Photographing Nature of Iceland, July 09

---

The Nature of Iceland; Field Notes from the journal of guide Donald Lyon, July 1-15, 2009

Day 1--Arrivals in Iceland: Fair weather in Reykjavik--close to shirt sleeves as Bob Ehrhart and Dolores Frank of the Sacramento region finally cleared customs but where is Chris Kibre of San Francisco? Your humble correspondent (YHC) Donald Lyon of Brownsville, Oregon couldn't get any news from the airline but via the grapevine we learn that weather conditions delayed flights landing at JFK. We hoped she would arrive the next day and contact either the hotel in Reykjavik or our guesthouse in Stykkisholmur where we would stay two nights. After sending e-mails and leaving notes for the local hotel to give her if she called or arrived, we made a quick tour of Reykjavik, including the Viking ship sculpture on the fjord. By 10 am we were driving north enjoying the lush green scenery, every shade of green and the lupine slowly, beautifully taking over the country. Out to the former fishing village of Akranes, then on to the small church and grave yard at Borg-- photogenic after our lunch of sandwiches in Borganes. Lovely brown Icelandic horses posed nicely too. We are staying at the Hostel in Stykkisholmur--very cosy and well located above the harbor. Manager Sara is very helpful about our missing person situation--as were so many people we met in Iceland--where people seem ready to help put things right. Tired after the flight and drive Bob and Dolores relaxed in the guesthouse while YHC purchased groceries and prepared dinner--pasta with meatballs and salad. The other guests were mainly from Holland and Scandinavian countries--Norwegians and Danes have the closest ethnic and cultural ties with Iceland--settled by Norwegians in the 10th century who left home rather than submit to the Norwegian king, stopped off in Ireland to plunder, take some slaves. Denmark finally took political and economic control of the island and exploited the resources and people until WWI. Iceland became independent of Denmark in 1944. At 9pm we are out photographing at the harbor and on the columnar basaltic cliffs that protect the harbor. It is hard to describe the clarity and beauty of the light as well as the freshness of the air. Numerous low-lying islands off shore have been sheared off flat by glacial action--ice and fire are the parents of Iceland. It is hard to return to our family room at the hostel at 10pm when the light is so beautiful but our bodies demand it.



Day 2 Around the Snaefellsnes Peninsula: Up at 5:30 AM to shower and breakfast before the rush. Skyrr--the Icelandic yogurt was on the menu as well as toast, eggs,






and juice from the local Bonus store. A bit overcast but perfect for the lava rock formations and any scene without sky. The plan was to call the hotels in Reykjavik and Stykkisholmur periodically to see if Chris had contacted them but, no public phones were available in working order as everybody has a cell phone. Weird formations of lava covered in thick moss made for interesting scenes—easy to see why the Icelandic people have all sorts of demonic little people in their stories who generally live in places like these. The cliff tops are lost in swirling fog today. At our feet are myriads of interesting plants many adapt to the wind by clinging to the ground. Arctic buttercups wave bravely. Other pink and white flowers are familiar to alpine hikers in Europe and North America, though here they grow at 100 feet elevation. Approaching the old church of Brimilsvellir, Arctic terns hover overhead and dive bomb us if we even think of approaching their nests. Whimbrels (with downturned bills) fly overhead and are ill-treated by the terns same as us. Lush lupine has invaded this heath and reduced the complex ecosystem to a monoculture—though still beautiful. We bypass some sites to reach the community of Arnarstapi, past the lava fields and tempting rocky roads leading up into the volcano featured in Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth. Our goal was the bird rookeries located in the basaltic rock formations and almost sheer cliffs. The molten rock formed into columns both straight and twisted (columnar basalt) as it cooled. The waves (and perhaps freezing water) shaped a spectacular arch. The nesting birds are almost all Kittiwake gulls. We picnicked here in the van due to occasional fine rain. Finally we learned from Sara at the Guest House that Chris would arrive in town on the 4pm bus so we organize the day so we can return to meet her. Hurrying along, we make occasional stops for green meadows dotted with buttercups and the immense fells or glacial rounded ridges dwarfing the occasional farmstead. Back in town we learn that it was the 8pm bus that Chris would be on but Bob and Dolores were still dealing with jet-lag so happy to rest. We napped, ate dinner of salad and pasta cooked in dehydrated minestrone—to become a CUE classic. Now we had Chris but not her luggage. Luckily she has her camera gear with her—from 9 to 10 PM we catch the last light in the small harbor by the soaring steeple of the modern church that dominates the town. Beached fishing boats and rocky islets reminiscent of Peggy’s Cove in Nova Scotia.

Day 3 Stykkisholmur to Latrabjarg: A beautiful day for a sea voyage. It is now 9:30 aboard the ferry. Cars and trucks are positioned for maximum yield. The rumor is that Chris’ luggage will arrive at the airport today. YHC directs it to our Day 5 location, as Latrabjarg is too remote. Stykkisholmur’s harbor mouth has many islets for the captain to navigate. Halfway across the fjord a flat topped island known as Flatey is our only stop. We lose the birders who will scour the cliffs with their spotting scopes. We have been watching Puffins swimming and diving and wish them well with their efforts as reports are that few are breeding due to warmer waters reducing the numbers of small fish they depend upon. By 11:30 we are steaming into Brjanslaefjordkur, a small port on the south coast of the West Fjords. We drive up to the chapel and graveyard on the bluff for pictures and picnic—nice combo. Salami and Gouda cheese sandwiches stave off immediate starvation. No groceries available in this neck of the land. The weather and the landscapes are so beautiful that each bend in the road demands a stop—sheep shots, lamb-scapes, glacier carved hills (fells) with waterfalls everywhere! One can stand most anywhere and count twenty. We arrived at the old farmstead of Breidavik at 4PM, checked in with Birna to our attractive twin rooms—pre fab and en suite. Short nap then out to the bird cliffs where kittiwakes and razor bills (auk family, like puffins) were nesting in the rocky ledges below us. They are here in the thousands, keeping up a conspiratorial buzz that makes one a bit nervous as we perch so close to the edge of the 500-foot cliffs. What are they planning? Further along the cliffs which run for miles here at the western most edge of Iceland (and Europe) we began to encounter a few quizzical puffins—maybe one tenth as many as last year. Those here were congenial and welcoming, lounging at the entrance to their burrows and occasionally buzzing on too short wings out over the sea. YHC had a good grip on Bob who had a good grip on his camera half over the edge for a couple of great shots. This was just a warm up for the next full day here in puffin paradise. At 10pm the light is still super. After a simple dinner of pasta the gang of three are off for a walk while YNC completes these notes and visualizes his bed.

Day 4 Around Latabjarg: Almost leisurely morning with pleasant buffet Icelandic breakfast (lots of coffee) and 9:15 departure for the cliffs. Cool and overcast but very good light for photography and puffins. This morning there were a dozen puffins to choose from along the lower cliff face. The upper reaches had the familiar kittiwakes and fulmars (pale thick flesh colored bill on a gull body aka tube nose). The Razorbills, Black Guillemots and Brunnich’s Guillemot are similar at first glance but soon we were experts. Many had eggs and chicks underneath them and stood up to check every once in awhile—click. We photo’ed for two hours until noon when we had a short sprinkle. Back at the farm we prepared a simple lunch of sandwiches and juice. Chris added a bag of nuts for the final course. Lively lunch conversation with Charlene Edwards and husband Michael from NY and FL and their English friends. Two hours at leisure to study, explore the nearby coastline or sleep and hope for more great light this afternoon. At 4pm it was warming (shirt sleeves) with ample light for even more puffins. At this point we were satiated with portraits and trying to hone in on behavior—defensive, feeding chicks, turning eggs, etc. Also flight shots are quite possible here when the wind slows down the birds patrolling the cliff face. The Guillemots have a lovely yellow mouth lining that is a distinctive identifying mark. We had higher standards for the puffins at this point. They had to be standing on an attractive lichen covered ledge with feet showing and surrounded by a bouquet of sea daisies. By 6:30 we had exhausted our shutter fingers and returned for a delicious dinner of chicken stew with rice, potatoes and fruit cocktail for desert. A nice change of pace—especially for YHC.

Day 5 Breidalvik to Saudarkrokur: Another fine day with 8 AM breakfast and 9:15 departure. We gave a ride out to the road to two backpackers from Denmark and Holland then headed round the fjord to Patreksfjordur where we found air for the slow leak in the rear tire. On and on around the fjords and over the mountain passes with several stops to record the dramatic wide open, on top of the world scenery of glacial carved ridges, treeless but lush with a hundred different shades of green, grasses, mosses, alpine plants and buttercups. Great place for a flat tire! Beware slow leaks. Tire is changed while the gang of three concentrates on the creative stuff. The Eider ducks are most plentiful—black and white males in rafts together, brown females in rafts or with a clutch of chicks. Whooper swans are seen in gaggles of 10-30 but cruise away in stately formation whenever we stop to photograph. Wonderful to see them fly. We purchased luncheon things at a kiosk at Flokalundur, then continued our explorations south and east. By 7PM we are eating our first Icelandic hotdog in Blonduos. Seems the hot dog is the national dish of Iceland and is seen by many travel writers as one of the top ten things to do in Iceland. Check! By 9PM we have located our guest house. Next step is to locate the manager and third is to locate Chris’ luggage that was supposed to be sent here to the guesthouse—Nope! Thomas, the Manager, does make every effort, contacting the bus driver and letting us use his office to phone to the airport. It is 11PM and still a bright f8 day out there but we head for bed.

Day 6 Saudarkrokur to Husavik Area: Today is a momentous day! Chris’ luggage is recovered—having been flown to the local airport. Our gang is patrolling the streets of this pleasant village snagging shots of flower boxes and houses. YHC arranges for another tire, Chris’ changes into new clothes—we hardly recognized you Chris and we are off to connect with the ring road—Highway #1. At Glambaer we spot a small church with some turf roof cottages. It is a folk museum and we find many interesting interior compositions here in low light. We shot our way on east to Akureyri for groceries at the local Bonus store—always a cultural treat. It is a beautiful balmy day—we exit the road and find a pleasant spot for lunch amidst the bog/ alpine plants. On to Husavik area where we locate our farmhouse, our pied a terre for the next two nights. Into Husavik for scenes of the church and the colorful harbor of this most picturesque of Icelandic towns. More groceries for a real dinner tonight. Ice cream for dessert—whoops—our house has everything but a freezer. By 8:30 PM we are at Goddafoss—the incredible thundering waterfall chasm where a Viking chieftain threw his Norse god relics to prove his conversion the Christianity. Great light and nice rainbow in the mist of the falls. Some of us venture to the within inches of sure death for the sake of our art! Pasta with meat sauce and salad for dinner with very soft ice cream then one last surprise when the bathroom faucet and shut off valve stick open—luckily it’s the hot water of which Iceland has an inexhaustible supply—no need for a water heater here. YHC locates the Manager who has access to the master hot water valve and promises to send a plumber tomorrow. It is past midnight as these notes are written.

Day 7 Husavik-Lake Myvatn Area: Up at 7AM for breakfast of muesli, bananas and skyrr (the Icelandic yogurt). Chris and Dolores made the coffee. We set off for the long drive to Dettifoss, Europe’s largest waterfall. Three hundred feet across and 150 feet high. Those words don’t have so much meaning until you stand at the brim of the falls and more feel than see the force. Thirty kilometers of washboard off the paved road to the trail head added to the adventure. At 50kph we cruised over the top of most of the ruts. Some shots at the Hverfell thermal area just to scout for the next day. Groceries at Reykjalid and back to our farm house for tuna salad lunch. Excellent bread here. An hour’s siesta then off to Lake Myvatn at 5PM. The large lake has volcanic origins (duh). We stop on the NW side for lovely domes of basalt, cracked like some giant black egg. We play here finding nice patterns in the “ropy” or “pahoehoe” lava that looks like a coil of rope. Geologic names for lava’s shapes are often Hawaiian in origin. At the Lava Trail we saw the resident Gyrfalcon with three chicks. They had a great net site in a burst lava bubble—no wonder they return each year. 300 mm needed to get even a record shot. It is 8pm and energy levels are dropping even if the sun is hanging high. We make a few desultory record shots of the “pseudo craters” created by very large bursting bubbles of volcanic gases but looking like cinder cones. Pasta with spaghetti sauce and mixed vegetables for dinner. We fall into bed at 11PM.


Day 8 Lake Myvatn to Skalanes Lodge: Very fresh eggs and sausage for breakfast. We tidied up the house and dropped off the keys this beautiful but windy day and set out for the long drive to the East coast. The day was not to be adventure free, though. Another slow leak on the other rear tire became an unrepairable fast leak as we past the thermal area. The gang of three photographed the steam vents, fumaroles and boiling mud pots while YHC changed the tire. It would have to be replaced, too but nothing was available locally. Out across the vast flat gravel plain with occasional stops to capture the evolving landscape. Picnic lunch at an actual picnic table. Two cyclist pedal in towing their child and all their gear. We marveled at the fortitude of the German-Swiss couple as the wind, weather and gravel roads, not to mention the lack of services makes their venture daunting even with the good weather we were enjoying. Dolores practices her people picture skills and is told that she must ask first—Bitte, Bedienen Sie sich. She recovers quicky and makes friends. Way to go Dolores. We share our left over meat and cheese. In Egilsstadtadir coffees and icecream as YHC obtains another tire. The drive across the mountains is so exciting we do it twice—quite comparable to the fjords of Norway and mountains of Switzerland in several sections. We pull into Seydisfjordur just minutes after Wren Franklin arrives in the 4WD Nissan from Skalanes Lodge. Wren is an English botanist and environmental management specialist working with Oli at Skalanes. The road out to the end of the fjord where the eco lodge is located seems benign at first but Wren soon engages 4WD and we plunge into streams as deep as the door sills. Skalanes is an old ranch house where sheep were raised until Oli purchased it and converted it into an eco-lodge where, usually, academic groups came to study the environment. Our last year’s group was the first commercial visitors. They loved it and the gang of three were delighted to be in this pristine land, too. By next year a sauna and hot tub will be in operation. The fjords are snowcapped, providing a great backdrop to the red painted lodge. Lupines and buttercups color the green meadow recovering its heath like vegetation under Oli and Wren’s supervision. Pork loin and salad for dinner--yumm. By 9:30 bed calls YHC with some urgent unfinished business.

Day 9 Skalanes—east coast of Iceland: Day at leisure to wander and explore. After breakfast we are working our way to the bird cliffs—the Skalanes bjarg. Seascapes in brilliant light. A wad of eiderdown is fashioned into a nest—later we find the real thing—covering a single large tan egg. Gathering eiderdown for sleeping bags and clothing was once one of the ways rural Icelanders could make some money. Eiderdown, plucked by the female from her own breast, is superior to Goose down. Two—thirds of the nest down could be harvested so that mama would not be naked and the new generation of baby Eiders would survive. YHC noted that even though last year’s group was here on the same dates the season this year was about three weeks earlier and we found very few nestlings. Last year the chicks were drowning in their nests from the rain. Today was a different story. We had good opportunities with the beautiful black and white Oystercatchers on the edges of the rock cliffs. Kittiwakes were busy with their chicks. The large ferryboat cruising out the fjord is the weekly boat bound for the Faroe Islands and then to Denmark. On the beach below the lodge, two female Eider ducks are oblivious to the lone photographer sitting quietly. Both are banded—would be interesting to know their story. Lunch is ground meat with spelt—a nourishing stew suggestive of the S.O.S. Bob used to dream about in his years as a POW in the Philippines. The baked sweet bread was another classic Icelandic dish as was the smoked lamb. We ate with relish. Siesta for some and photo exploring for others this afternoon. The weather continues to be so perfect as to deny us any down time. Everything glows with color due to the high latitudes and clarity of the air. YHC was out from 5-7 PM discovering Eider nests and Golden Plover’s with their black breasts and lovely golden patterning on wings. The Dunlin is similar but the black breast spot does not extend up the neck. Black tailed Godwits have the rust colored breasts and long straight bill. The Whimbrels downwardly curve. Snipes are here too. We hear the whistling of their wings before we see them. The Red-shank is the busy red legged bird on the fence posts—refusing to pose. Dinner tonight was BBQ’ed chicken and potato salad—very good. It was great to sit around the dinner table until 9:30 pm and talk. Not a care in the world.

Day 10 Skalanes to Hofn: Wow—what a day! It started at 6am with a quick cup of espresso (thanks Wren)then we were off for a walk to the cliffs where a cluster of 17 puffins waited to be admired. A fulmar chick waited for a meal on its nest and the scenery along the fjord was spectacular with a fog bank rapidly closing in. Little Green Orchids and other heath flowers caught our collective eye and occupied our macro capabilities. The gang of three photographed the Eider nest with one egg—then it was breakfast time at 8am—muesli with fruit and skyrr, more of the excellent coffee and conversation with Oli, his wife and Wren. Seems the government is close to declaring bankruptcy. Oli feels that viable businesses like his will be hurt the most by such a move. We say “Tanks” and Good Bye to the three kids and Wren drives us back to town and our Van. The fog has settled in on the coast now—great portrait light for the colorful old buildings of Seydisfjordur Over the mountains to Egilsstadir for petrol and groceries. By 1PM we are eating salami and cheese sandwiches, juice and fig newtons in a quiet meadow. We took the scenic shortcut over a rugged mountain pass and stopped for several dramatic scenes of waterfalls and beetling crags. Short stop in the old fishing village of Dijupivogur for coffee in a restored 18th C. warehouse built by Danish traders. Denmark exploited the Icelanders by prohibiting them to trade with any other country. The warehouse roof is of board and batten design caulked, originally, with pitch. The drive continued to be spectacular all the way to Hofn, though foggy part of the time. We check into our very clean well-run guesthouse on the bay, enjoy hamburgers and fries at the Viking café then photograph Arctic terns on a row of fence posts. One chick was lost and the adults seemed to be attempting to help—no parents, though. Terns in flight were a challenge. In bed by 10:30—a new record for us.

Day 11 Hofn to Vik: Another incredible day in the real land of Ice. Buffet breakfast at our pleasant guesthouse—real fruit and good coffee. We took a couple of turns (oh please!) past the fence posts with the Arctic terns, more flight shots, gassed up the Van and headed west along the South Coast where a half dozen glaciers spill over the mountains from the huge (largest in world outside of arctic regions) icefield that dominates the map of SE Iceland--Vatnajokull. We drive for several hours stopping for landscapes then come to the iceberg filled lake at Jokulsarlon where YHC purchases tickets on the 11:05 amphibious US Army Duck (Korean War vintage) that take the Gang of Three into the frigid waters for a 45 minute informative tour up close and personal with 10,000 year old ice from the Vatnajokull Icefield. The best shots are from the shore but all enjoyed the ride and we spent more than an hour capturing images frozen in time here and on the black lava sand where mini begs lie, stranded. Next glacier west we fix a picnic lunch and enjoy the view, though the story telling images were better one glacier (Fjallsjokull) further to the west—superb light and the face of the glacier calving into it’s melt pool is of Arctic proportions. All the way to Vik, now—the scenery is magical. Getting down low for glacier reflections in a small pond next to the road was just one of many stops. We arrive in Vik at 6:30 PM just to learn that the grocery store closed at 5PM on Saturday so our dinner at the Vik Hostel was our old standby of pasta cooked in dehydrated minestrone soup—filling but fresh veggies and fruit would be nice. After dinner we explored, stopping to investigate a large herd of horses—these delightfully indifferent to us. Glorious light. By 10PM we were back in our oh so cozy family room -time for bed!

Day 12 Vik to Hella: At leisure this overcast morning until 8AM breakfast of waffles, muesli, ham and cucumbers and other ingredients of an international breakfast. Driving down to the coast netted us shots of Icelandic Sheep dog and shepherd on ATV herding the cattle in for milking. Soon afterwards we were headed west on Highway One. A few overviews of isolated farmsteads with the great ice field occasionally splashing over into view. Off and on clearing sky—off when we arrived at Skogafoss at 10:30 AM—this is the falls that drops straight off a black basalt cliff into a pool. Dolores tests her new Gortex parka by posing at the foot of the falls. Thanks Dolores. We spend about 2.5 hours at the excellent folk museum of Skogar with the three turf houses, reconstructed “village” of school, church and even a blacksmith demonstrating his craft. The all-wood house was built of driftwood and pieces salvages from a wreck—all from the late 1800’s. The indoor museum is a great collection of everyday items from bed boards inscribed with prayers to a display of the “brands” that farmers used to claim driftwood that washed up on the beach—so precious a commodity. Carved drinking horns, wooden bowls with lids that were the everyday plates in past centuries. It was clear from the displays that life in Iceland was very difficult and uncertain—especially for those who put to sea to fish. Crews sometimes included women on these open sailboats that spent several weeks at a time fishing for cod. Lunch of open-face sandwiches and soup at the cafeteria in the Museum of Transport. The WWII era had a transforming effect on Iceland which went from horses and whale oil lamps to Dodge Powerwagons and electricity in one generation. Back to Skogafoss now that there is some blue above the falls. Further west is Seljalandsfoss where we captured brightly colored hikers walking behind the falls. On to Hella and Brenna Guesthouse. The local grocery store was open! Dinner tonight in the spacious kitchen is pork stirfry with mixed vegetables, American style, and rice. Evening run to fishing village of Eyarbakki in dull light but wonderful light on a herd of horses on the drive home.

Day 13 Hella and Back: Breakfast of eggs and toast at 7AM in our kitchen, then, well coffee’ed up and after a stop at the local Bakerii for bread and a lunch pastry we are off to Geysir to see Iceland’s version of Old Faithful the one that gave it’s name to geysers everywhere. Stops for horses and landscapes. Poor old Geysir can’t get it up any longer but young Stoker pitches in, not as high as Geysir had been but with a nice blast every 7-10 minutes. We capture the pools and cauldrons of boiling water from 10-11:30 then head for nearby Gullfoss (Golden Waterfall). The light is perfect and we shoot from high vantage points to straight on for an hour. Our picnic lunch is along a side road where we can admire the ice fields that surround us. On to Pingvellir now but first we find some good angles to capture the chasm where the Eurasian and the North American plates meet in the center of the Atlantic. Iceland is the result of them pulling apart, currently at the rate of 7 mm per year—you can almost feel it—creating a Mini Rift Valley similar to the Great Rift Valley in Eithiopia—in function, not in scale. Here is where the Icelandic people have met for a thousand years to develop the world’s longest lasting democracy. Anyone could bring a case against another here though the aggrieved was in charge of carrying out the punishment. Great material for the sagas. The church is 19th C. Down to Selfoss for groceries and two bottles of wine at one of the 38 Vin Bud stores in Iceland. Wine is at least five times the cost in the States—all tax so it is hard to understand that the government is broke. Dinner is Icelandic Pasta Primavera with lamb balls. Well—what else would you call them? Very tasty and all agreed the wine helped. Good conversation for desert then at 10pm we call it a day.

Day 14 From Hella to Reykjavik: 7 AM breakfast at Casa el Don—even Dolores admitted that the huevos revolucion were much tastier than they looked. We were divesting ourselves of an accumulation of groceries. More skyrr anyone? By 8:30 we have said goodbye and “tanks” to Ranka and are choosing the same pastries as yesterday—each of us sure that we have found the best. Chocolate dipped macaroon for YHC. Interesting clouds including lenticular form over a farmstead—vaguely spooky. We stopped for a pasture full of horses in good light—close-ups and head shots as the critters invariably come over to get an ear scratch. Back in Eyrabakki fishing village, the light is good but the wind practically tears the van door out of your hands. This hardy group worked the colorful corrugated houses for an hour. The drive to Grindavik was more bleak and lonely than any part of Iceland we had seen but still interesting for the subtle colors and dramatic shapes. The wind had become a major deterrent to our activities—just ask Dolores. Picnic lunch was in the van while enjoying a wonderful view. Enroute to the Blue Lagoon we came upon a car engulfed in flames and did some PJ work while the fire truck arrived. E-mail small picture files to [e-mail] Bob and Dolores photographed the geothermal energy plant that was the genesis of the Blue Lagoon—e.g., run off from the plant which pumps seawater into deep bores in the earth. The superheated water powers steam generators and the cooled runoff warms the bathers. White silica helps create the blue color. We photographed rather than soaked this nippy windy day. On into Reykjavik to check into the Fourth Floor Hotel. Two hours of leisure until 7 PM. The hip local English paper, the Grapevine, made a compelling case for dinner and drinks at Segurmo where the fish stew was filling and the Viking lager cold—Skoal! Though we were several hours early—we had a taste of the Reykjavik 101 side of Iceland. By 8:30 PM we head back to our comfortable rooms for the night. The light is good but wind still a problem.

Day 15 Reykjavik to Home (almost): Another beautiful blue sky with pleasantly cool morning. 4th Floor puts on a great smorgasbord breakfast with eggs, bacon, cheeses, sardines, and colorful exotic fruits we had not seen for two weeks—oranges, grapes and perfect pears. At 8:30 we hop in the Van and explore the city center, reshooting the Viking ship sculpture. We park at Tjornin, the lake where we add to our Nature shots of Greylag Geese, Mallards with ducklings, Black Headed and Herring Gulls (looks like CA Gull). The small black and white Sparrow size bird is the Wagtail. Female Tufted Duck is plain brown with yellow eyes. She defends her ducklings aggressively. We walked around the center of Reykjavik known by its postal code as Reykjavik 101. Scenes of traditional Danish architecture, colorful signs, the sculpture of a business man with a block of basalt for a head (what does this say about Icelandic society?), people in sidewalk cafes. Chris shoots her way back to the hotel while Bob and Dolores work out from the hotel to do some shopping and visit galleries. YHC catches up with paperwork and we all meet at noon to have lunch at a pleasant Danish sandwich shop—salmon tartare for YHC—delicious. Chris shares a couple of her discoveries of the morning. The bronze of a couple encased in bronze suggests that the Icelandic people are unable to make their own future—hmmmnn. One last photo opp—a beach with a thermal pool on the south side of town where 100’s of kids and adults were soaking in the hot pool and even swimming in the fjord. The golden sand is imported from Morocco. At the hotel we grabbed our bags and a man from the Van rental agency who would return the van for us. 45 kilos to the airport, Chris rushes to check in, Bob and Dolores take their time and YHC spends his last Icelandic kroner on a coffee. The Nature of Iceland had come to a close—2200 miles in 15 days, two flat tires, and many images that pleased the digital shooters. Chris has her fingers crossed but how can she miss with the absolutely beautiful light and balmy weather. The Icelandic people were uniformly pleasant and helpful, the horses and puffins did not have a bad word to say and the landscapes humbled us. YHC is reconsidering his plan to give Iceland a break—same time next year!

Scientific names for some of the birds we photographed:
Greylag Goose--Anser anser, Mallard—Anas platyrhynchos, Whooper Swan—Cygnus Cygnus, Tufted Duck—Aythya fuligula, Eider—Somateria mollissima, Gyrfalcon—Falco rusticolus, Oystercatcher—Haematopus ostralegus, Killdeer—Charadrius vociferous, American Golden Plover—Pluvialis dominica, Snipe—Gallinago gallinago, Whimbrel—Numenius phaeopus, Redshank—Tringa tetanus, Red-Necked Phalarope—Phalaropus lobatus, Arctic Skua—Stercorarius parasiticus, Black-Heded Gull—Larus ridibundus, Kittiwake—Rissa tridactyla, Arctic Tern—Sterna paradisaea, Black Guillemot—Cepphus grylle, Brunnich’s Guillemot—Uria lomvia, Razorbill—Alca torda, Puffin—Fratercula arctica,

---