November bird-race
On November we had once again traditional competition in Parikkala and Rautjärvi. I have usually tried to find all my species in Parikkala. The weather had just turned cold and Siikalahti was freezing. On the 1st of November I had work but luckily it was Friday which is a shorter day and I had some time to do birding. Before the work and on my lunch-hour I visited Siikalahti and luckily in small open water areas there were still ducks. I saw Whooper Swans, Mallards, Wigeons, 18 Teals, 4 Shovelers, the first ever November Gadwall in Parikkala, 30 Tufted Ducks, a Smew, 20 flying Cormorants, a White-tailed Eagle, lots of Fieldfares with 6 Redwings and 6 Starlings and a Blackbird and so on. The most surprising find was a Common Buzzard in Huhmarinen.
After work I went to check some bays on the southern parts of Lake Simpele but I found less than I had expected. Anyway a Bean Goose, some Smews and Great Crested Grebes, Cormorants, a few Greater Scaups and Common Scoters, a Velvet Scoter and some hundreds of Mallard and Wigeons were found. I also saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tits and so on.
In the evening I still headed to check some freezing fields with my thermal camera and managed to find one Woodcock and then I saw briefly some owl in flight. So after all I managed to see 42 species on the first day.
On the 2nd day we did winter-bird count with Hanna’s brother Miika. It had been even 7 minus degrees at night so all the visible areas in Siikalahti had frozen. Altogether we found 28 Whooper Swans, a Long-tailed Duck, 37 Goosanders, 2 Hazel Hens, 6 Black Grouses, 8 Great Crested Grebes, 35 Cormorants, 4 White-tailed Eagles, a Goshawk, the same Common Buzzard which was a new species to my count, 6 Common and 2 Herring Gulls, 12 Rock Doves, a Pygmy Owl, 7 Great Spotted, 2 White-backed and a single Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Waxwings, 4 Blackbirds, 358 Fieldfares, a Redwing, 27 Goldcrests, 87 Blue, 170 Great, 3 Coal, 4 Crested Tits and 18 Willow Tits, even 5 Nuthatches, 14 Treecreepers, 9 Jays, 16 Magpies, 120 Jackdaws, 10 Hooded Crows, 5 Ravens, 2 Starlings, 22 Tree Sparrows, 35 Greenfinches, 3 Gold Finches, 15 Redpolls, 39 Bullfinches, heard a migrating Snow Bunting and 20 Yellowhammers. It was already getting dark when I visited Särkisalmi and saw a Black-headed Gull.
On the 3rd of November we had our old friend Kristjan Niitepöld visiting us and we decided to visit old forests. After some searching we managed to find 3 Siberian Jays. We also heard a Black Woodpecker. Then we checked some bays too and managed to see a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and Nuthatches in Särkisalmi. Then we of course visited Siikalahti as Kristjan had also been a guide there in the past. Siikalahti was almost completely frozen but in a small open water area there were some Mallards and Wigeons and a single Teal. Then a Goshawk attacked one of the Mallalrds, drowned it and first swam with it and then dragged it to the ice and went to eat it behind some reeds.
In the evening we still went to try to catch owls to Tetrisuo with Hanna but we only heard a Short-eared Owl from the sky a couple of times.
On the 4th day the only tick was a family of Barnacle Geese in Järvenpää and on the 5th day I found a funny flock of a Velvet Scoter, a Common Scoter, a Long-tailed Duck and a Greater Scaup in Rautalahti. I sent a message to our WhatsApp group and at least some birders got some November-ticks.
On the 7th of November a Hawk Owl was found in Siikalahti and I also found a Dipper in Tyrjä and a Great Grey Shrike in Tetrisuo. On the 8th day there were a couple of Starlings in Kangaskylä.
On the 9th day we headed to Saari and managed to see a couple of Capercaillies on the way in their traditional place. In Kangas we surprisingly saw a flock of 3 Stock Doves in flings but otherwise we didn’t find much. 12 Canada Geese were seen in Kanavalampi and in Kirjavala we stopped to check a flock of Yellowhammers and Tree Sparrows and managed to find a single House Sparrow and a Brambling.
On the 10th day we were checking Lake Simpele again but found only a flock of 10 Greater Scaups and a Common Scoter. In Joukio we found a Pygmy Owl, in Koitsanlahdenkangas a Goshawk, in Lahdenkylä a couple of Redwings and in Lahdensuo a Sparrowhawk. In Siikalahti both a Hawk Owl and a Common Buzzard were still around and in Kangaskylä again a couple of Starlings. In the evening we had mist-nets in Lahdensuo and a Long-eared Owl came to fly around but unfortunately it didn’t hit the net.
On the 11th day a single Barnacle Goose was found in our backyard and a Sparrowhawk caught a Redpoll there. On the 12th day both a Hawk Owl and a Common Buzzard were again seen. On the 13th day there were only 6 Cormorants in Härskiinmutka.
On the 15th day I checked most places in Saari and found out that many places were frozen. In Akonpohja there were 54 Whooper Swans and 11 Canada Geese standing on the ice. On the 16th day a Tufted Duck was still in Särkisalmi and in Tarvaspohja a couple of Tufted Ducks, a Greater Scaup and 3 Smews. Then I managed to twitch a Wren that Miika had found in Tarvaslampi. In Rautalahti I still saw a couple of Scaups and a Wigeon and in Siikalahti the same Buzzard for the last time.
On the 17th day I saw a Dipper and a Common Scoter in Tyrjä, a Great Grey Shrike in Siikalahti and in Tiviä there was a Nuthatch. In the afternoon we had to put up our feeders to a couple of places.
On the 19th day a Tufted Duck was still in Särkisalmi, a couple of Tufted Ducks and a Greater Scaup in Tarvaspohja, on the 20th day a Cormorant and on the 23rd day a Whooper Swan and a White-tailed Eagle in Härskiinmutka but it really started to feel like winter.
After cold nights on the 23rd day I decided to try to see something better in Savonlinna Punkaharju Punkasalmi and I was lucky as right away I found a couple of birds migrating. I got my scope up and identified another one as a Black-throated Diver but the closer bird was much bigger – it was a young White-billed Diver! In a bit more than 4 hours I saw 2 more Black-throated and 3 Red-throated Divers, a couple of Black-headed Gulls, of course Common and Herring Gulls and some hundreds of Fieldfares. In the afternoon I still twitched a Chaffinch on Minna Terävä’s feeder – it was my 75th November-species in Parikkala.
On the 24th we drove again to Punkasalmi with Hanna but the weather was much windier. In a bit more than 2 hours we saw 4 Red-throated and a single Black-throated Diver, a Black-headed Gull and 1300 Fieldfares. The best observation was a Saimaa Seal. Maybe I should have tried to see some migration in Parikkala too as I hadn’t seen any divers there? During the day we visited Tarvaslampi and surprisingly found 3 Dippers there. So we drove to home to get a couple of mist-nets and hurried back and after all we managed to catch one of the Dippers. In the evening we visited our feeders and saw the same Hawk Owl and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.
In the end of November the weather warmed up again and it was raining and foggy. So I didn’t really do much birding. The only better observation was a flock of 25 Rock Doves in Kangaskylä. On the 28th day there were still a family of Whooper Swans and a Common Scoter in Rautalahti, on the 29th day a Sparrowhawk in Siikalahti and again the same Wren, a Dipper and a Hazel Hen in Tarvaslampi and on the last day of November we still birded for some hours and saw a flock of Siskins, hundreds of Fieldfares, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a couple of Dippers.
J.A.