Thanks Shawn. Planning an Iceland trip in June but Flatey is not on the itinerary. Hopefully we will see those species elsewhere though. And as usual, great photos!
I'm not trying to virtue signal here, as I'm genuinely curious how other birders reconcile these conflicting impulses, which we're struggling with. For many years, we were typical "birding tourists", each year visiting exotic locales like South Africa or Costa Rica in search of new birds. But we started to feel guilty about the environmental impact of long distance jet trips, and when we retired we resolved to limit ourself to domestic holidays, ideally accessible by a car or train commute. To be fair, this was part of a broader commitment that saw us replace our gas furnace with a cold climate heat pump and purchase an electric vehicle to mitigate some of the GHG emissions. In these decisions, we were fortunate to live in Manitoba, Canada, where 98% of our electricity is "green" (hydro, which obviously has its own environmental implications). We are also fortunate, since Canada offers some gorgeous locales, though many are inaccessible by road. For example, we visited Churchill, MB, in October 2021 (to see polar bears) and again in June (2022) to take advantage of the brief migration window as 250-300 different species pass through en route to their northern breeding grounds. Incidentally, I am struck by how similar the latter experience was to what you have documented here for Flatey Island. In any case, I guess what I'm wondering is what others are doing to reconcile their long-standing interest in birds while limiting the environmental damage?
That is something I often think about as well. What is my impact on the natural world as I travel. The one nice thing about the two locations I visited this past summer in Iceland is once we arrived at each island we were walking almost all of the time. For Flatey is was 100% walking due to the small size of the island. For Grimsey it was about 95% walking and any driving was a very short distance.
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Gorgeous photos. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Shawn. Planning an Iceland trip in June but Flatey is not on the itinerary. Hopefully we will see those species elsewhere though. And as usual, great photos!
Thanks for watching this video and hope you have a great trip to Iceland.
I'm not trying to virtue signal here, as I'm genuinely curious how other birders reconcile these conflicting impulses, which we're struggling with. For many years, we were typical "birding tourists", each year visiting exotic locales like South Africa or Costa Rica in search of new birds. But we started to feel guilty about the environmental impact of long distance jet trips, and when we retired we resolved to limit ourself to domestic holidays, ideally accessible by a car or train commute. To be fair, this was part of a broader commitment that saw us replace our gas furnace with a cold climate heat pump and purchase an electric vehicle to mitigate some of the GHG emissions. In these decisions, we were fortunate to live in Manitoba, Canada, where 98% of our electricity is "green" (hydro, which obviously has its own environmental implications). We are also fortunate, since Canada offers some gorgeous locales, though many are inaccessible by road. For example, we visited Churchill, MB, in October 2021 (to see polar bears) and again in June (2022) to take advantage of the brief migration window as 250-300 different species pass through en route to their northern breeding grounds. Incidentally, I am struck by how similar the latter experience was to what you have documented here for Flatey Island. In any case, I guess what I'm wondering is what others are doing to reconcile their long-standing interest in birds while limiting the environmental damage?
That is something I often think about as well. What is my impact on the natural world as I travel. The one nice thing about the two locations I visited this past summer in Iceland is once we arrived at each island we were walking almost all of the time. For Flatey is was 100% walking due to the small size of the island. For Grimsey it was about 95% walking and any driving was a very short distance.