Rare sighting on Snæfellsnes

A Cattle Egret was spotted west of Ólafsvíkurenni on Iceland’s Snæfellsnes peninsula, a very rare occurrence. A bird expert links increasing appearances of southern species in Iceland to climate change.

AI Comment from GPT 5:

This Ólafsvík Cattle Egret fits a wider North Atlantic/northern Europe pattern of unusual egret/stork arrivals and even new breeding attempts further north. Related posts highlight both short-term weather-driven vagrancy and longer-term shifts described by experts as climate-related:

• Cattle egrets and an exceptional heron (Newfoundland, 2018): Nine Cattle Egrets arrived in what was described as the largest influx in living memory, likely blown off course by strong southerly winds during US migration. The post also notes Cattle Egrets are field-feeding birds that readily use lawns and pastures, and mentions a very rare Grey Heron in Canada.

• An Egret on the Alaska Peninsula (Alaska, 2023): A Great Egret photographed in King Cove—another example of egrets reaching high latitudes where they are rarely seen.

• Typically-tropical great egret nests in Finland for first time (Finland, 2018): First confirmed nesting of Great Egret in the country, with hundreds of sightings in recent years and another attempted nest the same summer.

• Rare white stork spotted in Dublin may be result of climate change, says expert (Ireland, 2025): An expert suggested this rare urban stork sighting, alongside reports of some European storks forgoing migration, may reflect climate-driven shifts in migration patterns.

• Rare birds’ arrival an ‘unmissable sign’ climate emergency has reached Britain (UK, 2022): Bee-eaters and black-winged stilts breeding unusually far north were cited by conservationists as signs of species being forced north by climate change.

Taken together, these posts show two pathways relevant to the Iceland sighting: occasional wind-assisted vagrancy (as in Newfoundland) and an increasing number of northern appearances and even breeding attempts in Europe (Finland, UK), which experts in the Ireland and UK posts link to climate change. As noted in the post here, such southern visitors may become more regular in Iceland, even if winter survival remains unlikely. Based on the Newfoundland observation, scanning fields, pasture edges, and areas around livestock near Ólafsvík may offer the best chance to relocate this bird.