Seals

7-22-10    It is raining a soft mist today, which is not negative at all. We went out to the end of the Hvammstangi peninsula to look at a seal colony. The seals are laying on the wet rocks just off the shore from us. They roll around on the rocks, sunning themselves. We saw 17 Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) and many Eiders in the sea next to the seals. We also ran into busloads of tourists right near the seals. Berry and I prefer solitude with nature, so we went off to ourselves, next to a farmer's fence and scoped some nesting Redshanks.

  I accidentally have left the digital camera's memory card in a little seaside hotel in Grundarfjörður, before we took the ferry. So now, instead of y'all looking at a blurry photo of me staring emptily at the camera lens, some funloving Icelandic housekeeper has the memory card and is photoshopping my handsome face onto the body of a donkey... hee, haw. I will replace the little black card for $14 when we get to Akureyri, where there are three computer stores, we are told.

  After our great seal adventure, we got in out of the rain. We plopped down in a nice little roadside diner for the locals. To warm up, I had hot tea with milk and savory onion + corn soup with buttered bread. Berry had a cup of coffee and yummy lamb stew. We are on vacation, indeed.

  We visited an old Icelandic Church from the 800s. It was constructed of brown stone (rebuilt several times) and we spied about 500 Whooper Swans in the tidal pool behind it. Near there is where we spotted a female Barrow's Goldeneye (Bucephala islandica), a red letter bird for our list. Now we need her cousin, the Common Goldeneye, to be differentiated by the shape of its head.

female Barrow's Goldeneye

  In the town of Blönduos, we put two Red Throated Loons (Gavia stellata) on our list. After dinner we walked out onto a little island in the river, and swatted at midges. Those are gnat like insects, not harmful like mosquitos, just ceaselessly annoying. We drove to a store, but this little town closes up after dinner.

  I am laying on a comforter and pillows on the floor right next to the bottom of the door of our room in this hotel. The receptionist said there was free internet access in this hotel. She gave me the code, but later said you cannot get internet in your room. You must be in the hall to get it. I put the laptop near the crack under the door and it worked. So, I am using the internet, laying on my stomach, next to the door.

  Berry just "e-mailed" Cosmo. That means she e-mailed the kennel to ask how he was... She said she was having Blackberry© withdrawal. Hers does not work here. The people at the kennel sent back that he was doing fine.

Cosmo the Dog

-Robert

(photos by ddewhurst, rfowler)