Puffinville. Latrabjarg birdcliff.

Portrait of a puffin, the most characteristic bird in this part of the world. It is nicknamed sea parrot, and it is easy to see why. But it is actually an auk.

The cliffs of the Latrabjarg peninsula shrouded in sea fog.

Latrabjarg  at the westernmost point of the Vestfiords of Iceland-the "antler"formation on the national map is a 14 kilometer long birdcliff. Spectacularly climbing from close to sea level at one end, to an height of 440 meters. A vertical wall wading in the Atlantic. It is the biggest birdcolony in Europe. Several species calls it home and adds to the atmosphere-but it is the abundance of puffins which attracts people here.

Latrabjarg is remote. Forget about public transport. forget about hiking there as well unless you have days and days to put into it. Your own wheels is the order of the day. The road out there is in part exiting seen from a drivers point of view. Narrow. Its edges less trustworthy than desired in those areas one really would like to be able to trust them-at the vertical drop offs. And of course-those spots are where one meets cars coming from the opposite direction. There are potholes, and of course-it is a gravel road. I arrived late in the afternoon, the landscape was shrouded in dense fog-so dense cars with fog lights on were almost invisible until the last moment. The same with the turns and twists of the road. Both factors adding to the fun of driving. A bonus, though, was the free camping a few kilometers from the birdcliff itself. Ultra basic-the only service being a toilet (clean enough) and ground for the tent. That was all i needed anyway. Timing is important-in august the puffins start to leave the area. Their breeding season is roughly may-July. I got here in July and it was a lot of action. It is said the late evenings are best for puffin watching, and i saw more birds late. But there were still lots of birds in the morning. Evening is maybe a concept the birds doesn't really understand-it is daylight 24/7 this time of year. Weather is a much more important factor to them.

A pair sits outside their home-a deep burrow they return to every year. The puffins keep their home-and they keep their partner.

When i arrived at the campsite, i only saw fog. There was no point in going to the cliffs that day. Instead I relaxed in the tent with some shots of Icelandic liquor, a box of shark meat and liversaussage. With it, a good book. In the fog shrouded cliffs behind the campsite i could hear the grouse talking.

Next morning it had cleared up with blue sky, some warming sunrays and little wind. Perfect for a day out on the cliffs. Wind there can be a dangerous factor-it can blow you over the edge and it is no second chance to be had. Only a free fall which can be very long. The place was teeming with puffins living their life. I amde sure not to disturb them, giving way to the birds. Still, they were very close at times. A puffin 3 meters away actually was a far away puffin. They even came between my legs at one occasion! There are many small and big colonies of puffins around the north Atlantic-some of them (in Norway) even have a bigger number of puffins-but this is one of the very best places really to see these birds. You cant avoid getting close-and the birds simply doesn't care about you. Unlike most other puffin colonies I've visited.

Warming up before take off. They are actually not that well adapted for flying in air-the short wings demands up to 400 beats a minute just for the bird to stay in the air. Rest a moment-and the bird falls down like a rock. But they do fly fast-really fast-up to 88 kilometers an hour. But there is an explanation to what looks like a weakness-they also fly under water. Fast. That is how they manage to get those fishes. Their submerged flights are short, less than half a minute. A typical dive go down to 30 meters, the deepest registered dive is 68 meters. The length of their foraging trips vary greatly between colonies. Some birds only have to take 3 kilometer long trips-while members of other colonies need to fly 100 kilometers or even more.

Most fish eating birds swallow their prey and regurgitate it when it is time to feed the chicks. The puffin do a piece of acrobatics by holding them in their beaks. Sometimes a dozen or more small fishes can be fit into their beak. A special hinging mechanism allows the two parts of the beak to grip at several angles. Also the beak have small sawtooths which the fish is pressed towards by using the tongue. The ability to carry many fishes give them an advantage-obviously it is more efficient to go on a trip returning with several fishes, rather than only one. A problem for the puffin population these days is a shortage of food-they are not very flexible about the size of fish they take, and it seems like the fish of their choice is a increasingly scarce commodity. Thus the population of puffins has decreased substantially during recent years.

Puffins are good swimmers. The winter they spend out on open sea-not returning to solid land before the next breeding season. The returning is a spectacle at the larger colonies in the Atlantic when thousands upon thousands of puffins returns at the same time. In northern Norway where i cone from-the returnday to some of the sites was always around April 15th, that date is sometimes called the lundkommardag. Lundefugl (norwegian) or Lundi (icelandic) means puffin. Kommar=arrival and dag= day. Thus meaning the day of the puffins arrival.

After having enjoyed the main site of the cliff, i took a sideroad heading towards the Bjargtangar lighthouse. The present lighthouse was built in 1948, but the station was established in 1913. Bjargtangar is the westernmost point of Iceland, and classified as the westernmost point of Europe as well. No surprise, it is a lot of empty ocean to spot from the cliffedge. A good spot to sit down and let the thoughts drift-weather permitting.

Razorbills. Just like puffins they stay in long term relationships, and just like them they lay one egg which they take turns on incubating. Also they only come ashore to breed, staying offshore rest of the time. They feed on schooling fishes and swallow their prey during dives going down as deep as 120 meters.

A fox is out and about. He is not after the puffins, though. The cliffs are too much for him to handle. But if i was a grouse chick i would keep an eye on him.

Cormorant in its nest. At Latrabjarg I only found small groups of these birds, which some places can form big colonies.

Flower beauty near the campsite.