Arctic Tern by the Arctic Circle

Photo: Eyþór Ingi Jónsson

The first arctic terns of the season were spotted in Grímsey yesterday. The species has a big breeding ground in Grímsey and usually arrives around this time of year and leaves in the beginning of August .

The arctic tern makes the longest known migration of any animal, travelling between Arctic and sub-Arctic regions, where it breeds, to the Antarctic, where it winters, each year. Birds that nest in Iceland make a round trip that measures about 90.000 km each year between their nesting and wintering grounds.
The average arctic tern can be over 30 years old and will travel the equivalent of over three round trips from Earth to the Moon during its lifetime.