The article discusses a research project monitoring gulls in Sandgerði, Iceland, where the unique volcanic geography and freshwater availability attracts various gull species. The focus is on screening for strains of avian influenza to understand their transmission, particularly among migratory gulls like the Lesser black-backed gull and Iceland gull. This region serves as a significant ecological point where avian flu can transfer between Europe and North America, highlighting the complex interconnection of migratory patterns and virus dynamics among bird populations.
In this photo, I'm monitoring gulls near Sandgerði, a small fishing village in southwest Iceland. This area is a volcanic peninsula, and although there's a lot of precipitation, most of the water passes through the rocks and flows underground to the sea. So the places where fresh water is available, such as the lake in Sandgerði, attract a lot of birds.
Our project is to screen for strains of avian influenza (bird flu) to study how they spread. We focus on certain species of gull with migration paths that overlap here.
All of that mixing means that Iceland is a key location for avian influenza viruses from Europe to move into North America, and vice versa.
Lesser black-backed gulls (Larus fuscus) breed in Iceland during the summertime, and in the winter they migrate to Europe or West Africa. By contrast, the Iceland gull (Larus glaucoides) breeds farther north, in Greenland or Canada, but returns to Iceland for winter.
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