Puffin Stuff

Puffins are without doubt the biggest wildlife draw in Iceland. They are completely adorable. Click on this photo to see a brief example…..

What is the appeal? Maybe because they have an unusual appearance – the clown eyes, duck-like feet, short wings. Unlike penguins, they can fly, but are pretty clumsy-looking when they do (which is very endearing). Or they just seem to have something to express – flapping their wings, twisting their heads around to check out the surroundings, bumping beaks, hopping around. Our tendency is to give human attributes to these behaviors, when instead they are all simply part of being a puffin. But the cute doesn’t stop there; baby puffins are called…….pufflings! Just adorable.

Many places in Iceland claim to be the best or biggest puffin colony, but this one at Borgarfjördur Eystri gives the easiest access to them, as well as several other types of birds.

There is even a blind where you can watch them comfortably for as long as you like….

It’s easy to laugh at their less-than-elegant flying, but they are also quite accomplished swimmers and divers, and have a unique beak that allows them to spear multiple fish at one time….

Puffins are so popular that most souvenir shops feature extensive puffin-inspired merchandise.

….. so prevalent that souvenir stands here are called “puffin shops”.

More about this later, but we would give a huge second place in the animal popularity contest to the Icelandic horse.

Striking creatures – with compact, sturdy bodies and long manes, they are also very friendly and fun-loving!

We just had to go for a ride….

Most horses have three gaits – walk, trot and canter/gallop. Icelandic horses have at least four (sometimes five), which always include a faster-than-a-walk but smoother-than-a-trot gait called “tölt””

Our companions on the horse outing were excited to receive special polished rocks from Henry’s collection! (One is from the Netherlands, the other from Spain….. seems like no one here in the tourist industry is local….)

Catching up on the blog postings….. more to come in the next few days!