The nasty piece of work called the skua comes to the Eiðars skirting the rip rap on the Jökulsá.

At first, they get out of the way.

Fast.

The Skua keeps at it. When I witnessed this scene two weeks ago, I’d already been harassed by a skua myself, on the selfljót. It wanted my grey hat. Or me. I don’t know which. Yikes.

It’s the ducklings it really wants, though.

The eiðar defense entails a lot of splashing.

And then the eiðars attack the skua.

And jump on the murderous intruder’s wings.

And try to drown that sucker.

But  the  skua  gets  out of the pile.

It kicks across the water…

…and is off..

… with a duckling (flapping its little wings) for a catch.

And that’s why eiðars have so many ducklings.