The Loa is here!

If there is one bird that has a special meaning to Icelanders then that bird is brobably the European Golden Plover (Pluvialis apricaria). The bird is called Heidloa in Icelandic, Loa for short, and is a migrating bird in Iceland.

When the first bird of the year is sighted, it always makes the news, because as everyone in Iceland knows, when the Loa is here spring will be upon us soon. Every child in Iceland knows the song about the Loa where the first line goes something like this (translated loosely to English): “The Loa has arrived to sing away the snow!”

The first Loa of this year was sighted in mid February, in fact six birds were sighted. Specialists say that the bird is a month early this year, due to bad weather recently in Britain and Northern-Europe.