. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

It had been the best autumn ever in Parikkala and every week there had been a new rarity to be found. So of course we were leaving to Parainen Korppoo Jurmo island to spend our autumn-holiday. And of course the best bird of the autumn was found while we were there – a Western Cattle Egret and of course it was in Siikalahti…

But we spent a week in Jurmo birding-station. We started driving south in the afternoon of the 16th of October. We drove close to Helsinki-Vantaa airport and stayed in a hotel so we could sleep and eat well.

On the 17th of October we still did some shopping and then started driving towards Parainen. We still had to spend some time in Salo but after all we continued to Pärnäinen harbor.

Our ferry left at 2:15 p.m. and I headed to deck to do some seawatching while Hanna had some work to do. I saw a Hen Harrier, a Common Buzzard, a Common Kestrel, a Eurasian Sparrowhawk and some White-tailed Eagles and a couple of flocks of Long-tailed Ducks but nothing else. It was already getting dark when we arrived at Jurmo and carried our stuff to the station. There we met Aapo Sirén and Zhenya Popov who was from Belarus. Then the rest of the evening we were just organizing our stuff.

1On the 18th of October we started the routines. Hanna and Aapo went ringing and with Zhenya we went to do 2 hours morning migration-watch. A Common Buzzard, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Black Guillemot, thrushes, Redpolls and nice migration of 2390 Jackdaws were seen migrating and also 2 female Black Grouses were seen. Hanna caught a Firecrest which we of course had to go to twitch – it was a new Jurmo-tick for us.

Later we went to count birds on the eastern route with Zenya. But after all he had to hurry to ferry. In the afternoon I went to count birds from west too. Hanna and Aapo were ringing until the evening. The best observation was a Black Woodpecker that was flying around the island but I was unlucky and didn’t see it. There were also 47 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and ringers had hands bleeding.

The 19th day started well with a Boreal Owl on the mist-net. And finally I also managed to hear the Black Woodpecker which is extremely rare in Jurmo. On morning-watch I saw this male Black Woodpecker leaving as far as I could see to south-east. But surprisingly after some hours Aapo got another, female Black Woodpecker from the mist-net. Morning was quiet, 5 Razorbills, a Goshawk and a Wood Lark and again Redpolls on migration. I headed to east again and then to west so I really walked a lot. Some birds seen were 3 Smews, Greater Scaups, a Merlin and a Great Grey Shrike. We also got more birders to the station as Severi Heikkilä arrived.

On the 20th of October the schedule was the same, morning-watch and then to west. Severi went to east so I could take a little bit easier. 1556 Barnacle Geese, 5 Red-throated Divers, 4 male Black Grouses and a Grey Plover were only birds to mention.

On the 21st day it was so quiet on mist-nets that Hanna came with me to west. We walked until Heinäsaari and managed to find the first 17 Purple Sandpipers of the autumn. A Boreal Owl was again ringed and it stayed close to the mist-nets and we managed to get some pictures of it. The female Black Woodpecker was still flying around and in the afternoon Gustaf Nordenswan ja Sonja Lagerström arrived.

On the 22nd day the nice weather was just a memory and it was very windy. It was still warm and gloves weren’t needed even on the morning-watch. Hanna and Severi found a Hume’s Leaf Warbler and luckily we managed to see it well. And some time later it was hanging on a mist-net. There was a Hawfinch visiting the feeder and it also was caught and ringed.

Otherwise a couple of Blackcaps, a Little Gull, the same Black Woodpecker and altogether 5 Jack Snipes were seen. “Gusse” and Sonja saw lots of Purple Sandpipers in the west so in the evening we decided to go to catch some waders. Unfortunately there was a family of Red Foxes also harassing wafers and for example Grey Plover was only heard. Anyway we managed to ring 5 Jack Snipes and 7 Purple Sandpipers.

On the 23rd day 3 Brent Geese and a Golden Plover were seen on migration and a young Greater White-fronted Goose was found from the east. While we were walking back along the northern shore with Severi, we flushed a Grey Wagtail. Gusse and Sonja were again in west and they saw even 19 Jack Snipes. Unfortunately it was raining heavily in the evening. Other birds seen during the day were 9 Little Gulls, a Merlin, a Chiffchaff and the same Hawfinch.

On the 24th of October we still started the routines but we had to stop before 10 a.m. as all but Gusse and Sonja were leaving. There was a very stormy weather coming so we had make sure that we can get out from the island. We still saw the same White-fronted Goose, some seaducks, a Little Gull, 9 Razorbills and 3 Twites that migrated over us. But then we had to do some cleaning, pack everything and hurry to the harbor.

On the ferry-trip I saw almost nothing and then we had a long driving ahead to Parikkala. We were at home after 9 p.m.

On Sunday the 25th of October it was raining but when the rain stopped we headed to Saari. We saw still quite a few Barnacle, Tundra Bean and Greater White-fronted Geese, 3 Great Grey Shrikes, 3 Snow Buntings, a Skylark, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tits, 60 Black Grouses and a migrating flock of 22 Velvet Scoters. On the way back in Rautalahti we saw 2 Common Scoters and 2 Greater Scaups. Then we decided to go twitching as the first ever Calandra Lark in South-Karelia had been found on the previous day in Lappeenranta Joutseno Kivisaari. When we got there the bird had been seen landing to a field for some time ago, but nervous twitchers had decided to walk and flush it.

The bird was soon found and it was flying around us and landed further to another field. We went to see it but it was visible only with thermal-camera. Boot soon it flushed again and flew back to its ordinary place.

There were still twitchers arriving and at 4 p.m. we decided to walk to the fields again so everyone could see it. But it had disappeared – we found only a Skylark and a Snow Bunting.

J.A.

On the 5th of October the weather was bad but the company was good as I spent my lunch-hour with Jussi Valonen and O-P Pietiläinen on the dam-road. We saw a flock of Brent Geese, a flock of Long-tailed Ducks, some Greater Scaups, White-tailed Eales and Waxwings and so on. On the 6th day I didn’t see much but in the evening we went to check some fields and ringed a Teal, a Jack Snipe + a control, 3 Woodcocks, 2 Common Snipes and surprisingly a Long-eared Owl. On the 7th day I saw just a Rough-legged Buzzard and a couple of Merlins.

On the 8th of October we did duck-counts in Siikalahti and saw 3 Tundra Swans, 299 Whooper Swans, 4700 Barnacle, 60 local and 215 migrating Greater White-frontes, 284 Tundra Bean Geese and a Taiga Bean Goose, 18 Smews, a Greater Scaup, 4 Gadwalls, 474 Wigeons, 459 Mallards, a hybrid Mallard x Pintail male and so on. I found again a new Great Grey Owl too. On the 9th day the only bird to mention was a Great Egret.

On the 10th of October it was raining. So we got out only later and headed to Saari. But then it started to rain again. In Akanvaara Tetrisuo we were discussing that if there was a rare wheatear somewhere, it surely was hiding from the rain. So we checked the fields just quickly and kept on going. After all we found just a family of Tundra Swans in Jyrkilä and some Goldfinches and Linnets. In the evening the weather was better and we headed to fields again and caught 2 Barnacle Geese, a Wigeon, a Teal, 4 Jack Snipes, 5 Woodcocks and 3 Common Snipes. We also saw a Short-eared Owl, 2 Long-eared Owls, a Tawny Owl and a Ural Owl.

It was raining on Sunday too. We had planned to go to watch migration to Lake Saimaa but we got out again later and headed to Varpavaara. Geese were migrating far in the west and in Punkaharju other birders saw also 2 Yellow-billed Loons – and we had planned to go there… We saw only a couple of Rough-legged Buzzards, a flock of Long-tailed Ducks, 2 Woodpigeons and so on.

And then I got a phone-call from Jouko Rantanen that he had found a good-looking wheatear exactly where we had been on the previous day, in Saari Akanvaara Tetrisuo. We had to go to help with the identification and once we got there the bird was missing. Luckily I found it a few hundreds of meters from the place where it had been and it was exactly what Jouko also had already thought it was – an Isabelline Wheatear! Another new species of wheatear for Parikkala on the same field in a couple of weeks!

Soon the wheatear flew to the same place where it had been found and we tried to get some better pictures of it. But it was extremely shy and was running and flying too far all the time. After all we had to give up trying and let the bird be as there were twitchers coming to see this 5th Isabelline Wheatear for South Karelia.

We continued our trip to Lake Saimaa and Savonlinna Punkaharju Hirvikoski where a Yellow-billed Loon had dropped to swim and had still been there when the birders had left an hour before. But it was a long drive and once we got there we found just a single Black-throated Loon. We were checking the lake for a couple of hours and saw at least 3 Saimaa Seals, about 100 Long-tailed Ducks, 4 Common Scoters and finally a flock of loons landed a bit nearer but they were all Black-throated and Red-throated Loons. After all we had o give up.

On the first days of the week there were again Yellow-billed Loon but also a Great Northern Loon seen in Punkaharju – but I was at work. On Monday the 12th of October I saw 3 Rough-legged Buzzards and 25 Black-throated and 2 Red-throated Loons in Siikalahti. Afetr work I decided to drive to Akanvaara Tetrisuo to try to get better pictures of the Isabelline Wheatear. Together with twitchers from Joutseno and Imatra we packed into one car and tried to get closer to this shy bird by car. And surprisingly it was very easy to approach and we got really good pictures. It will be much easier to make description to rarity committee now.

In the evening we went again to fields and we went to check one new field that I hadn’t visited earlier even in daytime. It was really good and we caught altogether 7 Jack Snipes + saw 4 more, 2 Woodcocks and 3 Common Snipes. We saw a Lynx again on the same field and this time we managed to sneak to less than 10 meters to watch it. I also managed to get a Ural Owl to my net but then the net got stuck to branches and the owl escaped.

Otherwise it was quiet during the week. Mornings and evenings are already dark. On the 14th of October we went to fields again in the evening. Erkko Elonen was with us so we started with a successful Lynx-twitch. We caught 4 Jack Snipes (saw 4 more), a Woodcock + another controlled and 4 Common Snipes. We also saw a Short-eared Owl and the same Ural Owl again. On the 15th day on my lunch-hour I saw a flock of 13 migrating Stock Doves and after work we did duck-counts. The best bird was a Mute Swan that Hanna found from the bird-tower.

On Friday the 16th of October I saw a young Golden Eagle migrating over Kangaskylä. I called Hanna and she managed to see the bird from our garden. After work we packed our car and soon were driving towards South. We were going to spend our autumn-holiday in Jurmo island.

J.A.

On the 29th of September it was raining on my lunch-hour and only birds I saw were a flock of 10 Long-tailed Tits. After work we visited Saari with Arttu Valonen but saw only a Common Kestrel, a Merlin and about 6000 Barnacle Geese in Jyrkilä, a few White Wagtails in Tarassiinlahti and so on. In the evening we went to fields and ringed 3 Jack Snipes and 2 Woodcocks and controlled a Great Snipe. Again we saw a couple of Long-eared Owls and the same Great Grey Owl that was now on a different field than on the previous day.

On the 30th of September I saw a Red-throated Diver in Härskiinmutka and during my lunch-hour the best observation was a migrating Golden Eagle. On my second visit to Härskiinmutka I saw a young Little and a young Lesser Black-backed Gull. In the afternoon I was again in Siikalahti and visited the bird-tower where I saw a Hen Harrier, a couple of Gadwalls and a Common Scoter. In the evening we went to check if the Great Grey Owl was still around but saw a Tawny Owl instead – which was a year-tick.

On the 1st of October I tried again to find the Great Grey Owl but saw only 6 Stock Doves. In Härskiinmutka I saw a young Lesser Black-backed Gull again and my lunch-hour was quiet: a Rough-legged Buzzard, a couple of Merlins and a late Barn Swallow were seen. I was already driving back to work when I got a message that there was a Squacco Heron in the dam-road – in a place from where I had just left! Iturned around and was soon running to a place from where to see the place where the heron had landed but couldn’t find it. Then I saw it flying with a Great Egret straight towards the dam-road platform where the other birders were. But none of them had a camera. So I had to run under the heron (it was about 10 meter above me) to get my camera from my car and then run to the platform, but when I got there the heron was already quite far on the northern side of the road. I managed to get some distant shots of the bird but I knew that identifying winter-plumaged Squacco from Pond Herons is extremely difficult!

I had to go back to work and in the afternoon the heron was seen a couple of times only very briefly in flight. After work I was back and together with many birders we tried to find the heron again. It was seen flying on the southern side of the bay but after that nobody saw it anymore. In the late evening we still saw 2 Great Egrets and a Grey Heron and also 5 Cranes, a Bluethroat and heard a several Water Rails and also a Moorhen. On the next day there were also several birders trying to see it but without luck.

On the 2nd of October I also visited Siikalahti early in the morning before work but saw only a Great Egret and a Grey Heron. I ended my work-day at 11 a.m. and left driving towards Oulu. In Kuopio I picked up Anssi Laitinen and in Siilinjärvi my old friend “Potu” Suojarinne. After a long drive we were finally in Oulu Kiiminki Sivuräme where a Lesser Kestrel had stayed for a few days. It was the first twitchable Lesser Kestrel in Finland for 37 years! The bird had been easy to twitch and also now we were told that it soon comes to perch to somewhere visible as it had been doing whole day. My friend Mikko Ala-Kojola also arrived and we kept on waiting and after 10 minutes waiting we started to worry. Then we saw a falcon just disappearing after a big dirt pile at this soil dumping ground. But we saw it too briefly to tick it. Then we had to wait extremely long 5 minutes more before it finally came to hunt insects next to the next dirt hill.

The Lesser Kestrel was hunting without any other prey than a small spider for about 15 minutes. It once landed to a lamppost but only very shortly. Then at 5:15 p.m. it flew to the forest on the other side of the road and didn’t come back anymore. It went to sleep more than an hour earlier than on the previous evenings. We still waited until 6 p.m. and saw a flock of geese which had mostly Pink-footed Geese before we decided to give up and start a long drive back home.

I dropped ”Potu” again in Siilinjärvi and Anssi in Kuopio and continued lonely and tiresome driving to Parikkala where I was finally at 1:30 a.m.

On the 3rd of October we woke up early and before the sun was rising we were already ringing in Kukonkanta. It was a quiet morning as we got only 7+1c Blue and 29+7c Great Tits, 4 Chiffchaffs, 7 Robins, the latest ever Whinchat in Parikkala, a Dunnock and 2 Reed Buntings. We also saw a flock of 20 Brent Geese, a Stock Dove and 20 Goldfinches.

During the day we visited Saari and saw a Brent Goose in Rautalahti, a Hen Harrier, 2 Great Grey Shrikes and 21 Linnets in Akanvaara Tetrisuo, a Pink-footed Goose in Pohjasuo, 2 Tundra Swans and about 20 000 Barnacle Geese in Jyrkilä and a Common Kestrel in Karinmäki.

On the 4th of October we were ringing again and caught 3 Blue and 21+2c Great Tits, 6 Chiffchaffs, a late Blackcap, a Wren, 8 Robins, a Tree Sparrow and 4 Redpolls. We also saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker and 8 Goldfinches.

During the day we checked all the closest fields and visited Varpavaara which is a hill that has recently been completely cut open from trees and has now a very good visibility to almost all directions. It will be a good place to watch arctic-migration and raptors for next few years. Only better observations were a couple of Greater Scaups in Vartialahti, 10 000 Barnacle Geese in Kullinsuo and a Nuthatch in Kangaskylä.

In the evening we went to fields again and ringed a Jack Snipe, 2 Woodcocks, 3 Common Snipes and a Redwing. We also controlled the same Great Snipe for the fourth time. It has stayed on the same field at least from the 9 of September – now it was the latest ever for me. We also saw a couple of Long-eared Owls again.

J.A.

On the 26th of September we started the weekend like son many times and went ringing to Kukonkanta. We started again a half an hour before sun was rising and continued as long as there were any birds on the mist-nets, but it seems that this year this time is earlier. So we stopped at 11 a.m. and had got 4 Blue and 12 Great Tits, a Goldcrest, a Wren, 7 Robins, a Bluethroat, 3 Dunnocks, a Meadow Pipit, a Redpoll, 3 Reed Buntings and a Eurasian Nuthatch which seemed to be some kind of hybrid between asiatica and europaea subspecies. While ringing we saw a Goshawk, a Hen Harrier, a couple of Linnets and even 70 Goldfinches. Some hundreds of Barnacle Geese were flying here and there.

In the evening we headed to fields again and we had planned to make a longer trip but it was raining all the time. So we checked a couple of fields nearby and caught a Jack Snipe (saw also another one), a Great Snipe which was a control and saw another birds with a ring too, 10 Woodcocks, a Fieldfare, a Skylark and a couple of Meadow Pipits. We also saw again a couple of Long-eared Owls.

It kept on raining on Sunday the 27th morning too and after that the weather was still stormy. So we didn’t hurry and left only at 3 p.m. to Saari. We decided to begin in Akanvaara Tetrisuo where is a good bare fallow field. When we stopped we were talking that we could find an Isabelline Wheatear. I started to put my scope up and Hanna started scanning the fields with her binoculars and almost immediately she saw that there is a wheatear. I soon found it with my scope and it really looked good, nothing like an Isabelline Wheatear but a Pied Wheatear! The bird was in very bad light so immediately we knew that we had to get closer to see it better and to get some pictures. I parked our car better but it wasn’t enough for some stupid hunters that passed us and shouted like maniacs that our car was on their way even thought it really wasn’t. Meanwhile we had lost our bird but we soon started to walk towards the place where it had been along a ditch.

Soon we found out that there were several Northern Wheatears too (5 of them) flying here and there but found our target-bird that was moving with them. They were extremely shy and were flying long distances, even to the other side of the field. So I thought that it was better if we were on opposite sides of the field with Hanna. Once I got to the other side the bird was again on the ordinary place closer to Hanna. So I started walking back again. Anyway we had seen the bird so well now that once I got to our car, I took my phone that I had forgotten there and sent the news out about this young male Pied Wheatear.

Now we were so that the bird was between us and hoped to get pictures that we still hadn’t got. But soon it moved closer to Tetrisuontie-road but again to really bd light. I tried to get closer carefully and managed to push the bird little bit so that it finally landed to a place that was completely in shadow. Then I got some pictures before it flew again back to its favorite place. Hanna still tried to get some pictures but after all we decided to leave the bird be.

Soon the first twitchers arrived and the bird surprisingly started to stay on the field but on a narrow ditch and was very long times invisible. Some more twitchers arrived and the first ones left already before the sun started to set. Then the birds activated again stayed very well visible until it was so dark that we all decided to leave.

This was the second Pied Wheatear ever for South Karelia; after a stunning male in Lappeenranta in June 2004 which we also twitched. For us it was the third ever in Finland and second young bird after a twitched bird in Hollola in 2015.

On the next day, the 2th of September Minna Terävä still saw the Pied Wheatear after a couple of hours searching. It was moving with 2 Northern Wheatears. But after that nobody else saw it even thought there were several twitchers, some from Helsinki.

We had duck-counts to do after work-day so we couldn’t visit Saari at all. Hanna saw 8 Gadwalls and 3 Pochards from the tower and I saw a flock of 115 Common Mergansers with 2 Red-breasted Mergansers. Only 1 Great Egret was seen and I found a recently died Cormorant. I never made it to the bird-tower where we usually count birds together as there are so many as I found a Great Grey Owl which I of course had to try to photograph. I managed to get pictures of one mouse-hunt before I had to continue counts. I also messaged to wheatear-twitchers about this owl as I hoped that they wouldn’t have to leave Parikkala empty-handed. The first 2 twitchers that arrived managed to see it but then it moved inside the forest and unfortunately the rest of twitchers didn’t see it.

J.A.

On the 17th of August I saw a Black Kite and also a young Hen Harrier and on the 18th day I saw the Black Kite for the last time. They seem to leave surprisingly early! Also a Red-throated Diver was seen flying around Siikalahti and we counted 19 Great Egret.

On the 20th day we went to Saari where in Pohjanranta we saw a young Dunlin, in Jyrkilä 180 Common Cranes and 70 House Martins but otherwise we found nothing better.

On the 22nd of August we had SSP-ringing and we got 5 Blue and 4 Great Tits, a Blyth’s Reed Warbler, 2 Willow Warblers, a Garden Warbler, 4 Lesser and 2 Common Whitethroats, a Tree Pipit and 7 Reed Buntings. We also heard a Hawfinch flying over us. When we were driving back to home a Eurasian Nuthatch was calling on the way. I still visited Saari Pohjanranta briefly but saw only 4 Great Egrets. In the evening we counted 340 Cranes and saw 4 some sort of Bean Geese in Siikalahti.

On the 23rd day I photographed a Nuthatch in Kangaskylä and on the 24th day there were 10 Taiga Bean Geese and in the evening we saw 2 European Nightjars. From the fields we caught 4 Woodcocks, a Great Snipe and 2 Skylarks. We also saw a couple of Long-eared Owls.

On the 26th day we did duck-counts in Siikalahti. There were already lots of ducks but nothing special- We counted 440 Mallards, 231 Eurasian Wigeons, 7 Smews, 9 Common Pochards and so on. It was already late when we headed to Saari to twitch a Great Grey Owl that had been found feeding its fledglings. We were lucky to see the mama-owl extremely well and I got some really good pictures too.

On the 27th day I saw a Nuthatch in Siikalahti and in the afternoon we headed to Saari again. We had planned to photograph Great Grey Owls a little bit more but we couldn’t find them. Hanna wanted to search for them but meanwhile I wanted to do some birding. I went to check some fields and in Pohjasuo I found a young Pallid Harrier. Then Hanna called that she had found the owls and I decided to get back there. We saw the mama-owl trying to catch mice and finally it caught one and flew quite nicely past us. But then we just heard the youngsters moving further. On the way back home it was already dark but we saw a Ural Owl in flight.

On the 29th of August we were ringing in Kukonkanta and got 8+3c Blue and 2+1c Great Tits, 2 Sedge and 2 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a late Common Grasshopper Warbler, 11 Willow Warblers, 8 Garden Warblers, 7+1c Blackcaps, 4 Lesser and 5 Common Whitethroats, a Treecreeper, a Song Thrush, a Robin, a Bluethroat, 2 Dunnocks, a White Wagtail, a Common Rosefinch, surprisingly a young Redpoll and a Siskin – but not a single bunting. We also saw 62 Canada Geese, a Cuckoo, a Stock Dove, a Goshawk and a Northern Wheatear. The rest of the day we just relaxed. But just went to put mist-nets ready for the next morning ringing in Papinlahti where we saw a Red-backed Shrike.

On the 30th day we had SSP and while walking towards the ringing-place we heard a Pygmy Owl calling. It was a quiet morning; we got only 1c Blue Tit, 4 Willow Warblers, a Garden Warbler, a Common Whitethroat, 5 Lesser Whitethroats, 2 Song Thrushes, 2 Robins, a Bullfinch and a Reed Bunting. A Great Grey Shrike was singing in the morning and we got a rare visitor as our old friend Kristjan Niitepöld was with us for a few hours.

In the evening we headed to fields and we caught an adult Golden Plover, 3 Woodcocks, a Great Snipe, a Common Snipe, a Skylark and surprisingly 3 Northern Wheatears. Again we saw a Long-eared Owl and on the way back home, already after midnight, a Nightjar. Otherwise the last day of August was quiet, I saw 68 Canada Geese and 8 young Little Gulls in Härskiinmutka.

On the 1st of September I still saw some Common Swifts in Siikalahti on my lunch-hour and after my work, we headed to Saari with Erkko Elonen. It was quiet there too which seems to be new normal. After all autumns aren’t usually very good for rarities in Parikkala as we are in the “shadow” of huge Lake Ladoga. In Akonpohja we saw a couple of Great Egrets, in Akanvaara Tetrisuo a couple of Great Grey Shrikes and a young Hen Harrier, in Pohjasuo a Bluethroat, 17 Linnets and 27 Goldfinches, in Pohjanranta a young Dunlin and 4 Great Egrets and when it was already getting dark, we still saw the same Great Grey Owl briefly.

On the 2nd day the only birds to mention were a few Common Swifts and a single Sand Martin. On the 3rd day I saw a Red-throated Diver in Härskiinmutka and 4 some sort of Bean Geese, a Stock Dove, 8 Golden Plovers, 2 Common Swifts and finally the first Nutcracker of the year in Siikalahti. Nutcrackers had been numerous in almost everywhere else in Finland but not here in the shadow of Ladoga.

On the 4th day I finally saw the first Peregrine of the year and last Swift. On the 5th day we were ringing in Kukonkanta and caught a Red-backed Shrike, 4+1c Blue and 3 Great Tits, 3 Sedge and 2 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, 16 Willow Warblers, 11 Chiffchaffs, 2 Garden Warblers, 11 Blackcaps, 4 Lesser and 4 Common Whitethroats, 5 Robins, 2 Bluethroats and 2+1c Reed Bunting and the controlled bird had ring from San Sebastian Spain. We also saw a Goshawk, a Hen Harrier, some other common raptors migrating, a Black Woodpecker and a single Coal Tit which also had been numerous almost everywhere else,

After some naps we did a short trip to fields nearby and it started well as we found a young Pallid Harrier in Tetrisuo. In Tiviä we saw 3 Hazel Hens, but otherwise we saw only a flock of 37 Bean Geese (most of them were Taiga but there were at least a couple of Tundra Bean Geese too) and a Grey-headed Woodpecker couple.

On the 6th of September it was very windy so ringing wasn’t very productive. We got only 2+1c Blu Tits, 3 Sedge Warblers, a Blyth’s Reed Warbler, 3 Willow Warblers, 2 Chiffchaffs, a Garden Warbler, a Lesser Whitethroat, 2 Blackcaps, 2 Song Thrushes, 2 Robins and a Bullfinch. We saw a flock of 34 Common Scoters migrating.

As we stopped ringing so early because there were no birds, we headed to Saari with Anssi Laitinen. In Härskiinmutka we saw a couple of White-tailed Eagles on the way. There weren’t many birds in this stormy weather; 300 Cranes and a Great Grey Shrike in Akanvaara Tetrisuo, 30 Linnets in Pohjasuo, 72 Canada Geese, a Goshawk and a Hen Harrier in Pohjanranta, 5 Common Scoters, a White-tailed Eagle and a Spotted Flycatcher in Hiekkaniemi and a male Grey-headed Woodpecker in Karinmäki.

In the evening we headed to fields and caught 2 young Golden Plovers, 5+1c Woodcocks, a Northern Wheatear and then on another field we caught a Ruff.

On the 7th day we did duck-counts agai: 36 Taiga Bean, 12 Canada and 2 Barnacle Geese, 344 Mallards, 11 Northern Pintails, 4 Gadwalls, 423 Wigeons and 7 Common Pochards were numbers to mention. It really seems that this year there are no Great Egrets either, only 6 birds were seen.

On the 9th of September we went again to fields and got 4 Woodcocks, a Great Snipe, a Common Snipe and a Northern Wheatear. On the 10th day Hanna had to visit Siikalahti with some high-school students and we showed them some ringing and counted Cranes together. But there really weren’t many Cranes either, just 50. Luckily we caught some birds – mostly Great Tits (11), a Blackcap, 6 Robins and 2 Chaffinches and saw a Bluethroat. The rest of the week was quiet.

At weekend we were in Kukonkanta again and on Saturday the 12th we got 14+3c Blue and 26 Great Tits, a Willow Tit, 4 Sedge Warblers, 3+1c Willow Warblers, 24 Chiffchaffs, 2 Garden Warblers, 7 Blackcaps, 2 Lesser Whitethroats, a Common Whitethroat, a Goldcrest, a Wren, 2 Song Thrushes, a Redwing, 13+1c Robins, a Bluethroat, 7 Dunnocks, a Tree Pipit, a Chaffinch, a Siskin, 2+1 Reed Buntings and a Rustic Bunting. So we cought even 22 species! We also finally saw something better as a young Montagu’s Harrier was seen migrating. We also saw a White-backed and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

After the ringing we checked Härskiinmutka and saw 13 adult and 1 young Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a young Little Gull. Soon we headed to Saari again. In Akonpohja we saw a couple of Gadwalls and a Great Egret, in Akanvaara Tetrisuo a Peregrine, a Hen Harrier, a Great Grey Shrike, a Bluethroat and a Lapland Bunting, in Pohjasuo 4 Taiga Bean Geese and a couple of Bluethroats and in Pohjanranta 4 Great Egrets and a Hen Harrier. Jyrkilä was empty but in Tarassiinlatiwe found 100 White Wagtails, a Yellow Wagtail, 15 Ruffs, a young Dunlin and a couple of Bluethroats and heard a Grey-headed Woodpecker. In the evening I still visited Siikalahti and saw 9 Pochards.

It was a good weather on Sunday too but quieter on the mist-nets: 3 Blue and 14+1c Great Tits, 2+1c Willow Warblers, 10 Chiffchaffs, a Garden Warbler, 4 Blackcaps, 2 Common Whitethroats, a Song Thrush, 10 Robins, 11 Dunnocks, a Chaffinch, 8 Reed and 2 Rustic Buntings. We also saw 14 Golden Plovers, a White-backed Woodpecker and a few more Rustic Buntings and heard a Common Ringed Plover. In the evening we headed to fields and saw a Nightjar on the way. I was wondering why all birds were so shy and it took some time before I caught any. After all we got 2 Great Snipes, 4 Common Snipes and 4 Skylarks. We were already walking back towards our car when we noticed that there was a mama Brown Bear with 2 cubs and at least one middle-sized bear on the other side of the field. They probably had been on the field before us and were the reason why birds had been so shy.

During the week there weren’t much happening: some flocks of Barnacle Geese were seen and on the 16th day we did duck-counts again. There were even 932 Wigeons and 7 Gadwalls, still only 6 Great Egrets and only single Pochard anymore. In the evening we headed to fields again and got a Teal, 2 Golden Plovers and 2 Woodcocks but saw again a young Brown Bear and also a Lynx very well! On the 17th day I saw a young Pallid Harrier and a flock of 9 Greater Scaups on migration and a couple of pairs of local Gadwalls.

On the 18th of September only birds to mention were probably 12 Rock Doves in Siikalahti. In the evening we visited one field briefly before the rain and caught 2 Woodcocks, 1+1c Great Snipes, a Common Snipe and 1c Skylark. On the way we saw a Pine Marten nicely.

On the 19th day we woke up early again and ringed in Kukonkanta luckily in much better weather than had been in forecasts. But the results were poor: 5 Blue and 5 Great Tits, a Willow Tit, 12 Chiffchaffs, a Redwing, 10 Robins, 3 Bluethroats, 2 Chaffinches, a young (Lesser) Redpoll and 2 Reed Buntings. We also saw a flock of 23 migrating Velvet Scoters, 3 Stock Doves, 7 Golden Plovers, a Great Egret and a 2nd year male Pallid Harrier. Again the birds stopped to come very early so we headed to Saari with Minna Terävä. In Akanvaara Tetrisuo we saw 3 Hen Harriers, a Merlin, 2 Great Grey Shrikes, about 100 Meadow Pipits (and still not a single Red-throated Pipit for me as a year-tick) and 4 Redpolls. In Pohjasuo we saw a Bluethroat and 40 Linnets, in Pohjanranta only a Great Egret and a flock of 120 Starlings, in Uukuniemi Suurenjärvenliete a Great Grey Shrike, in Tarassiinlahti 3 Common Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin and in Karinmäki a White-tailed Eagle.

After long naps we decided to finally go to Saari fields to try to catch birds. The weather-forecast for the next morning was too bad for mist-netting anyway. So we were checking several fields between 9:30 p.m. and 4:30 a.m. and caught a Teal, 12 Golden Plovers, 10 Woodcocks, a Great Snipe, 5 Common Snipes, a Short-eared Owl, 11 Skylarks and 2 Meadow Pipits. We also saw a Ural Owl and lots of different kinds of small mice and voles and also bigger mammals like Elks, Roe Deers, Raccoon Dogs, Mountain and European Hares and Red Foxes. Then after this we really did nothing in the rest of the day.

On the 21st of September I saw a couple of Gadwalls and a migrating Hobby in Siikalahti. In the afternoon I twitched a couple of Nutcrackers in Tarvaslampi and in the evening the weather was so nice that we had to do something. So we went again to Siikalahti, put up a few mist-nets and were just enjoying the warm evening on the dam-road. We saw 2 Hen Harriers, a Marsh Harrier, only 24 Cranes anymore, 5 Great Egrets, 2 Northern Lapwings and 3 Bluethroats and caught only 3 Willow Tits and then after the sun had already set also a Pygmy Owl. a Great Bittern was flying over us calling.

On the 22nd day the only birds to mention were a couple of Nuthatches on the way to Siikalahti in Muttelinmäki. In the evening we had mist-nets in Tarvaslampi while having a sauna, but a Pygmy and a Boreal Owl just came to visit but didn’t hit the net.

It was raining the of the week but we visited fields on a couple of evenings. On the 23rd day we got 6 Woodcocks, 3 Common Snipes and 2+1c Skylarks. We also saw 3 Jack Snipes but they were on the places where was too much other traffic – Common Snipes and Teals. We also saw again a Brown Bear and nice family of Lynxes – a mom with 2 cubs. On the 24tg day we caught 2 Woodcocks, 2 Great Snipes, 2 Jack Snipes, a Common Snipe and a Meadow Lark in an hour.

J.A.

On Friday the 14th of August I had to wait for frustrating long until Hanna finally got off work at 3 p.m. A quarter of an hour later we headed towards south and Virolahti where the second ever Masked Shrike for Finland had been found in the morning. The first one had been in 1982 and only 4 birders had seen it, so this was a mega-twitch. We parked to Virolahti church at 5 p.m. and already saw the shrike from the parking place. There were lots of twitchers and of course many friends of hours but I just took my camera and went to say hello to Mika Bruun as I knew he already knew what was the best way to get good pictures. And soon we were photographing the shrike together as it was moving between some bushes behind the church and in the middle of the garden.

We were watching the shrike and talking with many friends for an hour or so before we had to continue driving. We drove until Kirkkonummi to my parents where we had an accommodation.

Next morning we woke up early with my father and drove to Espoo Soukka harbor. There we met my old friend Kai Hilditch who ha his Marineri company and he organizes different kind of bird and nature trips to archipelago of Espoo, Helsinki and Kirkkonummi.

Soon we were boating towards the sea and went quickly to first islets in the open sea. There we found Common Ringed Plovers and Dunlins but also a young Common Shelduck and so on.

Our main target was to find waders so we continued to next open sea islets to Kirkkonummi where we found more Common Ringed Plovers and Dunlins but also a Grey Plover, a Little Ringed Plover, a Ruff and a Rock Pipit before we got to Örskät island where we went ashore. We walked a little on the island and saw a Bar-tailed Godwit flying over us and a Red-backed Shrike. But soon we were ready to continue our journey.

We headed even outer to the sea but the outermost islets had no birds. But we saw some Black-throated Loons, one Red-throated Loon and a young Little Gull. We also saw some Grey Seals here and there. Views were stunning and even the weather was getting better and better,

Then we still hurried to Helsinki to check some more islets and found more Common Ringed Plovers and Dunlins, another Ruff and then also 6 Red Knots.

Then it was time to head back to Espoo and we hoped to see a Sandwich Tern on the way as there had been quite a few in last days in the area. We weren’t lucky at all as later we heard that there had actually been more records of Sandwich Tern than ever in whole country in seas and islands nearby but we didn’t bother but continued out journey and finally were back in Soukka. Then it was time to say thanks to “Kaitsu” and with my father we continued in a tight schedule.

We drove to Helsinki Viikki where BirdLife had Birdfair going on. There we went straight to eat but later I met again (too) many friends and did also some shopping. Hanna and my brother Pirkka were working on the fair as they both are in BirdLife board. Also Pirkka’s daughter Iina was on the fair.

Finally it was 4 p.m. and wit my father and Iina we drove back to Kirkkonummi to my parents. In the evening I still headed to Espoo Laajalahti where in a couple of hours I managed to see a Little Grebe, 2 Curlew Sandpiper, a Little Stint and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and so on.

On the 16th of August I woke up early and headed to Porkkala Pampskatan where I finally was at 7:!5 a.m. My target was finally to see Sandwich Terns. This species had been my boogey-bird even though I had seen one several years ago. I started to scan the sea and islets and almost immediately saw 3 terns landing to an islet. There were an adult and 2 young Sandwich Terns. I decided to keep on scanning as there had been amazingly 19 birds seen nearby on the island of Rönnskär on the previous day. But there was nothing else to be found and when I checked the islet where the birds had been again, they were gone.

On the next few hours I saw just gulls, Common Terns and one young Arctic Tern but also some migrating ducks (215 common species), 30 Common Scoters, 3 Velvet Scoters, a Long-tailed Ducks, 2 Black-throated Loons, a Red-throated Loon, a Great Egret, 8 Oystercatchers, 13 Bar-tailed Godwits, 6 Grey Plovers, 7 Golden Plovers, 10 Dunlins, a Green Sandpiper, a Merlin and 95 Yellow Wagtails and so on.

Again there had been Sandwich Terns in many other places, even in some that I could see. Finally I found 3 Sandwich Terns flying towards west fishing on the way, but they were again very far. Luckily the next four birds came much closer so I could even get some pictures of them. While I was photographing I started to feel that there were Sandwich Terns everywhere and in best moment there were at least 6 birds visible.

I was still watching there birds when my father and Iina arrived higher to the rock. But once they got down to the shore where I was, all the terns were gone. Next hour or so I was scanning the sea while they were having their packed lunch and watching Alisa Vainio win EC-marathon, but I just couldn’t find any more terns. Finally we had to start walking back. But we still climbed to the rock first and there were surprisingly some twitchers searching for terns. They hadn’t seen any yet but luckily one was soon found from the area that I hadn’t seen from the shore and my father and Iina also saw this normally so bird.

Once we were back at my parents, I went to pick up Pirkka from the railway station and soon we ate again. Finally I had to start my long way back to home and Pirkka and Iina jumped to our car too. I drove to Itäkeskus where Hanna had been shopping after all BirdLife-meetings. There I picked up her and Pirkka and Iina went shopping in turn as they still had some hour before their train to Kemijärvi. With Hanna we started a drive back to home to Parikkala. On the way we stopped in Luumäki Taavetti to twitch a young Black Redstart that we found after some searching and it was posing nicely.

Finally we were back at home – but for once we had got some luck. And Hanna had also bought new binoculars.

J.A.