Puffins are cute birds and easy to recognize with their colorful beaks. They bread on cliffs in the far north and in fact 60 % of them bread on Iceland. Their population is continuously shrinking and therefore they are officially classified as a vulnerable species. Puffins are hunting fishes and crabs and fly over winter into the south: to the Mediterranean Sea and the north of Africa. If you’re visiting Iceland you’ve got different options to see them and you’ll be astonished how close you can get to them.
One opportunity is north of Egilsstaðir: the Borgarfjarðarhöfn at Bakkagerði. Once you’ve reached the parking area it is only a short walk to the harbor. The first building you see is the visitor’s center that includes a small art gallery, a coffee bar and toilets. Just around the small harbor you’ll find the cliffs where the puffins do bread. You can climb up at different places and walk on wooden paths through the colony giving you the chance to not only observe the very large population of puffins; you can also get as close as one meter to the puffins that seem to know that humans mean no harm here. A paradise for nature photographers!
Borgarfjarðarhöfn
Bakkagerði
Iceland
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