Lying far out into the North Atlantic Ocean, the volcanic island of Iceland is the land between two continents; a land of fire and ice with its Viking heritage. While Iceland doesn’t have a long list of breeding birds, those that do occur are in many cases abundant, with globally important populations of waders, wildfowl and seabirds. In fact, its towering cliffs are among the largest seabird colonies on the planet, with five species of breeding auk, including Thick-billed Murre (Brünnich’s Guillemot), while the numerous lakes and wetlands are teeming with an array of divers, ducks and waders, such as Harlequin Duck, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Red‐necked Phalarope and Purple Sandpiper. Top of many people’s wish list is the world’s mightiest falcon, Gyr Falcon, and Iceland has a healthy population of this supreme predator. As a backdrop to all this there is also the country itself, with its volcanoes, lava fields, glaciers, spouting geysers, mud pools, dramatic coasts and black sand beaches making for spectacular and other-worldly scenery at every turn!
Thick-billed Murre (Brünnich’s Guillemot), Harlequin & Long-tailed Duck, Barrow’s Goldeneye, Red‐necked & Grey Phalarope, Purple Sandpiper, Gyr Falcon, Great Norther Diver, Whooper Swan, Snow Bunting, Razorbill, Black-legged Kittiwake, Glaucous & Iceland Gull, Rock Ptarmigan, Pink-footed Goose, European Golden Plover, Red-breasted Merganser, Horned (Slavonian) Grebe and Short-eared Owl.
White‐beaked Dolphin, Minke, Killer, Humpback or even Blue Whale, Arctic Fox
tundra, coast, pelagic, lagoons, wetlands, lakes, volcanic landscapes, rivers
day time temperatures average between 16 - 20ºC, while coastal wind and evenings are cooler
8 with 1 Rockjumper leader
relaxed, with some long days (due to Iceland's latitude and the time of year, daylight is almost 24hrs a day)
comfortable
easy
Lake Myvatn, Godafoss Waterfall, Hvitá River, Gullfoss - the ‘Golden Waterfall’, Great Geysir and Strokkur Geysir, Þingvellir (Thingvellir) National Park, Reykjanes Peninsula
good to excellent
Tour Leader: Paul Varney