Although King Winter, as winter is called in Icelandic, refuses to release his grip on us, locals and visitors alike, the harbingers of summer continue to arrive in Iceland. The golden plover and the common snipe, two of the most symbolic summer residents have already arrived and the first puffins have also come back to land. Now the Arctic tern has also returned from its winter migration to Antarctica.
Read more: Summer just around the corner: The Common Snipe has returned from its winter migration
Read more: Spring has officially arrived: The cultural significance of the Golden Plover to Icelanders
The National Broadcasting Service reports that the first two flocks of Arctic stern were seen over the weekend. One group was seen at a pond in the Reykjavík region, while a second group was spotted near Mývatn lake in N.E. Iceland.
2-3 times as many tern as humans in Iceland
The tern is late this year. It usually returns on April 20-25 after having spent the summer on the other side of the world, in the waters off the coast of Antarctica. The late arrival this year contrasts with last year, when the tern arrived unusually early, on April 22. The tern has been arriving earlier every year in the past few years, most likely due to changing climate conditions.
The tern spend the summer at its breeding grounds around the northern polar circle. It is not known how many breeding pairs of Arctic tern summer in Iceland, but the figure is believed to be somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000, which means there are 2-3 times as many Arctic tern as humans in Iceland!
The longest migratory route of any bird
No other bird has a longer migratory route: Each year the tern flies a distance which equals a circumnavigation of the globe. The tern is an extremely active bird, spend most of its entire life airborne, flying long distances. Ornithologists have calculated that in their lifetimes terns cover a distance which equals flying to the moon and half the distance back.
Although King Winter, as winter is called in Icelandic, refuses to release his grip on us, locals and visitors alike, the harbingers of summer continue to arrive in Iceland. The golden plover and the common snipe, two of the most symbolic summer residents have already arrived and the first puffins have also come back to land. Now the Arctic tern has also returned from its winter migration to Antarctica.
Read more: Summer just around the corner: The Common Snipe has returned from its winter migration
Read more: Spring has officially arrived: The cultural significance of the Golden Plover to Icelanders
The National Broadcasting Service reports that the first two flocks of Arctic stern were seen over the weekend. One group was seen at a pond in the Reykjavík region, while a second group was spotted near Mývatn lake in N.E. Iceland.
2-3 times as many tern as humans in Iceland
The tern is late this year. It usually returns on April 20-25 after having spent the summer on the other side of the world, in the waters off the coast of Antarctica. The late arrival this year contrasts with last year, when the tern arrived unusually early, on April 22. The tern has been arriving earlier every year in the past few years, most likely due to changing climate conditions.
The tern spend the summer at its breeding grounds around the northern polar circle. It is not known how many breeding pairs of Arctic tern summer in Iceland, but the figure is believed to be somewhere between 250,000 and 500,000, which means there are 2-3 times as many Arctic tern as humans in Iceland!
The longest migratory route of any bird
No other bird has a longer migratory route: Each year the tern flies a distance which equals a circumnavigation of the globe. The tern is an extremely active bird, spend most of its entire life airborne, flying long distances. Ornithologists have calculated that in their lifetimes terns cover a distance which equals flying to the moon and half the distance back.
