Puffins in the Midnight Sun

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Grimsey is a small island north of Iceland which straddles the arctic circle. It supports large colonies of breeding seabirds.

In June 2023, I had the chance to spend a few days on Grimsey, to photograph puffins.

This far north, the sun doesn’t set in summer, staying just above the horizon at the lowest point. We were lucky to get several clear nights where we were able to photograph puffins in the midnight sun.

Grimsey

Some wider angle photos. A kind resident gave us a boat ride around Grimsey. It was a real eye-opener to see just how many birds there really were on this island.

Puffin Portraits.

Puffins spend 8-9 months of the year at sea, and only come to land to nest, and also to pose for portraits.

Fish/Nest Building

Luckily, the pufflings started to hatch during our trip, so we saw a few puffins bringing back fish. Yes, that’s what they’re called, and puffins nest in burrows, so no pictures of pufflings this early. I’ve been told they are ugly anyway. The last picture in this section is a puffin bringing back all kinds of nest building supplies to its burrow.

The Midnight Sun

We had clear nights, and being this far north, the sun doesn’t set in summer.

Tiny Puffins

I wish I had done more of these. It’s a good way to incorporate some of the landscape.

Puffins in Flight

I found taking these pictures quite addicting albeit low yield.

Other Birds

If you were to find yourself in Grimsey in summer, and for some reason you didn’t like puffins (you do like them though - everybody does), you could spend your time photographing numerous other birds. I learned a lot about several other species: Razor bills have bright yellow mouths. Red necked phalaropes swim in tight circles (very fast) when they feed, and Arctic Terns (Kria) will dive-bomb you if you walk near the nesting area (and it can hurt)!

• Red-necked Phalaropes

• Arctic Terns

• Razorbills

• Guillemots

• Oystercatchers

• Snipe/Eider Duck/Snow Bunting

Abstract

I found some interesting textures. I like bird pictures with slow shutter speeds, and spent quite some time trying it out. It was quite fun to see how these turned out (mediocre?) and most people will just call them blurry, but I’m calling them artistic (but also leaving them at the bottom of the page). Also the last picture is a guillemot egg. And that is how they do nests: no nest - just a flat spot on a rock. Amazing.

Video

Because mostly, Its about the experience, not the photos, I have started to record more video clips on trips like these. Here are the some of those clips.