. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On Friday 11th of May we left to Virolahti. On the way we checked the last owl nest boxes that we have in Rautjärvi. No owls but a Hazel Hen, a Black Grouse and a male Capercaillie were seen.

The weather was getting rainy so we didn’t hurry to Virolahti but drove to Kouvola Junkkarinjärvi where we twitched a Black-necked Grebe in heavy rain. Also a Spotted Flycatcher was seen as a year-tick.

We continued to Hamina Lupinlahti where a Great Reed Warbler was singing in a rain. In Kirkkojärvi Thrush Nightingales were singing even though the rain was extremely heavy! We just sat in a car and listen Finland loosing Canada. When the rain finally stopped we tried to hear Little Crake and also Savi’s Warbler nearby in Savilahti but didn’t hear them. After the rain it started to blow very hard so no wonder the birds weren’t active. Finally we drove to Virolahti Hurppu where we slept in a car.

On the 12th of May I woke up early at 4:30 a.m. Soon I was in Verkkokallio to watch migration. The first 15 minutes were boring but then flocks of Barnacle Geese started to come to horizon and soon many flocks were migrating on the sea and over the land all the time. Mostly they were far and in bad light but some of them flew over me but the wind made them fly very fast. So I really couldn’t do anything else than count them somehow.

At 5:50 a.m. I saw a Pomarine Skua flying close to the shore and soon several Arctic Skuas too. But there were so many flocks of Geese that I really couldn’t check the sea often enough. The wind was so hard that my telescope almost fell down a couple of times. Pekka Saikko and later also Hanna came to watch the migration too and then the flocks started to get bigger. But soon the migration wasn’t so strong anymore and at 9 a.m. we had to do some breakfast. I counted that I had seen 40000 Barnacle Geese, a couple of flocks of Tundra Bean Geese, 6000 sea-ducks (Long-tailed Ducks and Common Scoters but too far), 4 Gadwalls, a Honey Buzzard, some Red and Black-throated Divers and a flock of 13 Bewick’ Swans. Of course I had seen also Arctic Terns and in Heinäluoto there were more than 50 Caspian Terns in a colony, there I had seen also a Dunlin briefly.

Some flocks of Barnacle Geese were still on the sky when we left to Virojoki Rajasali where Hanna had to go to put her paintings to a wall. There was a Arctic Migration in Virolahti – art gallery starting in the afternoon.

I continued to Kurkela where I tried to see some raptors but because of the wind it wasn’t clever. I saw only 8 local White-tailed Eagles but nothing else. I also visited Lintulahti where I saw 3 Gadwalls before I went to see the opening ceremony of the gallery.

In the afternoon we were sleeping a couple of hours in Lakakallio where we hoped to see some evening migration but the wind was too bad, no birds were migrating at all. So we went to night-trip again. In Heinäluoto we saw a Turnstone and in Lintulahti a Temminck’s Stint, 2 Garganeys and heard a drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Then we drove to Hamina again where the weather had changed and it was now a perfect weather to listen night-singers but no Savi’s Warbler or Little Crake were heard. A Reed Warbler was singing and a Nightjar was perched on the road in Kirkkojärvi so a couple of new year-ticks anyway. After all we drove again to Hurppu to sleep.

On the 12th of May I woke ap after 4 a.m. and at 4:30 I was watching migration again. Or actually there was no migration to watch at all. The wind was now from north which wasn’t good direction. In a couple of hours all I saw was 5 Red-throated Divers. In Heinäluoto I saw 60 Caspian Terns and these amazing terns were nice to watch. Once Hanna had awakened we visited Vilkkiläntura where a Red-breasted Flycatcher was singing. Then we drove back to Hurppu to have breakfast and check that there was still no migration at all.

At 10 a.m. we drove to Kurkela where it was extremely windy. My telescope nearly fell down several times! Only 7 local White-tailed Eagles were seen and a Black Kite.
So after all we left towards South-Karelia much earlier than we had planned.

In Ylämaa Väkevänjärvi we didn’t see anything interesting and in Lappeenranta Haapajärvi we saw only 2 Redshanks. In Nuijamaa Pohjola we twitched a hybrid Collared x Pied Flycatcher which was very interesting looking bird. The collar was just a little bit too thin, the white patch on the wing was a little bit too small and wrong shaped and also the forehead-spot was too small. The bird was calling and also singing both species!
In Hyvättilä we saw a flock of 500 geese (3 common species) and in Kotasaari we saw 3 Temminck’s Stints and a Redshank. In Imatra Immalanjärvi we still counted 63 Little Gulls before we drove home.

On the next 2 days there was really good Barnacle Goose migration both in Virolahti and also in Parikkala but I was working and not able to do much birding. On the 15th of May I saw the first Scaups of the year, a couple in Härskiinmutka and an early River Warbler was singing close to Siikalahti bird-tower.

J.A.

On Monday 7th of May I was working again. On my lunch-hour I went to count ducks to Vartialahti, Tiviänlampi and Pyöriälahti but nothing better was found. After work I went to check owl nest-boxes again. It was hard work again as a couple of nest-box trees had fallen and Ihad to remove the nest-boxes. A Pine Marten had been living one of the nest-boxes and I really started to feel sick when I was cleaning it. Maybe the eighth nest-box was also in the middle of cut forest but luckily the tree was still standing. I was going to remove it but when I was climbing the ladders and touching the nest-box a Tengmalm’s Owl flew away from it.

I continued to the furthest nest-boxes which were empty and then drove back to catch the Tengmam’s Owl. I ringed this very aggressive bird and counted 5 eggs and continued to Melkoniemi forests. I checked several nest-boxes on Siberian Jay forests but only in last one there was a Pygmy Owl with 7 eggs. I ringed this very bird and after I had seen a tame Hazel Hen I continued to count ducks in Tarvaspohja.

I still decided to frive to Saari Pohjanranta to see and photograph the American Wigeon. On the previous day all my photographs had been really bad becouse of the camera’s adjustents. At 8 p.m. I clinbed to the bird-tower and soon found the bird feeding on the field with more than 100 Wigeons. I walked a little bit closer and managed to get pretty good pictures. The sun was already setting when I drove back home.

On the 8th of May on my lunch-hour I counted ducks in Kukkarolahti and checked a couple of empty Tawny Owl nest-boxes, in Härskiinmutka I saw 51 Long-tailed Ducks and 20 Common Scoters. After a long day at work we left to check the rest of the nest-boxes in Melkoniemi-Tarvaslampi forests. Harri Partanen came to help me and we dropped Hanna to check Siberian Jay forests where she tried to find anything good for the dutch group that is coming in the end of May.

With Harri we checked about 20 nest-boxes but they were all empty. Other birds weren’t found either, just a Black Grouse, some Cuckoos, a Sparrowhawk and a Wren. Hanna wasn’t too lucky either but she heard a Three-toed Woodpecker drumming, Grey-headed Woodpecker calling, saw a female Capercaillie and heard a couple of Wrens. When we were picking up Hanna we heard a possible Three-toed Woodpecker but it disappeared too soon.

On the 9th of May in the morning I saw 74 Long-tailed Ducks, a Common and a Velvet Scoter from Härskiinmutka. In the morning I saw 79 Long-tailed Ducks, a Common and a Velvet Scoter in Härskiinmutka and on my lunch-hour 74 Bean, 20 White-fronted and 51 Barnacle Goose. After wor we went to check all the nnest-boxes in Punkaharju. Unfortunately they were all empty. We have only some nest-boxes to check in Rautjärvi. So far we have found 2 Tengmalm’s, 2 Pygmy and 1 Ural Owl nesting. There was foot prints of large male bear under one of our nest boxes.

At night between 10th and 11th of May I visited Siikalahti and heard Sedge Warblers, 2 Thrush Nightingales, 2 Water Rails and 6 Spotted Crakes.

J.A.

On Friday 4th of May my old friend “potu” Suojarinne came to Parikkala to traditional bird-tower competition weekend. I stopped at 1 p.m. at work and soon we met in Siikalahti. In a couple of hours we saw for example a Sand Martin and 4 Hobbies. The weather was nice so we decidec to go to Saari. On the way we checked if the Steller’s Eiders were still in Särkisalmi but we found only Smews, Red-breasted Merganser and 3 Common Scoters. In Rautalahti we found a flock of 477 Tundra Bean Geese and a Pink-footed Goose. After we had checked one empty Ural Owl nest (there was a nest last year), we continued to Akanvaara Tetrisuo where we saw a flock of 8 Whinchats. In Pohjanranta we saw a couple of Ruffs and 18 Yellow Wagtails.
In Uukuniemi Suurenjärvenliete we saw 55 Greenshanks, 12 Common Sandpipers, a Ringed Plover, a Little Ringed Plover, a nice male Bluethroat and a Short-eared Owl. In Tarassiinlahti we didn’t see anything better even though we knew it would be once again our main competitor in next day’s tower-competition.
In Kaikumäki we saw a House Martin and in Riionsalmi a Common Redstart, 2 Willow Warblers, a Chiffchaff and a Lesser Whitethroat. In Kanavalampi we found a flock of Tundra Bean and White-fronted Geese with a Barnacle Goose and a Greylag Goose. On the way back to Parikkala we still saw 30 Barnacle Geese in Pohjanranta. After we had bought pizzas from ABC, we continued to watch ice-hockey WM match Finland-Belarus.

5th of May – The Bird-tower competition.
We woke at 4:20 a.m. and when we were packing our car it started to rain. We were in Siikalahti bird-tower early but luckily the rain wasn’t too heavy yet. So when the competition started we were all, Janne and Hanna Aalto, Miika Suojarinne, Johannes Hänninen, Ilpo Kuusisalo and Boy Possen, still on the second floor of the tower.
The bay was surprisingly quiet and empty. So in the beginning we didn’t get any better species. Anyway Smews, Slavonian Grebes, Bitterns, a Water Rail, Song Thrushes, Golden Plovers etc. were seen. The rain got heavier so some of us went to the lower floor but a couple of craziest stayed up.
Slowly we got new species and of course some better ones too: Black and Red-throated Divers, a Garganey, a White-fronted Goose, a Rough-legged Buzzard, Whimbrels, a Black Grouse, a Whinchat and so on. The wader migration was good and during the morning we saw at least 500 Wood Sandpipers, 200 Greenshanks, 100 Spotted Redshanks and 100 Ruffs. A couple of times the rain got too heavy so even I had to go to the lower floor because of the optics were geting too wet, clothes had been wet already.

The rain continued until midday but anyway we managed to see or hear a Linnet, a Goldfinch, 4 Rooks, a Little Ringed Plover, Swallows, 2 House Martins, a White-backed Woodpecker, a Hobby, some Bean Geese, 2 Canada Geese and even 2 Swifts!
When the rain finally stopped we tried to see some passerines from the farm-yards and found Tree Sparrows, a Common Redstart, a Yellow Wagtail and then also a nice flock of 40 Bar-tailed Godwits came to fly around the bay!
On the last hour we still hoped to see new species like House Sparrow, Tree Pipit, Dunnock, Northern Wheatear, Robin, Pied Flycatcher, Sand Martin, Barnacle Goose or anything better but we didn’t get any new species!
Our final count was 87 species which was very close to our average. So we could be very happy to our result, anyway it had been the coldest and second wettest competition ever! We were the best tower in South Karelia (Tarassiinlahti had also 87 species but they had got the last species only 3 minutes before the end). In whole country we were 22nd but of course on the coast there are more species, in inland we were 3rd.
After a short sleep the weather had changed much better. So we went to ring a Tengmalm’s Owl I had found a couple of day earlier and then checked Lake Simpele from a couple of places. In Moskuunniemi we saw a flock of 120 Barnacle Geese and an Oystercatcher migrating. In the late evening we still visited Siikalahti where a Spotted Crake was calling.

On the 6th of May we were out at 6 a.m. A Wryneck was calling close to our parking place and 55 Barnacle Geese were migrating in Härskiinmutka. Soon we were again in Siikalahti bird-tower but the weather was again extremely cold! Some Sand Martins, Tree Pipits, Yellow Wagtails, a Redhank and Barnacle Geese were seen but then at 9:47 a.m. we got a message that there was an American Wigeon in Pohjanranta! We drove there immediately and saw the bird right away! Soon the light turned bad so we continued to scan the sky and saw a White-tailed Eagle, a Hen Harrier and a couple of Rough-legged Buzzards. Soon we continued to other places in Saari.

There weren’t many birds in other places: 2 Ringed and 4 Little Ringed Plovers in Suurenjärvenliet but almost nothing else. So at 3 p.m. we went to see the American Wigeon again but it was still pretty far. On the way back home we saw a flock of 106 Common Scoters and 3 Long-tailed Ducks in Moskuunniemi. The rest of the evening was spent watching Finland won again 1-0 and just relaxing. It started to rain again so we were ready to go to sleep early.

J.A.

On the 30th of April after I was free from work we were planning to go to Siikalahti, when I got a message that a Spotted Eagle was migrating there. We tried to see it from our balcony and found a big raptor soaring far in South. But then we realized our telescopes were in our car. Of course when we were back in the balcony with a scope we didn’t find the raptor anymore, but we saw a flock of 30 migrating Common Scoters.

In Siikalahti we met lots of birders that had arrived to Parikkala to celebrate the 1st of May. They had seen 3 species of eagles in a short time and also a small harrier earlier. But soon most of them left and we started to scan the sky together with 3 birders from Turku. A Whinchat was singing when someone found a harrier from the sky and it was a second calendar-year Pallid Harrier! It flew straight over us and Hanna manged to get a couple of pictures of this 3rd Pallid Harrier for us in 3 days!

Soon we walked to the bird-tower where we saw that whole Siikalahti was now open. 5 Canada Geese, 5 Wood Sandpipers, 20 Swallows with about 10 smaller martins were seen in bad light and too far to identify. Along the path flowers were already flowering and a tame Chaffinch let Hanna to photograph itself. A Pied Flycatcher was already singing carefully.

In the eveing we went to sauna to Tarvaslampi. On the way back we photographed Spring Pasque flowers and checked Särkisalmi where we saw 93 Great Crested Grebes and 18 Red-necked Grebes. In Liuharanta we still saw 101 Tundra Bean Geese and 10 White-fronted Geese.

On the1st of May the weather had changed and a cold northern wind made it impossible to be in Siikalahti. We checked the wader-area where were 67 Greenshanks, 6 Spotted Redshanks and 2 Ruffs, 2 Tree Pipits and a Yellow Wagtail. Then we checked some bays nearby which all were surprisingly open!

After a couple of hours birding Hanna had to go home to do some painting-work and I continued to Saari with Harri Partanen.
We started at Akanvaara Tetrisuo where we saw a Hen Harrier, in Pohjasuo we saw a Merlin and then in Pohjanranta bird-tower there were many birders keeping the wind. 110 Greenshanks, 24 Ruffs, 22 Wood Sandpipers, 4 Yellow Wagtails and 2 Common Terns were seen.
Next we continued to Suurenjärvenliete where we met Jarmo Pirhonen. Only 19 Pintails and some geese were seen before we continued to Jyrkilä where we counted a flock of 750 Wood Pigeons. In Kanavalampi area we saw 126 Greenshanks and lots of Wigeons. The best bird was an adult Peregrine Falcon which was flying around the lake.

In the afternoon we went to check owl nest-boxes in Tyrjä and Siikalahti area. They were all epmty and one was missing. We still decided to see if there was anything breeding this year at all and went to check a nest-box where a Ural Owl has been breeding in 6 years in a row and luckily it was there again incubating 2 eggs. After a couple of more nest-boxes we still checked Tarvaspohja but nothing new was found.

On the 2nd of May I got a nice birthday-present when on my lunch-hour I checked 3 nest-boxes (or actually 2, one was again missing). In a Ural Owl nest-box there was a Tengmalm’s Owl incubating 2 eggs. After work I still went to check 5 nest-boxes, 2 of them were empty, one was missing (again tree had fallen in a storm and someone had taken the nest-box), a Goldeneye was living in one and then the biggest surprise – a nice Pygmy Owl was incubating again 2 eggs in one! What a great birthday present again!

On the 3rd of May other birders saw good birds in Parikkala but I was at work. In the afternoon I managed to twitch 4 Steller’s Eiders that Jari Kontiokorpi found in Särkisalmi.

J.A.

On the 25th of April I had time only for a couple of short visits to Siikalahti. A Barn Swallow was seen migrating and soon after that a Hobby – the enemy number one for a Swallow – was migrating too. Also 11 Rough-legged Buzzards and 2 Redshanks were seen. On the 26th day I got the first year-tick already right after midnight when I heard migrating Common Scoters. Then on my lunch-hour I saw a male Gadwall, a Garganey, 3 Slavonian Grebes and 2 Common Sandpipers.

On the 27th of April we started a long drive to Oulu. We had planned to visit my brother’s family, of course do some birding and also visit The Liminganlahti Bird Photography Festival. On the way we saw a Nutcracker in Punkaharju and a Pheasant in Vieremä.

On the 28th of April we started at 6:00 a.m. and drove to Liminganlahti to Lumijoki Sannanlahti bird-tower. I managed to get to the tower first and started to check the ducks that were swimming on a small open water area or perched on the ice. Soon I found something strange – a duck with white on its head and something strange on it’s back, something orange – a Mandarin Duck! Luckily it soon climbed to the ice and started to sleep so Hanna and some biology students managed to see it too even though it was very far. A new self-found tick!

I head a Ringed Plover and a Grey heron was seen in flight, a Little Gull was flying with other gulls, 2 Black-tailed Godwits were in Pitkänokka, a Whimbrel was standing on ice and 2 Caspian Terns were flying around. After a couple of hours in windy Sannanlahti we continued to Tyrnävä to see geese. In Ritokorpi we checked a small flock where were mostly Taiga Bean Geese, but some Pink-footed Geese and 4 White-fronted Geese. Then we saw a harrier landing to a field and it looked interesting. Hanna went to photograph it and flushed it and it was a 3rd c-y Pallid Harrier!
Soon we found amazing big floods on some fields in Jokisilta where were about 2000 ducks but only interesting were 2 Garganeys. We continued to Ängeslevä fields where we found amazing 266 Pink-footed Geese! It probably doubled the number of Pink-footed Geese I’ve ever seen! There were only some 30 Taiga Bean Geese in the flock. In Murto we saw some 25 Pink-feets more and then we continued to Liminka Virkkula.

The parking place was absolutely full and there were 200 metres cars parked along the road too! Luckily there was just a lunch-break so we managed to meet many friends in information centre. The new exhibition was very good and of course we visited a bookstore and camera equipment stores. After we had made some sausages on the fire we walked to a new bird-tower. 4 White-tailed Eagles and 22 Black-tailed Godwits were the best birds. 2 Bewick’s Swans were with a big Whooper Swan flock on the field nearby.

Then we drove towards Oulunsalo. On the way we saw a Collared Dove in flight in Liminka village and huge floods in Temmesjoki. In Koivukari we didn’t see anything special and in Kempeleenlahti we saw 7 Shelducks and 5 Little Gulls. Then we still drove to Oulu Toppila where we didn’t find Ring Ouzels that had been seen there earlier during the day but managed to twitch a nice male Black Redstart. Also Oystercatchers were heard which was another year-tick again.
Then we drove to Heinäpää to see my nephew’s football match. He had been injured for months but was the top goal scorer of the tournament which the won later. The rest of the evening we were with my brother’s family.

On the 29th of April in the afternoon we started a long way back to Parikkala. In Siikalatva Pulkkila we saw a stunning male Pallid Harrier flying across the road. In Vieremä we saw 2 Hen Harriers and in Rantasalmi we stopped in Putkilahti where we heard a Bittern and saw a Red-necked Grebe. We still visited Siikalahti where we heard Bitterns and at least 5 Water Rails but nothing else interesting yet.

J.A.

After good breeding islets have over grown, there has not been enough landing and islets for gulls and terns to breed. Also waders haven’t had places to land. Our local birding club managed to build 2 floating islets. These 2×3 meters wide platforms are on plastic pontoons that will keep the surface nicely just over the water level.

We wanted them to look as natural as possible so platforms are covered with stones, mud, dead grass and reed. Hopefully gulls don’t take and carry away our covering material! In other case, if birds accept these artificial islets to their nesting site, they will carry lots of new material. Weather was very foggy so birds did not notice that we were there.

Thanks for all those who participated in building and designing!