Longer twitching trip
On Friday the 21st of July on my lunch-hour I decided that we will go to the first real twitching trip of the year once I get away from work. I had a plan that we would drive to Raahe where a Paddyfield Warbler and a Lanceolated Warbler had been singing in a same place. Warbler would be a lifer for Hanna and it was also one of a few species that I had only heard in Finland. With both these species I would also get my 300th species in PPLY-area (Oulu area bird association). Then we would do some birding and then drive back via Sotkamo (Sociable Plover) and Lieksa (Avocets). Unfortunately there were no reports of Lanceolated Warbler and Avocets for a couple of days.
Once I got from work we left driving even though the weather forecast was getting worse. It was raining so badly in Parikkala that we almost gave up. But luckily the rain stopped pretty soon and once we drove more and more also the forecast started to look more promising.
After almost 500 kilometers we were finally in Pattijoki Kotiranta and we continued along a small road until a pasture. There we parked and wore wading-trousers and started to walk towards the sea.
After a kilometer or so walking and wading we were in a right place. There we soon saw a White-tailed Eagle, an Arctic Skua and a Little Tern and heard a Caspian Tern. But there were nothing singing in the reeds.
After some searching we found a family of Sedge Warblers and saw a pale-looking warbler in flight. Then after some waiting we heard a Paddifield Warbler starting to sing. It was singing very shortly and then stayed quiet again until it finally started to sing well. And once it had again been quiet for some time it suddenly flew to a top of a reed and started to sing there. We managed to get some pretty good pictures of this bird.
It was about 9 p.m. so it wasn’t good time for Lanceolated Warbler yet, so we started to walk back towards our car. And then I got a message that a White-rumped Sandpiper had been found in Pori. Soon I got more information and the finder was Juha Niemi who had found the same species also 29 years ago! So the identification was 100% sure. So we decided to change our plans and headed to Raahe where we bought some snacks and so on and started to long (again about 500 kilometers) drive towards Pori.
Finally at 2:30 a.m. we were in Kuuminainen where we continued along a small track toward the sea. We had planned to stop to a parking place that had been told in Lintutiedotus-messages and then sleep for an hour or so as it was the darkest time of the night. We thought that there was nobody now as the birds had been seen still at 10:36 p.m. and then we thought everyone had left. But once we got to the parking place, it was completely full! We managed to find another good place to park our car and then we met a few friends of ours who told that there had been also a message that told that the bird had been seen also at midnight. So we had to start walking towards the sea.
After 1.5 kilometers walk we finally saw people standing against the dark sea. We slowly walked there and then heard where the bird had been seen and soon could find some waders walking between the rocks. It was very dark but somehow we could identify Ruffs, some shanks and Dunlins.
After about 30 minutes Aleksanteri Pikkarainen and Andreas Lindén found a good-looking bird but it took some time to find as they were standing in different places and their notes were different as the bird was in different side of some rocks as they looked it from different angles. But finally we also managed to see the correct bird while it was hiding behind some rocks.
The bird looked good but it was still too dark. And of course we were quite far from it as we didn’t want to disturb the birds. There were more and more twitchers coming all the time. After all this was only 9th White-rumped Sandpiper ever in Finland and the first twitchable for 29 years! Finally the bird climbed to a rock and stopped there and we could see it well enough so I was sure I had just seen my 400th species in Finland!
About 30 minutes later it started to get a little bit lighter and then it was easier to find this skulking bird that was almost all the time behind some rocks. And finally sun started to rise and we could see it better and better.
Other birds we saw were about 20 Dunlins, 4 Curlew Sandpipers, a Ringed Plover, 4 Spotted Redshanks, 2 Grey Plovers and so on. Then after some more waiting White-rumped Sandpiper finally stopped to a rock again and I managed to get some kind of pictures of it. And then suddenly some Dunlins flushed to the sky and also White-rumped Sandpiper flew after them but soon landed back even though the Dunlins disappeared to the sky.
While watching the bird we of course chatted with many friends that were also present. Aleksanteri Pikkarainen also took a picture of us only ones who had got the 400th Finnish-tick – me and famous bird-photographer Tomi Muukkonen.
We started to feel so tired that we had to start walking back towards our car. We heard some Redpolls on the way and they sounded like Lesser Redpolls. Once we were back in the parking place we got a message that White-rumped Sandpiper had left with some Dunlins.
We drove a little and then stopped and put up our hammocks to the forest and soon we were asleep. After a couple of hours it started to rain a little so we had to put up tarps too. But then we slept until 11 a.m.
Once we had packed our camp we continued to Kaarluoto bird-tower where we saw more than 200 Greylag Geese and 20 Grey Herons and so on. Then we decided to drive to Reposaari where we managed to twitch a Mandarin Duck in Junnilanjärvi. Then we still tried to find a Little Grebe in Kirrinsanta without luck.
But then we had to start a long (again about 500 kilometers) drive back to Parikkala. When we were driving I realized that we were driving through Tampere. And so soon after Tampere we parked to Kangasala Kirkkojärvi and walked to the tower when we managed to twitch a long-staying Red-crested Pochard and also a Common Shelduck in a couple of minutes.
Then we still had a long drive back to home. In Parikkala we still did some shopping and then went to put our mist-nets ready.
On the 23rd of July we woke up at 3 a.m. and soon we were opening the mist-nets. We were sure we would catch plenty of birds but again we had to be disappointed. We caught only a Song Thrush, 3 Sedge Warblers, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, 3 Common Whitethroats, a Blue Tit control, a Siskin and 4 Reed Bunting. Luckily we heard a singing Greenish Warbler that was a new Parikkala year-tick to me. It is easy to say that we should have stayed somewhere in western coast for another day and Hanna could have done SSP-ringing during the week while I am at work.
In the evening we still visited Siikalahti where we saw a family of Red-backed Shrikes, a couple of Spotted Redshanks and 4 Grey Herons and already 15 White Egrets.
In the end of July interesting observations were on the 24th day a Dunlin in Saari Pohjanranta, on the 25th day 2 Little Ringed Plovers and a Temminck’s Stint in Suurisuo and 6 Dunlins in Siikalahti. On the 26th day there was a Garganey in Suurisuo and on the 30th a Temminck’s Stint again. On the 30th of July I also saw 20 migrating Velvet Scoters in Siikalahti and also already 13 Great Egrets, 2 Golden Plovers, a Whimbrel, a Dunlin, 5 Stock Doves, a young Great Grey Shrike, an Icterine Warbler, 2 Golden Orioles and the best birds were 2 Grey Wagtails that we saw flying over dam-road. It was a new Siikalahti-tick! On the last day of July there were still tens of Barnacle Geese in the village but soon they were about to leave. In Suurisuo I saw a Pintail and in Kukonkanta I heard a Ringed Plover.
On the 1st of August there were already 16 Great Egrets in Siikalahti and on the 4th a Little Ringed Plover in Suurisuo. On the 5th day I saw the first Hen Harrier of the season, but then it was time to go home to get my luggage and start walking towards the railway-station. While I was walking I heard a Great Egret calling from the sky. I was about to start almost 3 weeks trip to West-Papua!
J.A.