Icelandic birders have been treated to a spectacular trio of Nearctic vagrants in late October, including Varied Thrush and Brown-headed Cowbird.
The late-autumn flurry of North American birds in the country began on Friday 24 October, when a visiting American birder discovered a juvenile Brown-headed Cowbird in the centre of the capital city, Reykjavík.
It later transpired that the bird had probably been present since at least 11 October. An Icelandic first, the cowbird marks only the 10th record for the Western Palearctic and, interestingly, the first to be found in the autumn. The last regional record was some 13 years ago in Mecklenburg Vorpommern, Germany, on 15 May 2012.
Brown-headed Cowbird, Reykjavík, Iceland (Gudmundur Johannesson).
Thrush thrill and Sora surprise
The morning after the cowbird’s public discovery on 24th an even rarer species was discovered: Varied Thrush. The record came about after a Facebook post by a homeowner in the south-western town of Tjarnabyggð asking what species they had in their garden.
The bird, an eye-catching male, was only the second record for Iceland (the previous coming in 2004) and fourth for the Western Palearctic. Both other occurrences have been in Britain, including the famous 2021 individual on Papa Westray, Orkney.
The run of Nearctic goodies concluded on Sunday 26 October, when birders twitching the Brown-headed Cowbird in Reykjavík found a Sora – the third record for Iceland.
Iceland has had a phenomenal autumn for North American vagrants, with several top-quality finds earlier in the season including Philadelphia Vireo and Alder Flycatcher.
Varied Thrush, Selfoss, Iceland (Gudmundur Johannesson).