Words by

Bjørn Penk

Photo by

Bjørn Penk

A hardcore birder’s guide to prioritising life and finding a redwing

Many of us enter the new year intoxicated by the promise of new year, new me. Chin up. Upright posture. Eyes pointed forward. Now, what if you looked a little further? Slightly downwards, a tad to the right, focusing on the horizontal slate rock, following it towards the edge — there — do you see it — the Redwing? 

Birds, as far as we know, do not make resolutions. They migrate, adapt, adjust their calls to traffic noise, and quietly reorganise their lives around whatever humans happen to be doing this year. Still, whether you are entirely new to birds or simply bird-curious, here are ten fowl-oriented resolutions to help you get a flying start on 2026 — or at least offer a gentler way of moving through the darkness.

1. Open a buffet

One of the easiest ways to get started is by feeding birds. This can be informal — the remains of your apple on the walk home — or more organised, by setting up a feeding station. Some people in Reykjavík take this very seriously. You don’t have to. You probably will anyway, once the birds start showing up and your neighbour decides to open a competing buffet next door.

2. Get to know your local birds

You do not need to travel far to start birding. In light of the new Kílómetragjald, consider exploring on foot. A park, a shoreline, or a familiar walk will do. Watching the same place repeatedly is how people accidentally learn things. This is known as a “local patch” and is a perfectly respectable way to begin, provided you warn your neighbours in advance about the binoculars.

3. Go birding like an architect

Identifying birds by appearance or sound can feel overwhelming at first. Instead, start with structure. Birds love infrastructure. Look at water, shorelines, rooftops, giant Christmas cats, lamp posts, dumpsters. A bird on a roof is easier to understand than a bird in mid-air. Think less “What bird is that?” and more “What kind of bird would choose this place?”

4. Send a bird photo to a friend

Have you ever received a photo of a bird from a friend? Perhaps a Redwing nodding along to the punk riffs drifting from the Punk Museum, or a Grey Heron frozen mid-pose at Elliðavatn. If you haven’t, you may now feel an urge. In 2026, try sending one — not as proof of expertise, but as a small way of saying: I noticed this, and thought of you.

5. Try birding as a form of mental maintenance

Spending time with birds has been shown to benefit mental health. Go bird-mode: turn your attention on, turn everything else off. Follow movements, patterns, arrivals and departures that operate entirely outside politics, algorithms, and deadlines. Just be warned – once you notice birds, it can be difficult to stop noticing them.

6. Bring binoculars somewhere slightly awkward

Cemeteries, for example, are among the quietest and most bird-rich spaces in any city. They are excellent for birding and mildly uncomfortable to explain. That’s fine. If other people with binoculars start appearing, you’ll feel less strange, and the place might quietly become a hotspot. Birds, at least, remain entirely unbothered.

7. Choose your field guide (or don’t)

You can carry a physical field guide, use an app, or do both. One smells like paper and confidence; the other fits in your pocket and argues with you. There is no correct answer. The important thing is not knowing everything — it’s having something to check when curiosity wins.

8. Use birds as a reason to learn Icelandic

Tired of grocery store small talk switching to English the moment things get complicated? Birding is an excellent excuse to stay in Icelandic. Much of the birding community is local, and knowing prepositions can be the difference between seeing and missing a bird. “Hefurðu séð fuglinn?” is as good a conversation starter as any.

9. Try reporting what you see

Consider reporting sightings to eBird. Start small. One list. One bird. Then another. It can become strangely habitual, like sending messages that always get a response. The difference is that birds don’t leave you on read — and your small habit quietly contributes to something larger.

10. Get going now and you’ll be slightly ahead of the trend

Birding is, apparently, becoming cool. Birdfluencers are multiplying, and magazines have noticed. Start now, and in a few years you’ll be able to say you were into birds before it was fashionable — which is, admittedly, a very birding thing to care about. 

None of these resolutions are binding. Birds will continue adapting whether we notice them or not, adjusting to our noise, our buildings, and our habits. Perhaps the only real resolution here is to adapt in return — to look a little differently, move a little slower, and allow something small and feathered to reorganise the way we pay attention. Happy Bird Year!