Solo exploring around Iceland to find Puffins and the Arctic Fox!!

Hi everyone, welcome back to the channel. In this episode we're taking you all the way to Iceland. And I know I promised colder climates than Stanthorpe. Well so far this hasn't quite lived up to the expectation. But in saying that, this is summer in Iceland after all. Iceland is home to some of the most incredible landscapes on the planet. We've got volcanic activity, we've got glaciers, icebergs, you name it. But as always we're a wildlife-based YouTube channel. And I've been fortunate enough over the last few days to have some incredible interactions with some of the most unique wildlife that call Iceland home. And our main focus of this episode will be both the Arctic Fox and the Atlantic Puffin. Possibly the cutest seabird of all. The island country of Iceland is situated just below the Arctic Circle and is around a hundred thousand square kilometres in size, with one main ring road connecting the country's major townships. The population of Iceland is relatively small at less than 400,000 people, although this number is drastically increased by its ever growing tourism demand, especially during the summer months. Those that are brave enough to stay in Iceland year-round can expect temperatures to rarely exceed single digits and winter daylight hours to reduce to less than five hours of sunlight between December and January. Fortunately my time in Iceland was during their summer months, where this time period is flipped and I never actually did see the Sun set or rise during my time here. Although at times it seemed it could barely break through the thick cloud that seemed to constantly anti-clockwise along the main ring road to the country's southern coastline. Here you can expect to see its world-famous black sand beaches, but there's one attraction here I'm even more excited to see. A colony of Atlantic puffins. Puffins will spend nine months of the year out in the open ocean and only return to the shoreline for the breeding season. My timing meant I was at the end of the puffin breeding season and some colonies had already vacated. Thankfully however, this large colony were yet to leave and I was able to get a first-hand look at these adorable animals. Puffin breeding season is between the months of April to August and Iceland is one of the best countries to see these adorable creatures, as around half the global population of Atlantic puffins choose to nest here. While puffins may share similar characteristics to that of penguins in the southern hemisphere, they're actually very competent at flying. They're able to flap their wings at 400 beats per minute in order to get that stocky body off the ground, which incredibly allows them to reach speeds of up to 88 kilometers per hour. Not only does this enable them to be fast flyers, it also assists them to dive to depths of up to 60 meters underwater in search for delicious fish. Another amazing fact about puffins is that they will mate for life, although they won't necessarily spend their time at sea with their partner, instead of reuniting at their usual nesting sites each year. I think puffins are one of the greatest animals on earth and I feel absolutely blessed to have seen them in the wild like this. It's time to leave the puffins behind and continue my adventure around this beautiful country. Being in Iceland feels like being on another planet and I hope this footage gives you even some justification on how truly beautiful and and into the country's remote northwest. This area of particular interest to me is actually so remote that it is only accessible by boat and no people live here year-round. Due to this, my target species has been able to thrive here without risk of being hunted, as it was historically in many other parts of Iceland. This animal is of course the adorable Arctic Fox. The Arctic Fox is the only native land mammal to Iceland and it's assumed it settled onto the island country after the last Ice Age. While they are scattered across the country, their greatest density lies in coastal regions where they are able to scavenge beaches for washed up fish carcasses. Here in the West Fjords, in particular, lay the greatest chance of seeing this shy animal, as the Arctic Fox wasn't historically hunted here as it was in other regions and has no natural predators. Encounters are often more than just a fleeting glimpse and we were able to observe this fox in particular for some time without it being bothered when they think about the Arctic Fox and instead imagine a snow white animal with a long fluffy coat, but this is in fact the same animal. Arctic foxes can be categorized as either blue or white morphs. The more well-known white morph will have their brilliant white coat over winter and be bicolored over summer with patches of white and brown. However, these blue morphs will keep their muddy brown coloration year-round. Worldwide, white morphs make up 90% of the population, yet interestingly here in Iceland, the blue morph population actually outnumbers that of the white morph at almost 70%. This is likely a combination of their isolation from other populations as well as an evolutionary advantage to better blend into their environment as Iceland is covered in dark volcanic rock and doesn't see the same snowfall and snow periods as the true Arctic does further north. Exploring Iceland and witnessing some of my dream species to see in the wild was a dream come true and I hope you guys enjoyed this episode. 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