Flatey

7-19-10    This was a great day. We got up at 4am and scoped the tidal flats near our hotel. I cooked a waffle for Berry, at one of those breakfast bars where you serve yourself. Then we got on the "Ferry to Flatey".

Flatey is an island next to the west coast of Iceland, on which breed Red Phalaropes (Phalaropus fulicarius ). This bird is white and gray most of the year, which is why the British call it the Grey Phalarope. But in Iceland, and recurrently on the island of Flatey, it changes into bright orange-red breeding colors. We had to get on the ferry to Brjansfjordur, get off the ferry at the Flatey Island stop-over, letting our car go on to the destination, then catch the second ferry of the day to go to where the car was. During this interval, our task was to search the entire island of Flatey and the sea around it for this specific bird in distinct plumage at a single time of year. Not usually a good idea, to bird with such specific restrictions.

The statistics were against us. What if the phalaropes had migrated early ? What if we missed them ? What if they had already molted... ? Breeding pelagic birds hide while on the nest or else fly out to the sea to feed, so where are the Red Phalaropes ? How can we find them ?

Bingo ! Berry spotted a female in breeding plumage dabbling in a bed of seaweed about fifty feet off shore. Touchdown ! We were excited. We also saw several Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis), umpteen Red Necked Phalaropes (Phalaropus lobatus) in winter plumage. And one tiny baby Red-Necked Phalarope blocked our path as we were walking thru the church yard. This began a series of divebombing attacks by a parentally protective Arctic Tern. We actually had been warned of this in our literature, but it still was unnerving. They really do attack !

We got back on the ferry and were exhausted. We landed and drove thru the mountains. Need to eat, so bye...

-Robert