Puffins in Iceland

[nanila]

It has long been a dream of mine to see puffins in the flesh, so our Iceland trip included a puffin-watching jaunt in Reykjavik harbour. The puffins had given up on breeding on the islands in the harbour & were headed back out to sea, so we only got to see them on the water. They were pretty tough to photograph, being skittish and also quite small. Their take-off from water is less than graceful as it involves a lot of frantic flapping and their flying silhouette is rather chunky. But they were adorable to watch.

Comments

[meloukhia]

Puffins! Oh, I'm so jealous. That must have been amazing in person.

[nanila]

It was fantastic. I recommend it, if you ever get a chance to see them. They nest pretty reliably in the same sites, so as long as you go to the right places during their breeding season, you should see lots.

[holyschist]

Oooh, you got more puffin sightings than I did! I showed up late enough that they were pretty far out. :-( I think one has to go in the middle of summer to properly see them on land.

[nanila]

The tour guides told us that the puffins were leaving about a month early because they'd had such a bad breeding season. Normally they stick around until the last week in August, not the first!

[holyschist]

Dang! It wasn't the best breeding season when I went, either. :-/ I hope this isn't a consistent pattern.

[nanila]

I hope not too. The tour guide said that puffin breeding is always linked to fish availability, and the sprats that make up a big part of their diet were not abundant this year.

[foxfinial]

I didn't see puffins, but I did eat one! I'm... not sure this is the same achievement.

[nanila]

Ahaha, one of the women on the puffin-watching tour kept banging on about how delicious puffin is. Some of the other passengers were not so impressed.

I would have liked to try it, but we never really made an effort to find it on this trip. I'm sure the bloke & I will be more adventurous when we return on our own for the month-long bus/camping trip. :)

[foxfinial]

They're odd! The flavour is a mix of rich gamey bird and fish-taste, because of their diet. I found it in an Icelandic tapas restaurant in Reykjavik.

[sfred]

Wow! Well photographed!

[nanila]

Aw, thank you. I was wishing very hard for a longer telephoto lens, I must admit. They were just a leetle beyond the reach of my 28-135 mm, hence no close-ups.

[lark_ascends]

Cool!

[nanila]

It was delightful. I want to return to Iceland and go to Heimaey Island, which has the biggest puffin colony - up to 10 million!