ANOTHER LONG-DISTANCE MIGRATOR RETURNS
Along with the migratory whales that spend the summer time in our bay, it is also the summer home to migrating birds coming to Iceland for their nesting season. One of the most amazing migrators on earth has returned recently: the arctic tern.
These beautiful birds, weighing only 100 grams, have the longest migration on earth. They spend the summer time here in Iceland and even further north into the Arctic, and then during the winter they are over 30,000 kilometers away in places such as South Africa and even further south to Antarctica. This means they annually fly at least 60,000 km a year, and in their lifetime they fly more than the distance from the earth to the moon and back!
They are wonderful to see each time they are back, and symbolize the return of spring in the bay.
-Charla
Researcher/Guide
An arctic tern on Flatey Island (photo: Sarah Arndt)
