An unprecedented outbreak of sea lice in Tálknafjörður has led to the loss, or the need to dispose of, at least one million salmon. “Nobody has seen anything like this before. There is a Norwegian veterinarian who has been working in Iceland because of this and he has never seen anything like this in his 30-year career,” Karl Steinar observed.

Samples taken from a white-tailed eagle found dead on a skerry near Barðaströnd in the Westfjords in mid-September tested positive for a severe bird flu virus of the strain HPAI H4N5. An eider duck that was found dead in Ólafsfjörður, West Iceland recently was infected with the same strain of bird flu virus. The strain has not been detected in Iceland before and is not common.

Escapted farmed salmon threatens wild salmon stocks across Northwest Iceland, where it has entered rivers.

In West and Southwest Iceland, rainfall has been less than 10% of the average for July and early August. Rivers and streams have been shrinking and even drying up entirely following several weeks with little to no rainfall in Iceland.

Such deaths are unusual at this time of year in Iceland and their cause is unknown. The widespread deaths of Kittiwakes cannot be attributed to bird flu, according to Brigitte Brugger of the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority (MAST). Samples from the birds analysed by MAST ruled out the illness. While bird flu is unlikely to be the cause, extreme weather may be a possible explanation.

2020 was the second most successful year on record for Iceland’s sea eagles. Currently there are 85 breeding pairs—mostly around the Breiðafjörður area. This year, there have been 51 eaglets from 60 nests.

A group on a glacier expedition on Langjökull yesterday stumbled across a puffin lying in the snow. According to group leader Martha Jónasdóttir, the bird was found right at the centre of the glacier—Iceland's second-largest.

Last week’s storm was the most fatal natural disaster to Iceland’s horses in decades. The situation was worst in Vestur- and Austur Húnavatnssýsla, but horses died elsewhere around the country as well.

Fifty pilot whales were found dead on the shore of Löngufjörur in a sparsely populated part of the Snæfellsnes peninsula on Thursday, RÚV reports.

Lobster stocks around Iceland’s coast are so low a fishing ban is not out of the question.

A large iceberg was spotted approximately 93 km (57 miles) to the west of Látrabjarg, which is located in the north-west of Iceland.

Pilot whales are abyssal creatures, usually spending their lives far away from land. It is not known for sure why the whales drift ashore but they might be confused when they encounter shallows on their swims.

Sheep, primarily ewes and their lambs, have died in great numbers this past lambing-season. The cause has yet to be determined, and farms all around Iceland appear to be affected.