Iceland’s summer is not just midnight sun and waterfalls. It is also the season when the entire country becomes a nursery. Pufflings in clifftop burrows. Foals trotting behind their mothers through lava fields. Seal pups learning to swim in glacial bays. Goslings waddling along riverbeds. Lamb so numerous they outnumber the people. This guide tells you what to look for, where to find it, and when to go.
Iceland in Summer — The World’s Greatest Nursery
The long, light-filled months of the Icelandic summer are a race against time. The growing season is short — plants and animals alike have a narrow window of warmth and abundance before the darkness returns. Everything that is going to be born, hatched, or foaled in Iceland happens between May and August, and it happens fast, visibly, and in extraordinary numbers.
Iceland has fewer species than most countries — its isolation means many animals that are common elsewhere never arrived here. But the species that did make it are present in extraordinary abundance. The puffin colony at the Westman Islands is the largest in the world. The golden plover fills the moorland with its call from the moment it arrives in April. The Icelandic sheep produces lambs in such numbers that by June the hillsides appear to be moving.
Travelling Iceland in summer with young animals in mind transforms the experience completely. You stop differently — longer, quieter, more attentive to what is happening at the edges of the road and the margins of the lake. At Ice Paradise Tours, some of our most memorable moments with guests happen when no one is paying attention to the glacier — because a reindeer calf has appeared on the hillside behind it.
Pufflings — The Most Adorable Wildlife Event in Iceland
When: July to August · Where: Westman Islands, Látrabjarg, coastal cliffs nationwide
A puffling is a baby puffin — and the word alone should be sufficient to explain why this entry leads the list. Pufflings spend their first weeks of life in a burrow dug into clifftop turf, fed by both parents who make endless trips to the sea and back with beakfuls of sand eels. They are completely invisible during this period — warm, dark, and completely dependent.
Then, sometime between late July and mid-August, the pufflings fledge. They make their first flight in the dark — emerging from the burrow at night and heading for the brightest thing visible, which in nature should be the reflection of the moon and stars on the open ocean. In places where human settlement is nearby, this instinct sometimes leads them toward street lights and town squares instead. They land, confused and exhausted, in places they should not be.
The Puffling Patrol — Heimaey, Westman Islands
In the Westman Islands — home to the world’s largest Atlantic puffin colony — the children of Heimaey have been running what they call the Puffling Patrol for decades. Every August, local children go out at night with cardboard boxes, collect disoriented pufflings from the streets and gardens of the town, keep them safely overnight, and release them at the ocean shore the following morning — launching each small bird toward the sea with a gentle throw and watching it fly. It is one of the most charming wildlife conservation traditions in the world, and visitors are welcome to join.
Icelandic Horse Foals — Born to Run on Lava
When: April to June · Where: Horse farms nationwide, particularly Skagafjörður and the South
Icelandic horse foals are born in spring — typically between April and June — and within hours they are on their feet and moving with the confidence that characterises the breed at every age. They are compact, already showing the thick neck and broad head of the adult Icelandic horse, and they are immediately curious about everything around them. A field of Icelandic horses with foals in early summer is one of the most irresistible sights in the country.
The best place to encounter foals is at the horse farms that welcome visitors — particularly in the Skagafjörður region of North Iceland, Iceland’s acknowledged horse heartland, where farming families have bred Icelandic horses for generations and where farm visits and riding experiences are deeply embedded in local culture. In spring, these farms are alive with foals — some only days old, testing their legs on terrain that will carry them for the next twenty years.
Driving the Ring Road in May and June, you will also see foals in fields along the road — small, round-headed, determinedly following their mothers through landscapes of moss and lava. Pull over. Watch for a while. The foal will almost certainly notice you before you notice it.
Icelandic Lambs — The Animal That Defines the Summer Landscape
When: May to September · Where: Everywhere — roadsides, hillsides, highland pastures, beaches
Iceland has approximately 800,000 sheep — roughly two and a half sheep for every person in the country. In summer, they are everywhere. They graze on the roadside and cause traffic to slow. They wander across highland trails. They occupy beaches. They sit on top of lava formations as if posing. And in May and June, every one of them seems to have at least one lamb beside it — small, impossibly white, and moving with the particular bouncing gait that makes watching Icelandic lambs in a field feel like watching something designed specifically to produce joy.
In late May and June, the lambs are at their youngest and most engaging — still learning to navigate the terrain, still staying close to their mothers, and still small enough to squeeze through gaps in fences that they will not fit through by August. By September, they have grown considerably, and the annual autumn roundup — the réttir — begins, with riders on horseback herding sheep down from the highland pastures to the valley pens.
A note of caution that is also a note of care: sheep with young lambs on or near the road are a genuine driving hazard in Iceland. Slow down when you see them. Ewes with lambs are unpredictable and will move suddenly. Iceland’s roads have no fences in most rural areas, and the sheep use them freely.
Harbour Seal Pups — Learning to Swim in Glacial Bays
When: June to July · Where: Vatnsnes Peninsula, Jökulsárlón, Snæfellsnes Peninsula
Harbour seal pups are born in Iceland from late May through July, typically on sand beaches and sheltered rocky shores. At birth, they weigh around 10 kilograms and are already able to swim — but their early weeks are spent on the beach nursing, growing rapidly on their mother’s rich milk, and very gradually gaining the confidence to spend more time in the water.
The Vatnsnes Peninsula in North-West Iceland — home to the Illugastaðir seal colony, Iceland’s finest harbour seal watching site — is the best place to see pups in summer. In June and July, the beach at Illugastaðir has pups at various stages of development alongside the adult colony, and on calm days they venture into the shallows to practise swimming while their mothers watch from the rocks. The large, dark eyes of a seal pup at close range produce an immediate and entirely involuntary emotional response in almost every visitor who encounters them.
An important reminder: never approach seal pups directly, never touch them, and never place yourself between a pup and the sea. A pup that is separated from its mother by human disturbance may be abandoned. Watch from a respectful distance — twenty metres or more — and let the colony set the terms of the encounter.
Arctic Fox Cubs — Iceland’s Rarest and Most Rewarding Sighting
When: June to August · Where: Westfjords (Melrakkaslétta in North-East Iceland), highland areas
The Arctic fox is Iceland’s only native land mammal — the only animal that reached the island under its own power, crossing the pack ice during the last Ice Age before humans arrived. Iceland’s entire fox population descended from those original Ice Age animals, and they remain wild, shy, and genuinely difficult to encounter.
Arctic fox cubs are born in May and June and emerge from their dens from June onward — small, dark-furred, and irresistibly playful. The cubs stay close to the den for the first weeks, and families of foxes are sometimes observed from a distance at regular den sites known to local guides and naturalists. The Hornstrandir Nature Reserve in the Westfjords is the finest location in Iceland for Arctic fox encounters — human presence is minimal and the foxes have become relatively relaxed around the few visitors who reach this remote area.
The Melrakkaslétta plateau in North-East Iceland — its name literally means Arctic Fox Plain — also has a significant fox population. Seeing an Arctic fox in Iceland is never guaranteed, but the combination of the right location and early morning patience gives you a genuine chance. When it happens, it is one of the finest wildlife moments Iceland offers.
Ducklings and Waterbird Chicks — Lake Mývatn’s Greatest Show
When: June to July · Where: Lake Mývatn, Þingvellir, wetlands nationwide
Iceland is home to more species of breeding duck than almost any other single country in Europe — and in summer, all of them are raising young. Lake Mývatn in North Iceland, with 16 breeding duck species including the barrow’s goldeneye found nowhere else in Europe, becomes in June and July a spectacle of waterbird family life on an almost overwhelming scale.
Common eider females lead their ducklings to water within days of hatching, often combining creches — groups of ducklings from several broods — guarded by one or two adult females while the others feed. Harlequin duck families navigate fast-flowing rivers with a confidence that seems impossible for animals so newly hatched. Tufted duck, scaup, long-tailed duck, and red-breasted merganser families populate the lake shore and the river channels flowing in and out.
Walking the Mývatn lake shore in late June with a pair of binoculars and no particular plan is one of the most richly rewarding wildlife experiences in Iceland. You do not need to be a birder. You just need to walk slowly and look at the water.
Reindeer Calves — The Highland Secret
When: May to June · Where: East Iceland highlands, Eastfjords
Reindeer calves are born in May and June in the highland interior of East Iceland, where the herds retreat to calve away from disturbance. The calves are reddish-brown at birth — a warmer colour than the grey-brown of the adults — and stay close to their mothers for the first weeks of life. In June, when the calves are a few weeks old and the herds have begun moving to lower grazing areas, families with calves are occasionally visible from the roads through the Eastfjords.
Calving season requires extra caution around reindeer. The herds are more skittish than usual when young calves are present, and disturbance from humans can cause females to abandon calves. Keep your distance — significantly further than you would at other times of year — and observe quietly from the road or a respectful position on the hillside. A calf spotted from 100 metres with binoculars is worth infinitely more than one panicked into separation from its mother by an approach at 20 metres.
Whooper Swan Cygnets — Iceland’s National Bird Raises Its Young
When: June to August · Where: Þingvellir, Mývatn, lakes and wetlands across Iceland
The whooper swan — Iceland’s national bird — nests on lakes and wetlands throughout the country in summer, and by June the cygnets are visible: grey-feathered, slightly ungainly, and following their parents with a determination that makes up in enthusiasm what it lacks in elegance. Iceland hosts a significant proportion of the world’s breeding whooper swan population, and summer lake shores throughout the country offer regular family sightings.
Þingvellir National Park’s lake shore and the wetlands around Lake Mývatn are the most reliable locations. The Flói Wetlands near Selfoss in South Iceland — a protected area specifically managed for breeding birds — is excellent for whooper swans with cygnets and is often undervisited compared to the more famous northern locations. Early morning visits give the best chance of families in calm water with the reflections that make swan photography so rewarding.
Goslings and Wader Chicks — The Moorland Comes Alive
When: June to July · Where: Wetlands, river valleys, and moorland nationwide
The greylag goose — Iceland’s most numerous breeding goose — raises its goslings in river valleys and wetland margins throughout the country. In June, large family groups are commonly seen from the Ring Road: adult birds leading strings of fluffy yellow-grey goslings along river banks, across meadows, and beside lakes. The goslings grow fast — within a few weeks they are almost as large as the adults — but in June they are still small enough to cluster beneath the parent birds’ wings in cold weather.
Iceland’s moorland and wetland is also alive with wader chicks in June and July. Golden plover, dunlin, and whimbrel chicks are cryptically camouflaged and difficult to spot — but their parents are often obvious, performing distraction displays (running along the ground pretending to be injured) to lead predators away from hidden chicks. If you see a wading bird behaving oddly near the road, look carefully around your feet — the chick it is protecting is probably closer than you think.
Month by Month — When to See What
April: First migratory birds arrive — golden plover, Arctic tern, whimbrel. Horse foals beginning. Seal colonies becoming active. Greylag geese arriving.
May: Horse foals born in numbers. Seal pups beginning on beaches. First reindeer calves in East Iceland highlands. Puffins returning to colonies. Goslings appearing. Whooper swan pairs on nests.
June: Peak month for almost everything. Lamb most numerous and youngest. Puffin colonies at full activity. Seal pups learning to swim. Arctic fox cubs emerging from dens. Whooper swan cygnets visible. Duck families on Mývatn. Wader chicks on moorland. Long evenings and midnight sun make every encounter extraordinary.
July: Pufflings fledging from mid-month onward — Puffling Patrol begins in Westman Islands. Seal pups growing rapidly. Reindeer calves now moving with herds. Bird families still abundant. Long daylight hours continue.
August: Pufflings fledging — late August is peak Puffling Patrol season. Summer species beginning to depart by late August. Lamb roundups beginning in some regions. The season is turning.
Watching Responsibly — The Rules That Protect the Animals
Keep your distance from all young animals: Young animals separated from their parents by human approach face serious risks. The guideline is simple: if the parent has moved away from its young because of you, you are too close. Back off.
Never touch young wildlife: Touching a wild animal — however harmless it appears — can cause the parent to reject it. If you find a young animal alone, the parent is almost certainly nearby. Leave it exactly where it is.
Stay on paths near nesting areas: Iceland’s summer ground cover hides nesting birds and sleeping young mammals at almost every step. Stay on marked paths in areas where ground-nesting birds are present, and step carefully on unmarked terrain.
Keep dogs on leads: Dogs must be kept on leads near all wildlife, and particularly near seal beaches, bird colonies, and sheep with lambs. A dog running through a nesting area can cause catastrophic disturbance in seconds.
Do not feed wild animals: Feeding any wild animal in Iceland is harmful and in some cases illegal. It disrupts natural diet, creates dependency, and attracts animals into unsafe proximity to roads and human activity.
Drive slowly in summer: Lambs, foals, and goslings move onto roads without warning throughout the Icelandic summer. Drive at a speed that allows you to stop safely at all times, particularly on rural roads and near farms.
Quick Reference — Baby Animals at a Glance
Pufflings: July to August · Westman Islands, Látrabjarg, coastal cliffs
Horse foals: April to June · Horse farms nationwide, Skagafjörður
Lambs: May to September · Everywhere — literally everywhere
Seal pups: June to July · Vatnsnes Peninsula, Jökulsárlón, Snæfellsnes
Arctic fox cubs: June to August · Hornstrandir Westfjords, Melrakkaslétta
Ducklings: June to July · Lake Mývatn, Þingvellir, wetlands
Reindeer calves: May to June · East Iceland highlands and Eastfjords
Whooper swan cygnets: June to August · Þingvellir, Mývatn, Flói wetlands
Goslings and wader chicks: June to July · River valleys and moorland nationwide
Iceland in Summer Is a Country With Young
The geological Iceland — the glaciers, the volcanoes, the lava fields — is ancient and indifferent. It was here before any of the animals, and it will be here long after. But the biological Iceland of summer is entirely the opposite: urgent, new, and profoundly alive. Every lamb in every field, every puffling in every burrow, every fox cub outside its den exists because the summer window opened and the parents were ready. It is, for a few months, the most alive place in the northern hemisphere.
Travelling Iceland in June with eyes open to this — slowing down at the field with lambs, stopping at the seal beach for longer than seems necessary, walking the Mývatn shore at whatever pace the ducks set — produces a version of Iceland that most visitors never quite find. Not the Iceland of the photographs. The Iceland that is actually happening.
Come in June. Drive slowly. Look at the fields.