As noted in Icelandic Puffin Post #1, Molly and I are having a great time in northern Iceland with these great little fishing birds which come ashore each summer to form breeding colonies in remote locations and ensure the next generation of puffins are born. (see post #1 with information about the unique, but remote Iceland mainland puffin colony … Hafnarhólmi)
When the puffins are only a few feet away from a person, and the access boardwalk snakes its way through the colony, unique photographs and perspectives are possible. In this 2nd post my photography focus is upon “Atlantic Puffin Close-Ups” and “Puffin Flocks”. Enjoy!
Flocks of Puffins (by arriving very early in the morning the parent birds were enjoying the morning sun before heading out to sea to catch breakfast). While the 3rd and 4th image may seem similar … one flying puffin photobombs the picture!
This will be the first of a number of posts documenting Molly and my visit with the puffins. While Hafnarhólmi (Google Maps Link) is very remote in the far north of Iceland, this location is reached via road (not boat) and then hiking a boardwalk out onto the headland. At times the Atlantic Puffins were only a few feet away from us. I suspect this “puffin viewing experience” is one of the best in the world, but it is “far from the maddening crowd”. We arrived by 7:50 am in the morning after a one hour drive from our AirBnB. Arriving early was good for three reasons:
The number of birders at Hafnarhólmi was very limited at 7:50 am in the morning.
The light / sun is best showing in terms of angle relative to the puffin colony and boardwalk early in the morning
Puffins, like most birds, are most active in the morning
Documenting how close I was to the puffins, every image in this post was taken with my phone!!! The subsequent puffin posts will have my Sony A6300 images. This is one more indication of how phenomenal was the viewing experience.
View from our AirBnB of the Puffin’s Mountain Range. We had to drive through these mountains to reach the ocean … one hour distant. We reached the lower snow fields during our drive “up and over”. (first image by me … second by Molly). However the road was surprising good.
Here are a few of Molly’s iPhone photos and her introductory description of our puffin expedition. (see her full blog post on Superior FootPrints).
Today is the day Rich has been waiting for all year! He turned 70 this spring, and we each get to plan a trip of our choice on our decade birthdays. We are in Iceland for a week, traveling the Ring Road and taking in all its beauty. But the whole reason for coming is to see puffins. His ultimate destination was the Hafnarholmi preserve, home of the nesting grounds for thousands of Atlantic puffins every summer.
The drive to get there took us up and over mountain ridges with vistas of green hillsides flanked by lava peaks pocked with snow, twisting and winding around switchbacks and ultimately reaching the sea. That only added to the magic as we anticipated our destination.
The area has long been home to nesting puffins, and thanks to local farmers who donated their land to BirdLife Iceland, a safe viewing area has been constructed to watch these wonderful birds. We got there early in the morning, some of the first to arrive. The preserve is on a peninsula beyond the harbor, where wooden stairs and boardwalks enable visitors to get up close to the puffins.
View from the Parking Lot when we arrived. The weather could not have been more amazingly good for northern Iceland! We will walk out onto the headland via the boardwalk.
The Boardwalk!
And now on to the stars of the shows … the Atlantic Puffins of Hafnarhólmi (Google Maps Link). Please note this location is an extremely long drive north of Reykjavik … perhaps 10 hours to the puffin spot. However, the northern part of Iceland tends to be dryer than the south near Reykjavik. It is possible to take a short flight to Egilsstaðir Airport via Iceland Air. One could then rent a car and enjoy the north which is not as crowded as the southern tourist locations.
Once again … these images were taken with only my mobile phone. I will post my photographs taken with my Sony A6300 in subsequent posts. MAKE CERTAIN YOU WATCH THE VIDEO. It is an amazing show! (video link for blog email subscribers)
Icelandic Puffin Power (Cliff Diving?!)
As noted previously, I will be posting much better images of these puffins in my subsequent posts, but I need time to process those photographs off my Sony camera. I will link those posts at this location. These two images are from my Google Pixel 10.
Back in March I turned 70 years young, and for such a significant birthday Molly and I have a rule that the birthday person selects a “birthday trip”. I chose driving the Icelandic Ring Road. We are taking 8 nights (9 days) to circumnavigate Iceland. While most tours move a person every night and shorter distances, I chose planning my own journey. We have just three overnight locations … AirBnB cabins out in rural Iceland.
Yesterday we arrived in Reykyavik at 6:00 am local, and after passing through customs and picking up our rental car, drove to the small town of Hvammstangi. Our small cottage is perched right out over Midfjordur (long inlet off the sea). We are enjoying the area for two days and nights while we adjust to the time change. Right from our deck the birder in me is in 7th Heaven … sea ducks and shorebirds! I would heartily recommend our AirBnB! My impression is the listing’s photographs “do not” do the rental justice!
Leading off is the Eurasian Oystercatcher … photographed right from my rental’s deck. Blog posts may be infrequent as I need time to enjoy Iceland, its majestic land and the birds. I am already way behind on processing photographs after only one day. Finally, at this time of year the sun sets for only 10 minutes each night!
