Coming into port

  

A couple of quick photos of Elegant Terns (Thalasseus elegans) at Porto Bodega today (28 September 2026).  There was quite a bit of feeding activity over the water, and then the terns came in to roost near the outer docks.  Excellent views of these beautiful terns!

 

 

Intertidal habitat

Happy Fall!

We're still catching up after returning from Iceland, so I haven't taken new photos in California yet.  But we've been talking about our Iceland tidepooling experiences and folks have had questions about what it was like.  So here are a few habitat photos from various intertidal sites in Iceland:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kentish?

  

 Driving towards Búðardalur

 

Many scenes in Iceland triggered memories of Rockwell Kent paintings for me.  I guess that's not really surprising, since Greenland is only ~186 miles (300 km) from Iceland.  (Occasionally polar bears make the crossing on icebergs!)

A couple of views from the West Fjords: 

 

 

 

 

It'll be fun to learn more about Icelandic landscape artists, too! 

 

Thunderous

We're back from Iceland but there were so many beautiful landscapes that I hope you don't mind if I share some more photos.

This is Dynjandi (and friends) -- a significant waterfall in the West Fjords.  The trail passes a series of smaller waterfalls leading up to the largest cascade at the top.  I was so entranced that I might have missed one, but this is the basic sequence from bottom to top.  [You can click on the photos for larger versions.]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's hard to tell the size of this waterfall in a photo, so here's another with Eric for scale:

 

 

 

Dynjandi means thunderous, and it was!
 

Drifting north

  

While walking a beach near the Garðskagi lighthouses (near the village of Garður on the Reykjanes Peninsula), I looked down to see a cluster of Blue Buoy Barnacles (Dosima fascicularis) in the wrack line.

Although we knew there were previous records of this species in Iceland, it felt a little surprising to see them.  Most of the records for this pelagic barnacle are from further south.  In California, we found these barnacles in Sonoma County during the warm-water events in 2014-2016 (e.g., see "Blue buoys!" on 31 August 2014).

Here's a close-up where you can see the thin, transparent plates.  You can also see the white foam-like float that the barnacles make to stay afloat at the surface of the ocean (upper left corner of the image).

 

 

 

And Eric took this beautiful photo of the cluster floating in the water next to the beach so you can envision them in their natural habitat.  [You can also see a piece of rockweed (Fucus sp.) at the lower right corner of the barnacle cluster (look for the orange color).  The barnacles might have attached to this piece of seaweed initially and then created their float around it.]

 

 

 

Fun to find this offshore barnacle at 64° North!

sandlóa, lóuþræll, and lóa

  

A few shorebird photos from Iceland.  Above, sandlóa (in Icelandic) or Common Ringed Plovers (Charadrius hiaticula).  (I really enjoyed hearing their calls.)

Next, a juvenile lóuþræll or Dunlin (Calidris alpina):

 

 

  

And two different views of lóa or European Golden-Plovers (Charadrius apricaria).  Although they were often feeding in grassland sites, we also saw them roosting among rockweeds.

 

 

 

 

 

Northern landscapes

  

Well, we're nearing the end of our visit to Iceland.  Eric thought it would be fun to post some landscape photos, so here's a selection from a few different areas.  Above, along the shoreline of the West Fjords.

 

Below, two from Breidavik Beach:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next, a scene from Lake Mývatn near Höfði:

 

 

 

Boiling mud pots at a geothermal area, Hverir:

 

 

 

 

Two from the thundering waterfall, Dettifoss:

 

 

 

Lava columns at the fascinating Hljóðaklettar:

 

 

 

 

 

 

And one with reflections from peaceful Botnstjörn:

 

 

 

Iceland has been so inspiring!

 

We haven't had much time to process our photos, but we'll be sharing more as time allows.  Thanks so much for joining the journey!