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For a rapid review of Iceland Birds click on
Iceland BirdS SLIDESHOW
For a rapid review of Iceland Landscape click on
Iceland Landscape SLIDESHOW
After our Linblad/National Geographic cruise up the fjords of Norway and around Svalbard in May-June 2015, we flew to Reykjavik for a birding trip. We had contacted http://www.iceland.eskimos.is and they set us up with an outstanding guide, Dui Landmark. Dui was born in Iceland and had attended film studies in France. Since then he had made many nature and other films including one on Snipe on Flatey Island. Thus, he was not only an expert on Iceland and birds but also on photography. In addition, he was a delightful person to be with. We could not have asked for better. This is Dui and me.
We were in Iceland for 6 days.
We explored Western Iceland consisting of Snaefellsnes Peninsula and the Breidafjordur area. In the Snaefellsnes Peninsula the first night was at the
1. Buoir Hotel, and the second night at the
2. Stykkishlmur Hotel in Stykkishlmur. The third night was spent at the
3. Flatey Hotel on the delightful island of Flatey. The fourth night was at the
4. Hotel Latrabjarg giving us access to the Puffins on the cliffs of Latrabjarg. We were supposed to stay here for two nights exploring the cliffs but because of rain and winds of up to 50 mph we moved on to
5. Hotel Laugar, part of the Hotel Edda chain. On the last night we returned to Reykjavik at the
6. Hotel Apotek.
The following map of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula shows the areas of interest shown in the photographs in the Iceland Landscape folder and Iceland Landscape slideshow.
These include Buoir the site of the Hotel Buoir, Arnarstapi, the Londranger cliffs and area (west of Buoir), the beautiful Snaefellsjokull (volcano), the Ondveroanes cliffs and area at the tip of the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and the town of Stykkisholmur, the northern most town on the Snaefellsnes Peninsula and jumping off place for the ferry to Flatey Island.
Flatey Island could vie for being the most delightful island in Iceland. In addition to the multicolored houses, churches and library, it was a birders paradise. Most of the birds in the Iceland Birds slideshow were or could have been photographed on Flatey Island. 1 is the ferry landing. 2 is the town center and location of Hotel Flatey, and 3 is the site of the cliffs, the location of Atlantic Puffins, Black Guillemots, Kittiwakes, Common Eiders, Snow Buntings and White Wagtails. The rest of the island is covered with tundra, the location of the Snipe, Redshanks, Red Phalaropes and Meadow Pipits.
Since Sunday was a sailors holiday Eskimo Iceland hired a fishing boat to take us to Brjanslaekur on the Breidafjordur Peninsula. Our destination was the Latrabjarg Cliffs (see red box) “Iceland’s largest seacliff 14 km long and 441 m (1,320 ft) in height.” This is where my beautiful Atlantic Puffin photos were taken. They were sufficiently tame to allow us to get within 10 feet of them.
We then took route 60 along the jagged south coast of the Breidafjordur Peninsula and on to Reykjavik. Dui showed us some ponds in Reykjavik with lots of ducks, especially the Common Eider and Tufted Duck.
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