It’s easy to get to the island with the ferry from Landeyjarhöfn harbor near Hvolsvöllur in south Iceland. The island is the perfect place to go bird-watching and for bird-photography.
Vestmannaeyjar is the largest puffin colony in the world and the home of many seabirds during the summer time. Vestmannaeyjar (Westman islands) - The home of the puffin The gravel can be loose and break easily. Be careful around the cliffs and do not go near the edge.Avoid spending prolonged periods close to nesting birds or birds with young.Stay on marked paths and approach quietly and slowly in order to avoid disturbance to nesting birds and damage to sensitive vegetation.Guidelines for Bird Watching in Icelandĭuring bird watching, it is important to keep few things in mind to minimize interference with the nature and disruption of nature. Best time of the day to spot them is in the morning (07:00-10:00) and in the evening (18:00-22:00). Best time to see the puffin in Icelandīest time to spot puffins is in end of April until early September. It’s a tradition for the children in Westman islands to save the lost Pysja, they gather them together and then release them to the ocean. In the Westman islands the Pysja sometimes gets lost because of the lights from the houses and wanders into the town. Pysja usually leaves the nest in the middle of August and heads for the sea to look for food. The incubation time is around 42 days and the parents usually leave the chick when he is about 40 days old. Like most birds the puffin does not lay on the eggs but keeps them warm under their wings, both parents share the incubation responsibilities. The female lays a single white egg each year, if it’s early in the breeding season she might lay another egg. Egg-laying usually begins in June in Iceland, but it can vary between locations. The Puffin spends most of his time out on sea but around april/mai the breeding season begins so they start nesting on grassy islands, headlands and slopes above clifftops or in screes below cliffs. He is a good diver and dives for food to the depth of 60 meters and can spend about 1.5 minutes underwater. The Puffin’s main food is sand eel and capelin, as well as fry, snake pipefish and krill. The adult puffin is black on top, white below, with black cap and black collar, his legs are orange. What makes the puffin special is the colourful, flat-sided beak.
The puffin is a rather small bird, around 26-29 cm long and weights around 450-500g. It is believed that the total population of the puffin is around 14 million and the largest puffin colony can be found in Westman Islands in Iceland. The puffin can be found in the North Atlantic, he breeds in Iceland, Greenland, Newfoundland, Norway, along the coast of Maine in the US, in Ireland and United Kingdom in the east. The puffin is most commonly found around the coast of Iceland, around sixty percent of the population breeds in Iceland. The Atlantic Puffin (Fratercula arctica), is a species of seabird in the auk family (Alcidea), he is one of the smaller auks, and also the most common.
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