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The statue Geirfugl in Reykjavík.
Bessastaðir, the residence of the President of Iceland in the background.

Geirfugl or The Great Auk, Pinguinus impennis, formerly of the genus Alca) is a bird that became extinct in the mid-19th century.
It was the only species in the genus Pinguinus, a group which included several flightless giant auks from the Atlantic, to survive until modern times.
It was also known as garefowl (from the Old Norse geirfugl, meaning "spear-bird", a reference to the shape of its beak), or penguin.
The last population lived on Geirfuglasker ("Great Auk Rock") off Iceland.
This island was a volcanic rock surrounded by cliffs which made it inaccessible to humans,
but in 1830 the rock submerged, and the birds moved to the nearby island Eldey which was accessible from a single side.
The last pair, found incubating an egg, were killed there on 3 July 1844.

Today, around 75 eggs of the Great Auk remain in museum collections, along with 24 complete skeletons and 81 mounted skins.

Info from Wikipedia.
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Jun 30 2008 23:11 GMT Cooler PRO
Thanks again for your kind words and comments dear Baddi, þetta er í Skerjafirðinum ;-)))
Jul 03 2008 12:10 GMT Cooler PRO
Thanks again for your kind words and comments dear Baddi, nokkur ár síðan hún var sett upp þarna ;-)))
Jul 06 2008 05:17 GMT karlbark
I was so surprised when I saw this image!
Because I did actually recognize the outline of the bird for what it was (Geirfugl)!
-And I had no idea that this sculpture existed - I have neither seen nor heard about it.
So you can imagine that I was a little perplexed ;-D
Of course I thought that it must be some other bird, (when I saw the thumbnail I thought it was a (Skarfur), but as soon as I opened the image, what stared me in the face...
(það sem blasti við)
...was a (Geirfugl). -And of course that didn´t make any sense.
So my response was pure bewilderment ;-D
(As you can imagine)!

Best regards,
Karl Trausti from Iceland
Jul 06 2008 12:39 GMT Joe PRO
Lovely silhouette
Jul 07 2008 00:48 GMT Cooler PRO
Thank you for your kind words and comment dear Karl, já það eru margir sem fara
gangandi eða á reiðhjóli þarna um Skerjafjörðinn en taka ekki eftir honum,
búinn að vera þarna í nokkur ár og virkilega flottur, er eftir Ólöfu Nordal ;-)))
Jul 07 2008 00:48 GMT Cooler PRO
Thank you for your kind words and comment dear Joe ;-)))
Jul 08 2008 20:16 GMT beus PRO
Fantastic shot my friend.
Great composition!!
Jul 09 2008 00:09 GMT Cooler PRO
Thank you for your kind words, comment and fav. dear Beata ;-)))
Aug 01 2008 19:48 GMT mcdonegal1 PRO
Excellent!
Aug 03 2008 13:49 GMT Cooler PRO
Thank you for your kind words and comment dear Mary ;-)))