Bird Watching

Around 40 bird species nest in Hrísey, some can only be counted in a few pairs while others are in thousands. The main reason for this unusually large concentration of birds is that all hunting of birds and gathering of eggs is banned on the island and there are no predators such as foxes, minks, mice or rats.

Hrísey also has very favourable conditions for birds with low growing willow and bushes and plentiful food. For a time,

Hrísey was one of the largest Arctic tern nesting sites in Europe.

A bird watching house is located by the “Lambhagatjörn” pond (see map) where one can find a wide variety of ducks and wading birds.