I was recently in Iceland and I spent a day on Heimaey. While walking past this slope next to the golf course I heard hundreds of fairly loud squeaking sounds coming from the longer grass. Whatever it was must have been very small because I got down on my knees to peer through the grass and I couldn't see anything in there. There must have been dozens of them because I heard it all over the patch of longer grass. I didn't want to disturb anything so I figured I could look it up later while riding the ferry. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find anything written about these squeaking sounds online. So I turn to you all, hoping it is just so obvious to locals that it's not worth writing about in other venues.
Photo of grass where squeaks were heard.
My apologies but I was unable to get a recording because the blustery winds kept triggering my phone's noise cancellation.
by dvogel
5 comments
Could be artic fox pups.
You must have been very lucky to be in the right moment!
Fairy squeaks are extremely rare!
The elves playing tricks on you
Did it sound something like this?: https://youtu.be/pZ2gTEhwbQ4?si=5PnSEcfjyC_2s1uu
Hi, local here. There are no arctic foxes on Heimaey, no mammals except for pets/strays and a few farm animals. Most of the wildlife are birds. There are no bugs that produce squeaks. No noisy bugs whatsoever. As to what the sound is, I’m not sure. Might be chicks from any of the bird life. It’s the time of year where some of them hatch. The sound from that place can be confusing since the cliff face echoes. Most likely it’s kittiwake chicks in the cliff. Either that or chicks from other local birds that either lay eggs in the grass or cliff.