The cliffs of Latrabjarg, in Iceland, are home to millions of birds. This includes puffins, northern gannets, guillemots, and razorbills. Noteworthy: some 40% of the world population for some species of birds, like the razorbill, lives on these cliffs. Its measurement is considered the largest bird cliff in Europe. The cliff is 14 kilometers long and up to 440 meters high.
However, the guillemot is the most widespread bird at Latrabjarg, and it’s the thousands of puffins that most people come here to see. Latrabjarg Cliffs are well-known for how close one can get to watching the birds. Safe from foxes, the birds are fearless and provide eye-catching pictorial opportunities from close range.
The puffins are mainly tame and are the ones frequenting the grassy, higher part of the cliffs where they build their burrows, often up to 2 meters in length. They return to the similar burrows they occupied the year before, more or less always during the third week of April, where they remain until August or September. Their major breeding period is from May to July. The cliffs are also home to the largest colony of razorbills in the world, as well as thousands of other screeching breeds of sea birds, including cormorants, fulmars, and kittiwakes.
The din here can be quite overpowering, as can the stench from the piles of guano on the cliff face. For centuries, the cliffs were a source of appetizing seabird eggs for the local people. Many farmers would like to catch birds and gather eggs, even risking their lives as they rappel down the unsafe cliff face. It’s projected that about 35,000 birds were caught here every year until the late 1950s. Even though eggs are still gathered from the Latrabjarg Cliffs today, partly to keep alive this tradition that has been handed from one generation to the next for centuries,
Read More: California Condor – Largest North American Land Bird
Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland211_exposure_resize
Latrabjarg Cliffs are well-known for how close one can get to watching the birds.
Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland2_exposure_resize
Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland3_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland4_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland5_exposure_resize
Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland6_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland7_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland8_exposure_resize
Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland9_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland10_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland12_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland13_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland14_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland15_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland18_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland19_exposure_resize Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland22_exposure_resize Blue Motion Bird Watching at Latrabjarg Cliffs, Iceland24_exposure_resize

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here