also bought:

Icelandic Birds Guide of J´0hann Óli Hilmarsson with color photos of the Icelandic birds. Price 3.990 Icelandic kroner.
And
Birdwatching, in the series of books Iceland Nature Guides. By Helgi Gudmundsson and Jón Baldur Hlidberg. A fine little book, called a concise guide to the areas of Iceland of interest to the birdwatchers with brief descriptions of all Icelandic breeding birds. Price just 460 Icelandic kroner.

PS

Remember the Icelandic currency is very cheap at the moment – take advantage of it going to Iceland this spring and summer.