Iceland

Traveling to iceland was my plan for a long time. in 2022 I finally managed to be there for 15 days from the end of may to beginning of june. I knew at that time there is no chance to see aurora borealis but loads of birds. most of the birds are already back from their wintering grounds like common snipes, redshanks, Black-tailed godwits and red-necked phalaropes. this means bird bonanza, or in other words, they are all displaying and trying to find partners to mate with.

Let's not be delusional, iceland is a great country. but this country is even more amazing when you're at the scenic places and the more touristy places when it's evening in great light. it feels you basically have this island just for yourself. In the end of May the sun doesn't really set anymore and even at 3 in the morning it's not dark.

This means: Great light from 9 in the evening to 4 in the morning.

We basically changed our daily rhythm from staying up very late and sleeping long, because during the day we're not missing anything. Nature is so well adapted to the light nights so even the birds are not really sleeping at that time, but calming down a bit.

We started our tour from the airport Keflavik via reyjkavik to the peninsula Snæfellsnes. We spent 2 nights in this area after we continue to the Westfjords for 3 nights. The next stop was north of Akureyri for 4 nights with many trips to lake Myvatn and scouting around this area to find the mysterious gyrfalcon. Egilsstadir was our stop for 1 night for continuing south towards Höfn. After 2 nights in höfn we continued towards Vik for 1 night to finish our trip in Keflavik.

Just a few numbers

kilometers driven: ca. 4000
pictures taken: ca. 20000
hours in the car: approx. 50
bird species we've seen/heard: 64
common snipes we've seen/heard: approx. 1000
money spent: too much
unforgettable memories: ∞