Tidepooling at 66° North

During our first few days in Iceland, we were fortunate to find some excellent tidepooling locations.  We've been taking lots of photographs, but it's hard to find time at the end of the day to write a complete post , so I'm sharing a few fun highlights for now.

 

 

Silver-spotted Anemone (Aulactinia stella)

 

 

 

 

Northern Red Chiton (Boreochiton ruber) 

 

 

 

  

A small staurozoan (Haliclystis sp.).  This stalked jellyfish was very active so the image is a little blurry, but we were excited to find a couple of them! 

 

 

 

  

A striking Daisy Brittle Star (Ophiopholis aculeata).  We found quite a few individuals all with different color patterns.

 

We've been impressed with the diversity of marine invertebrates in the tidepools in Iceland and feel fortunate to be exploring and learning more about them.  We hope you enjoy meeting them, too!

Westernmost

 

 

A couple of scenes from the West Fjords of Iceland.  In the photo below, that's Eric waving at the top of the cliff!

 

 

The fox and the cliff

 

 

A quick photo of an Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) approaching a steep bird cliff.

 

 

Blue-rayed

A beautiful limpet…from Iceland!  Meet the Blue-rayed Limpet (Patella pellucida).  We’ve done some tidepooling around Reykjavik during the last couple of days and this is a species I hoped to see.  Lots of other amazing marine invertebrates to share, so stay tuned!

Layers of sunset

  

Layers of sunset, from Cotati, 23 August 2026

Butterfl-eyes?

  

Close-up of the large eye spots on the forewing of a Common Wood-Nymph butterfly (Cercyonis pegala). 

Here's the entire butterfly, perched among grasses:

 

 

Interestingly, I've observed Common Wood-Nymphs in grasslands closer to Highway 1 near the Bodega Bay Community Center, which is only about 2 miles away as the butterfly flies (if the butterfly flies in a fairly straight line).  But I don't think I've seen one on Bodega Head yet.  The photo above is from the Salt Point area.

 

Wandering by

  

If you've been at the coast recently, you might have encountered these dragonflies zipping around, sometimes in large numbers.  Wandering Gliders (Pantala flavescens) sometimes appear in our area during late summer, especially with passing weather fronts. 

They're impressive fliers, but it's harder to spot them perched on vegetation.  This morning we found lots of them roosting in a grassland, and after many attempts we were able to get close enough to one of them for a few photos.

Note the beautiful golden abdomen and the very broad wings. 

 

 

 

 

 

You can also see Spot-winger Gliders (Pantala hymenaea) in our area.  In fact, in my experience Spot-winged Gliders are usually more common than Wandering Gliders in Bodega Bay.  But something's different this year and Wandering Gliders appear to be more common at this time.  (To compare the two species, click here.)