One of the things I enjoyed most about Iceland is how close you feel to the basic elements of the earth.
Here are some photos that represent different forms of earth, water, and air. As always, you can click on the images for larger versions.
One of the things I enjoyed most about Iceland is how close you feel to the basic elements of the earth.
Here are some photos that represent different forms of earth, water, and air. As always, you can click on the images for larger versions.
Here's a sampling of seabirds we encountered in Iceland. Most of these photos were taken on the ferry to/from Heimaey except as noted.
Above, a Sooty Shearwater (Ardenna grisea), and below a Sooty Shearwater on the left and a Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus) on the right. Note the size and color differences (the Manx Shearwater is smaller with black above and white below):
Northern lights near Hvolsvöllur in southern Iceland on 9 September 2024.
None of us had experience photographing the northern lights, but my niece took some nice photos with her smartphone!
Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) in the harbor on Heimaey (Iceland) with beautiful golden reflections from the cliffs.
After spending this past week in Iceland, I started thinking about Iceland as the land of fulmars. It was amazing to see Northern Fulmars (Fulmaris glacialis) everywhere — over the ocean, soaring around sea stacks, perched on sea cliff ledges, resting next to waterfalls, gliding among the icebergs, and high above inland cliffs.
If you look closely, I’m guessing you’ll be able to see fulmars in all of the photos below. Sometimes the scale of the photo is such that the fulmars appear quite small, so you might need to click on the image to view larger versions.
We stopped at some impressive waterfalls near Skógar today, and the light was just right for beautiful rainbows next to the falls.
European Golden-Plovers (Pluvialis apricaria) roosting along a rocky shore in Iceland on 6 September 2024. The plovers matched the colors of the rockweeds so well that it was hard to see them. [You can click on the image for a larger version.]
P.S. We’re on an adventure to celebrate my mom’s 80th birthday, so there might be a few posts from afar!
A nice Baird's Sandpiper (Calidris bairdii) at Point Reyes this afternoon (2 September 2024).
The sandpiper was feeding along the wrack line, especially near clumps of eelgrass (Zostera marina):
From the "Little wonder" post from ~1 week ago, I think you can tell that we've been looking closely at a couple of nudibranchs that live on the patches of bryozoan found on Giant Kelp (Macrocystis pyrifera). Above, Eric is scanning the bryozoan colonies for signs of the nudibranchs.
We've found both Corambe pacifica and Corambe steinbergae, but these nudibranchs are small (often under 1 cm long), so it can be difficult to tell which species you're looking at.
To make it a little easier for other folks to know what to look for when identifying these two species, Eric put together a series of video clips highlighting the differences between them (see the video below!).
In the video, first you'll see the bryozoans that the nudibranchs feed on. The zooids emerge and extend their tentacles to feed. When the nudibranchs appear, watch for these features:
Corambe steinbergae:
- the edge of the nudibranch is smooth around the entire perimeter
- the rhinophores are simple (no extra "decorations")
- there is a gap between the two rows of gill plumes on either side of the midline (and the gill plumes look a little more linear)
Corambe pacifica:
- the edge of nudibranch has a deep notch at the posterior end
- the rhinophores are sculptured or fluted
- instead of a gap between the two rows of gill plumes, in the center there are several gill plumes that are pinnate = with short branches aligned on either side of the main stem (they look a bit like feathers)
For reference, it also might help to see how the gills plumes of these two species were illustrated in the original descriptions:
One thing I didn't mention yet is that the gill position of these two species is unusual. Many nudibranchs have gills (or other respiratory structures) on the upper surface. In this case, the gill plumes are positioned on the underside! But luckily Eric was able to film the nudibranchs from above and below, so this is an excellent view of the gills and the differences between the two species.
Check it out! [And if you can't see the video player in an e-mail, just click on the title of the post to watch it on the NHBH website.]
Nicely done, Eric! The best views of the differences between Corambe steinbergae and Corambe pacifica captured on film!
P.S. Corambe pacifica's pinnate gill plumes have an interesting shape. When viewing them I kept thinking about a Henri Matisse cut-out called The Sheaf (La Gerbe):