Every year on the fourth Sunday of September, World Rivers Day is celebrated globally. The day is meant to highlight the importance of rivers to the life on earth as they provide freshwater, habitat (rivers are home to over 100'000 freshwater species making them one of the most biodiverse habitats) as well as ecological, economical and cultural value.
The recent storm has once again changed nature's outfit. More snow has fallen on the Cheek Mountains on the western side of the bay, but even Húsavíkurfjall (the mountain of Húsavík), was partially covered in snow this morning.
As the weather forecast doesn’t look good, we remember the wildlife of Skjálfandi Bay! Up to the sky, you will see several wildlife passing above us! Throughout the season, different marine birds are visiting Skjálfandi Bay mainly to breed.
September doesn't stop pampering us: today once again we were surprised by a whale species uncommon for this area. In the late morning, a pod of orcas (killer whales) appeared out of nowhere near our boats (which at that point were actually observing some humpback whales).
Besides all the surprise visitors and therewith rare sightings we had these days, we are just as excited to see well-known faces - or flukes to be correct! Humpback whales, our most common sights, have unique patterns on the underside of their tail (flukes), which make it possible to identify and furthermore, recognise them should the same individual return.
While I have previously talked about September oftentimes being a month of surprises, today was one of these days which kept on giving and surprising - from early to late! Those who decided to wake up extra early this morning to join our first departures were soon rewarded by our first surprise visitor of the day: a blue whale! Constantly travelling north, the individual didn't stay in the bay for too long, still we were able to get some great looks at it.
September is a month of changes. As autumn starts, the colours of the landscape around us keep changing - soon everything will be red yellow and orange and the scent of blueberries that now appear everywhere will be in the air for several more weeks.
September so far has been very thrilling regarding the wildlife in Skjálfandi Bay! A few days ago, we had the fortunate to observe 3 fin whales in the bay, for a short period. And what kind of species is it? Fin whales are the second largest whale species in the world and can reach almost 24 meters.
The first week of September is flying by and while days pass, whale sightings continue to be incredible. Several humpback whales have been around during the last week - in fact, up to five individuals were spotted on some of our tours! The animals were oftentimes travelling slowly through the bay and spent a lot of time relaxing and resting on the surface.
In our recent posts we have talked much about the communication methods of whales and why a good hearing is essential underwater in order to survive the day. Last, I talked about the baleen whales, which use low frequency sounds to communicate over great distances - not only to chit-chat with the individual a feeding ground away, but also to manage their annual migration between (sub-)arctic and tropical waters.
