An Extinction Moment

There are places you go in life that have a tranquil, slightly eerie feeling.  That is how I felt when my wife and I visited Iceland over the summer to celebrate 10 years of marriage.  We did all of the touristy places , but on the last day I told her I'd like to find the Great Auk statue that was somewhere an hour away from Reykjavik where we were staying.

 I had seen taken my family into DC last year to see the Museum of Natural History's presentation of "The Lost Bird" project by artist Todd McGrain.  

 http://www.lostbirdproject.org/
He had created 5 bronze statues of different extinct North American birds and placed each in the location where they went extinct.   He focused on the great auk, the heath hen, the passenger pigeon, the Carolina parakeet, and the Labrador duck.  The first four birds are characters in my book, so of course I took an interest.

Through reading about The Lost Bird Project, I found out where the statues were placed, which during our Iceland trip had escaped my mind until the last day.  The exact location was never clearly stated, but after reading a few blogs of other visitors we were able to brave the dive bombing arctic terns, pass an awesome lighthouse, and discover the Great Auk statue looking our toward Eldey Island.


 Eldey Island was the last report of great auks.  On July 3, 1844 on Eldey Island was where the last nesting pair was killed and their egg was stepped on marking the extinction of the great auks.  (there were other possible reports after that date).  This was why one of my main charcacters, the great auk, was named Eldey.  That tiny speck in the distance is Eldey Island.














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