The Puffins of Latrabjarg

Puffins are definitely one of those captivating and exciting animals that anyone will enjoy looking at.  Perhaps  it’s their clownish and colorful faces, or superficial resemblance to penguins which draws so many people to them. Although you don’t have to go all the way to Iceland to see them (Pelagic Boats out of the northeast in winter, or on their breeding colonies in Maine and eastern Canada, and two more species in the North Pacific), their unusual appearance and odd, eerie calls make the whole viewing experience pretty cool.  Photographing them is really fun.

It is a long, bumpy, dirty, dusty, windy (as in lots of twists and turns but now that you mention it, also as in very breezy), scary, albeit gorgeous and rewarding drive to the famous seabird colony on the cliffs of Latrabjarg at the easternmost tip of the Northwest Fjords in Iceland.  This location is the best in Iceland to view all of the breeding Alcids (Razorbill, Common and Thick-billed Murres, Black Guillemot), and several other species of breeding seabirds including Black-legged Kittiwake, Glaucous Gull, Parasitic Jaeger, and Northern Fulmar among others.  Google maps told me it would take 5 hrs from Reykjavik, but it took us 8, and we almost gave up because we had another 5 hrs to drive later, but I can honestly say, this place was awesome, literally awesome, and so worth every second of that drive.  In the hour or so we spent there, I didn’t even make it much farther than the parking lot photographing puffins that barely looked at you as if you weren’t even there (surprising considering that Icelanders frequently consume puffin meat – smoked puffin isn’t bad, but really I’d rather eat almost any other meat).  With a wide angle lens I was able to get within a foot of some of these birds.  Needless to say the photos are scrumptious.