Angry Birds

This is a swarm of arctic terns in Vatnsnes, Iceland. Arctic terns are among the most aggressive of the sea birds.Their favorite passtime is to divebomb people when they get close to them. They really go for blood too. I've had them just inches from my head before. I've heard of people that have had pieces of their scalp ripped off by these birds, and I generally try to stay clear of them. They seem to be after me too, as I'm usually the one being attacked. The area where our campsite was located, however, was right next to an arctic tern breeding ground, which has been made into a sanctuary, complete with an observation platform from which you can see one of the largest seal colonies in Iceland. The birds were used to seeing people, and generally tried not to kill or maim us. It was rather unnerving having arctic tern babys sitting on the path, and having to walk by them without getting attacked. We made it back alive, and I think I'm mostly cured of my arctic tern phobia.

Feeding Time!

An arctic tern feeding it's chick. Vatnsnes, Iceland.

Transition

Glacial ice transitions seamlessly into mountainside. Svínafellsjökull, Iceland.

Icescape

Looking down over the glacier tongue of Svínafellsjökull. Skaftafell, Iceland. In the background, you can just make out the atlantic ocean. This is an HDR assembled with Photshop HDR Pro.

Hvítserkur in moonlight

Here's another picture of Hvítserkur in Vatnsnes, Iceland. This is not the standard angle to photograph Hvítserkur from, but I wanted to capture the moon next to it. I walked a way down the beach (avoiding getting divebombed by kittywakes) and found this view.

Hallgrímskirkja

This church stands on top of the hill in Reykjavik, and the architecture seems to reflect the attitude of the Iclandic people. On my 3rd trip to Iceland, this was the first time I'd been in Reykjavik while the curch was not covered in scaffolding. It was a good oppotunity to finally take some pictures of this impressive and unusual structure.

Cold Stream

An icy stream in the backwoods of New Hampshire. This one feeds into a beaver pond. As a kid, I played in many small streams around these woods, and loved hopping the rocks and banks while trying not to fall in. Falling in would've been especially bad on this day, as it was around 15F!