Long finned pilot whales - Grindhvalur

On the 28th July I was guiding a whale watching tour and heard of a large pod of Long-Finned Pilot whales that were getting alarmingly close to land. This was quite a surprise to us as the last time this happen was in Þorlákshöfn in 1986 where 100 Pilot whales were found dead on the beach as residents woke up and in Njarðvík in 1957 where 100 pilot whales were found close to the harbour and then pushed onto the beaches to utilize and also once in 1875 as far as we know so todays experience was one to go down in Elding history. Once we got there after about 2 hours sailing, and a quick stop with a Minke Whale, we noticed how close the 200 or so pilot whales were actually to the coast. We couldn´t get in between them and land to push them out but soon another smaller boat came that was able to scare them away from land and then we could get in between to help push them further into the bay into deeper waters were they are more comfortable. The whales were obviously stressed but we had no choice, as it would benefit them in the long run. After a while of pushing these whales further out we felt comfortable that they were a safe distance from land and so we left. The passengers had a rare experience on this tour but how many people can say that they have helped save 200 Pilot Whales on our whale watching tours.

Did someone say auk?

A couple more auks from my travels around Iceland with dad. 

The razorbill is also apart of the Auk family like the puffins. They look more like the guillemots but they are easily recognizable by their deep, flat-sided bill with white bands along the length and vertical band rear the tip. Their eggs are uniquely patterned so that the parents can locate them on the densely populated cliff ledges. 60-70% of the whole worlds Razorbill population breeds in Iceland, mainly at Látrabjarg (West Fjords) and Grímsey (North Iceland).

The Black Guillemot is the most identifiable of all the guillemots as it has the white patches on top of the wings and red legs. They are also the only species of Auk in Iceland that has a black breast. 

The Common Guillemots are one of the deeper diving seabirds diving to a staggering 230m deep for their food but usually only dives between 50-100m. They nest in dense numbers on cliffs and their eggs are shaped in such a way that they roll in a circle so that they don’t fall of the cliff edges. There are some individuals that are found in the North Atlantic that have a white ring around their eye. These are called the ‘bridled guillemot’ these are not a separate species but are actually a polymorph of the common guillemot.

The Brünnich’s Guillemot is a high latitude species and differs in appearance to the Common Guillemot by its shorter, thicker bill with a white gape stripe. The guillemots are now the largest of the Auk family since the Great Auk became extinct in 1844.