Flowers, Eiders, and Puffins

Skrúður is a little botanical garden ensconced in a little wall of stone at the slopes of a steep, icy incline, founded in 1909 by Sigtryggur Guðlaugsson.  It must surely be the smallest "national botanic garden" in the world.








Flateyri has been a trading post since 1792 and saw its heyday in the 19th century when it was the base for shark-hunting and whaling operations.  It has many murals painted by a local artist, and a lovely small church that we visited for a short concert of Icelandic songs.




Lars taking a pic of me....

...who just took a pic of him!



Next up was to visit an eider farm on the island of Vigur.  The eiders are wild, but the "farmer" offers them protection from predators and encourages them to come to the island.  The hens pluck down from their breasts to keep the eggs warm, and once they have covered the eggs, the farmer comes and replaces the down with straw.  The ducks come right back and rearrange the straw more to their liking, and it proves to be a better covering than the down, as it keeps everything drier in the wet climate.  Wet eiderdown is NOT a good insulator!  Then the down is cleaned by being put through a series of sieves to remove foreign matter. Finally, it is all checked by hand to be sure there is nothing that shouldn't be there.  The eiderdown doesn't have any solid shaft, unlike goose down, so there is never any prickly bits sticking out of the pillow or comforter.

The family also shares their island with several thousand nesting birds! After we learned about eiderdown production, we headed for the puffin cliffs, but to get there, we had to pass through the nesting area for the Arctic Terns.  These birds are extremely territorial, and protect their nests and young by dive-bombing any intruders.  And they have VERY pointy beaks! But they also attack the tallest thing they see, so you protect yourself by holding a stick over your head.  The eider farm thoughtfully supplies sticks with flags on them for this purpose.  It's still a bit unnerving to hear this small creature shrieking at you from a foot above your head.

The entire "town" on Vigur (one family of three....)

Gisli and his family are the entire operation--eider farming, processing, tourism, a small cafe....
They are also the island's only inhabitants.

The family home--built in stages throughout the 1800s. 
Once the "manor house" for the entire area.

A couple of Black Guillemots in the backyard

Lars speaking to....Lars.
One of them is a Greenland native, and a cultural specialist on our expedition.

Black Guillemots in the rhubarb patch, where they're protected by the plants, and help with fertilization.
A win-win situation!

Arctic Tern defenses



Common Redshanks


The NG Resolution, with a whole lot of puffins on the water


NG Photographer Kiliii Yüan HOPING for his 360° camera to attract some terns

"Are they coming??"



Lars checking how his pics are coming out

Arctic Terns are well-camoflaged

Especially the chicks!






Black Guillemots



Nobody knows how old this 8-man rowboat is, but it was already well-known when it arrived here in 1820.  Clinker-built out of driftwood from Siberia

Eider ducks and ducklings

A few Puffins that had successful fishing!
Puffins are the only species that can "stack" fish in this way, so they don't need so many trips to feed the kids.

How many are there??

A slightly-blurry flock of Puffins

Once again, we were fortunate to encounter an entire gam of whales after dinner!






Sheila actually got a nice video of 3 whales quite close to the ship, but the file size is too big for Blogger.  You can possibly view it here. 





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