A golden plover was spotted by the Sílavík bay at Höfn in Hornafjördur around noon on Thursday, according to the bird website fuglar.is. The arrival of the migrating bird is considered the first certain sign of spring in Iceland.
A golden plover. Photo by Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir.
Since 1998 the first golden plovers have been spotted in the period March 20-31, so the bird that arrived on Thursday followed the species’ conventional travel pattern, Morgunbladid reports.
Now the golden plover will “sing away the snow and boredom” as it says in a beloved poem about the connection between the bird’s arrival and the end of winter by Páll Ólafsson.
Migrating birds are now returning to the country in ever growing numbers—there are few remnants of winter left in Iceland’s southwestern region, although it is still snowing in the north and east.
