Red-throated Diver

Red-throated Diver was a top target species for Shaun and I's trip to Iceland. I had done a pile of research beforehand and knew just where to go, and it was a huge relief when on our first morning we arrived and there were Divers all over the place, pairs on small lakes, sometimes two pairs. Cred maintained. A fabulous site with lots of birds, paths that you could view from, and constant activity. What you can never plan of course is the weather. Dull and nasty. Not photography weather, and we left quite quickly without getting what we wanted.

We returned on our final evening in much nicer weather. Too nice! What we needed to do really was wait until 9 or 10pm, but we didn't have the patience for that after three long days, and wimped out basically. I was beat, and Shaun was hungry. Shaun is always hungry. Or thirsty. Or both, and in his mind it was time for dinner. I made him wait another three hours as I was birding, and he repaid this by taking me to KFC. Evens I suppose. Far too much heat in the air even at 6pm, and as a result rather useless photos. Here are a couple anyway - you can see that the haze has prevented any feather detail from being captured - I will have to go back. I am keen to get them out of the way actually, as this is my last species from Iceland and I have a ton of birds from the USA to go through as well as another long-distance trip on the horizon.