December – Winter Rally

Beginning of December was pretty busy! We lived in Hanna’s parents home in Tarvaslampi, because all our stuff was packed to different basements. Weeks we worked hard and at the evenings and weekends we prepared to our real birding trip.

We were extremely busy! I really had no time to take any photos in Finland in whole December!

But it’s nice we have a lot of bird rallies in Finland! We managed to join the Independence day rally! Our team was The Three Guides: us and Ilkka Jarva. Rally time was from six to six. We of course were out all that time even it was dark n both ends for some two hours. We slept in Tarvaslampi where we also started our rally.

Our first project was Pygmy Owl, which Hanna had seen day before in the yard – but no. The weather was already at morning awfully windy, so still after our forest owl trip we had no species found.

It was still dark when we found our first species. And it wasn’t bad at all. Black Woodpecker was sleeping in a hole where it nests in summer. Then we showed some light to next whole and surprise there was a Great Spotted Woodpecker. Unfortunately we didn’t know much more holes

Next we continued to familiar forests. About an hour we tried to find Grouses but no. When we were already walking to our car our old friends Siberian Jays and Crested Tits came to see what we would have for them.

We continued via Melkoniemi, Särkisalmi and Siikalahti to Parikkala city. Best species were a Tufted Duck in Tarvaslahti, a Wigeon which was with Whooper Swans in Särkisalmi and a Great Grey Shrike and Black Grouses in Siikalahti.

From Parikkala we continued to Simpele. At Haikanniemi we found a Herring Gull and at Joukionsalmi a Velvet Scoter. At Simpele we visited one feeding place which had a Chaffinch and a Siskin. At Kokkolanjoki we saw Dippers.

While driving south to Imatra I saw something flying fast over the road – brakes on and out. I thought what that was, when Ilkka found it sitting on a branch above us. A Pygmy Owl was really nice surprise.

Imatra Vuoksi-river increased our list with Little Grebe, Long-tailed Ducks and Smew. But even we tried really hard we could find more new species. Some normally common winter birds were totally missing. And in Viraskorpi we couldn’t find a Hawk Owl which had been there still in the morning. I think it didn’t like much the weather which was really awful.

Anyway we were trying until the last second. But last three hours didn’t give us any more species.

Finally we got 39 species, which was pretty good in that weather. Winners got two more, but winning isn’t that important, but having fun! And we really had!

To the real birding trip!!!

Next Friday we, and our huge baggage, took the train to Kirkkonummi (Southern Finland). After some days shopping, our long-waited birding trip begun.

16.12. We flight via Amsterdam (and Paris) to Lisbon. In Portugal we birded for some days with a rented car. 19th day we continued to increase our WP-lists for three weeks to Cape Verde (The whole trip story).

November was pretty awful. Everyone was waiting when the winter arrives. For a while it was some minus degrees and snow on the ground, but every time it came again plus degrees and rains and snow melted away.

I think it was three sunny days in whole month! And all those days I was working! So I couldn’t do almost any photographing. I could say all pictures I took were X-ray pictures at work.

Because it wasn’t snowy it was really dark. Days were very cloudy and foggy. So when I went to work it was STILL dark and when I came home it was ALREADY dark!

At weekends we made some short bird trips with Hanna, but dark landscape wasn’t very inspiring. We couldn’t find almost any better bird species. Some late arctic water birds were found in the beginning of month. In Punkaharju Hirvikoski and Parikkala Simpelejärvi and Siikalahti visits weren’t too bad either. Red-throated Diver, Great Crested Crebes, Common Scoters, Velvet Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Tufted Ducks, Scaups and Smews were still found. Maybe the best bird was very late Slavonian Grebe at Oravaniemi. At Saari we almost hit with our car to flying Woodcock. Of course a lot of Whooper Swans were still on the lakes.

The only picture tick I got in November was a Goshawk, which finally let met take two pictures before it got tired of photographer crouching behind the car and continued to the deeper forest.

Once again we visited Siberian Jay forest. Of course we had to visit there because finally Hannu Siitonen’s book about just these birds were published.

If I could take almost any bird pictures I wasn’t lucky with other pictures either. At 8th of November it was still nice and cloudless and I could get nice pictures of moon, but at next night it was totally cloudy – it was impossible to even sense the moon eclipse.

A flock of Black Grouses which was moving at Siikalahti area let me take some kind of pictures of themselves.

At the last day of November we had a little preparation to next weekend’s Independence Day bird rally. The weather was still really bad! It was again +5 degrees, no snow, cloudy and extremely foggy. Visibility was something like 100 meters. So we couldn’t find many birds. Two hours birding produced only 16 species. Best one was Lesser Spotted Woodpecker – not very promising for the rally!

In the beginning of October all eastern Finland’s birders were waiting the beginning of arctic migration. But too long Southern winds kept the birds still at North, and only small amounts of birds were seen. Birders begun to get nervous and thoughts that the birds had already went somehow were getting bigger.

I could do migration watching only at weekends, so most of the time I was holding my thumbs up that I wouldn’t miss the migration. But the weather stayed as bad in weekends, so we had to keep waiting and hoping again.

I managed to have only some more interesting times in the beginning of month. At Friday 3rd of October after work I went to Punkaharju Hirvikoski and I saw 1540 Long-tailed Ducks and first flock of Barnacle Geese migrating in one and half hour. Next day in same place I saw 326 Divers (mostly Black-throated but also Red-throated), 1418 Barnacles and first Brent Geese, 1368 other geese, 1025 Long-tailed Ducks, 35 Velvet Scoters, Cormorant, Smew, White-backed Woodpecker and first 60 Waxwings. Both days my old friend Saimaa Seal came to see me again. Once it had a friend also and they were swimming very close to each other – nice!

5th at Sunday we spent time with Hanna at Punkaharju Punkasalmi. Even we had to stop birding at midday because Hanna’s grandmothers 90- years birthdays, we saw some migration again. 2647 Long-tailed Ducks, 30 Scaups, about thousand geese with first White-fronted Geese. At birthday parties we saw also one good species: I whistled a little for Black Woodpecker which was shouting in the forest, it wasn’t interested, but Grey-headed Woodpecker came to watch who is whistling?

At the evening it happened. I got the message that in Kitee 60 kilometres north was a Red-breasted Goose in a flock of 900 Barnacles! And of course it was a Sunday night and too late! At Monday I was very nervous at work and finally I managed to leave to Kitee little earlier with two twitchers from Helsinki. And the goose was still there when we got there. It was feeding and sleeping in the middle of a flock, and it was very difficult to see. But I managed to get some photographs of it. But two days later everything changed black! Some birders managed to see that the bird had a red ring on its leg, so might not be a countable bird at all.

10th of October after work I went by bike to Siikalahti. A flock of 12 Bewick’s Swans flew over me, 16009 geese were migrating (mostly Anser-geese). On the bay there was more than thousand ducks swimming, just Wigeons were 650 and 250 more migrating. Other nice local birds were Long-tailed Duck, Scaup, Dunlin, Great-Grey Shrike, White-backed Woodpecker and Swallow.

11th day we went with Hanna and Ilkka Jarva to Joutseno Jalkasaari to see some arctic migration. The birds were seen very nicely there but there wasn’t enough migration. On the way back we visited Konnunsuo fields but it started to rain hard.

13th day it really started! The geese migration was extremely hard! At North Karelia birders could count more than a 100000 geese in best places! And I was working! After work I went to Parikkala beach, where was some migration, but the migration route was more North. And because I don’t have a car I had to just keep watching there. In that one hour that I stayed there I saw 6445 Barnacle Geese. But I was of course pretty pissed of!

We still kept trying to catch some small owls at weekend nights in Tarvaslampi and we managed to catch some Pygmy Owls and 2 Tengmalm’s Owls. Another of latter was our own ringed bird so it must be a local one.

24th day after work we made a little trip close Hanna’s parent home. Surprisingly we found pretty much local birds from the nearest bay. 65 Smews, Mute Swan, 60 Redpolls with 2 Arctic Redpolls and one “Little Redpoll” and also nice old White-tailed Eagle flew over us.

25th day came a winter! It was snowing very hard and it was impossible to have any birding. So we kept on planning the next day’s bird trip. At Tarvaslampi we saw a familiar Grey-headed Woodpecker, which come every winter to feeding place. It was eating apples straight from the tree.

South-Karelia familiar while twitching

At Sunday 26th of October we went to do some twitching to the southern parts of South Karelia. At early morning we were already watching and photographing a nice Short-toed Lark at Ylämaa Nutikka. The bird was pretty poor looking because it was snowy and minus degrees. It couldn’t get much to eat because all the seeds were frozen. We had some worms for it but it wasn’t interested of those. It was easy to digiscpe the bird because it wasn’t afraid of us at all, but the weather was cloudy and it was snowing so the light wasn’t very good.

At Savitaipale we twitched Marsh Tit. We found the bird pretty easily by using the CD-player. The bird came pretty easily but disappeared again. It seemed to move in big area. So it wasn’t easy bird at all. So I couldn’t get any pictures of this rarity at all. At same garden there was also a Pygmy Owl which was a little more co-operative. Later we drove back to Parikkala through Taipalsaari and Konnunsuo fields, but it was snowing again so there was not a much sense to continue birding.

In the last days it started to rain again, so snow melted and it came again dark and wet. Most migration birds have already left to South, so let’s see if there can still find something to photograph in November. Most of my time I am planning our coming trips to far south – but I’ll tell later where

What I made mostly in September was waiting for weekend! It was hard to watch out from small window and think what I could find if I wouldn’t have to be at work. When weekend finally came the weather was always bad. It was cloudy and very windy and it was Southern wind – very bad weather for watching migration and also for digiscoping.

I had never been before in South-Karelia in autumn, so I was very keen to get birding to whole new places. Thanks to Jari Kontiokorpi, he told me where to go to watch migration. First of September I had to go to work at 10 a.m. so I went with Hanna to Parikkala Oravanniemi for early morning. And we were there also next day one hour before my work. But there were just 20 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and some migrating Divers.

I visited also Siikalahti few times, but there was just thousand ducks. They were there because it`s protected area and they are safe from hunters there. Some raptors and Bluethroats were there too. At Savonlinna Nätki we couldn’t see Lesser Spotted Eagle anymore even it still was somewhere there.

6th-7th of September the weekend went by watching migration. Saturday we were checking some fields and standing in Simpele water tower. We saw some Red-throated Pipits, Rustic Buntings and a young Pallid Harrier (which was little too far to be 100% sure)… At Sunday we visited Siikalahti and we saw Three-toed Woodpecker, White-backed Woodpecker and Nutcracker all migrating.

13th day we went 100km north to Kitee Kyyrönniemi to see some migration. But the wind was far too strong, only one Three-toed Woodpecker was flying back to east with the wind.

At night we put the nets to Tarvaslampi and Tengmalm’s Owl CD to player. And surprisingly we got three owls. It was nice to watch TV and make these sites and ones in hour to go to check the nets.

At Sunday I went with Jari (which was sick) to Punkaharju to see new birding places for me. Punkaharju Hirvikoski offered the best species, we saw two Saimaa Seals! But there was not many birds. At Uitonniemi we heard a call of Richards Pipit, but we couldn’t see the bird. It flew just over us but the voice is really difficult to localize.

In the middle of September I was running around Siikalahti, when I found pretty late Whitethroat. It was nice to go jogging because there were so many birds in forests. A lot of Tits, mostly Great Tits but also smaller ones – hehheh.

When the weather was good enough we went to Tarvaslampi to ring owls at night. About two or three nights a week the weather was enough good. But we got only some birds anymore. But it was nice that we got also Pygmy Owls! Totally we got five Tengmalm’s Owls and two Pygmy Owls

Rest of the weekends I was watching arctic migration. Unfortunately arctic birds were not migrating yet! But at least I was trying hard! 20th day at Hirvikoski we saw 186 Jays, 623 Brent Geese and some flocks of Bean and Barnacle Geese. Same day I and Hanna went to Soininmäki to photograph Siberian Jays. Birds were very co-operative so we got pretty good pictures. Unfortunately the light was not that good. There was also very funny Crested Tit which really wanted to get photographed. It also tried to eat everything we got. It tried almost to get our pockets!

27th day we were standing on the top of Simpele water tower for nine hours with Jari. But after two hours Chaffinch migration we had to watch mostly to empty sky. More than hundred Divers and Geese, more than five hundred Ducks also a flock of Velvet Scoters and two flocks of Scaups, some raptors for example late Honey Buzzard and two Hawfinches and Tree Pipits.

Next day, Sunday, I was at Hirvikoski. But it started to rain soon so no arctic migration still. There was funny Saimaa Seal which was only 50 meters from me and came even closer when I started to whistle for it. So I got it digiscoped, but it was really cloudy, but at least I got some kind of pictures before it dived again. Same afternoon I finally got Long-tailed Tit digiscoped. Earlier I had got just photos of the branch where the tit had been sitting less than a second earlier.

In the beginning of August I was birding mostly because of finding new month ticks. But it was very quiet in Siikalahti. A couple of moulting male Gadwalls were swimming close the hide in some days. While photographing them I got also good photos of young Slavonian Grebe. Slavonian Grebes had still very very small youngster too. In first days I got also one ridiculous year tick when I finally saw first Grey Heron for the year in Siikalahti.

4th day when I was completing my works in Health Centre beeper told that there was a Great Spotted Eagle already second day in Savonlinna. I called to Antti and Hanna that now we have to rush, but Hanna was with Marko Vauhkonen too busy with plant-counts in Siikalahti, so only I and Antti left. In an hour we were there in Nätki rubbish tip where were some Ravens and Lesser Black-backed Gulls but not any Eagle. There were also some local birders searching for it. After two hours we were so hungry that we had to go for shopping. After shopping we went back to rubbish tip and Antti climbed over a little soil-hill and there he could see the bird inside a closed rubbish tip area. The Eagle was sitting over a small hill there. I started to digiscope directly but soon the bird flew to the other side of area close to our car. We ran after it and we found it sitting only less than ten meters from our car. Antti said: “Why we are not in my car now?” Anyway we could walk about 40 metres from the bird and we let our cameras sing! When photographed pretty much we realized that we hadn’t watched the bird that way at all yet! Just then came one local birder which scared the bird flying again. This guy couldn’t see the bird even it was less than ten meters from him. When flying the bird showed its wings better and we could say it’s not Great Spotted but 2 cy Lesser Spotted Eagle. Now the Eagle sat down to a tree about 60 meters from us and we could get some different kind of photographs. Then I called to Hanna that she must come to watch the bird, it was so amazing! And Hanna and Marko decided to come. About in half an hour, when Hanna and Marko were pretty close already, the Eagle flew again but now little further. It flew behind the trees and to the other side of railroad but we managed to find it soon sitting on a pine-tree. And it sat there until Hanna and Marko came and they could see the bird very well before it started to come dark.

In mid August (Antti had already left to Vaasa) it was very boring: no birds and weather was very rainy. We weren’t birding a lot; we were relaxing after hard summer. I went to Siikalahti couple of times but it was always raining and no good birds – nothing even to photograph.

16th of August beeper told there was Tawny Pipit in Lappeenranta Askola. And we had to go to get this (one of the easiest bird which was still lacking) for life ticks. And I’m always going to twitch if it’s less than 100 km to go and now it was 99 km. We don’t have a car so I called for Hanna’s sister Elissa who took Hanna’s fathers car and came to get us. And in half an hour we were on our way to Lappeenranta. When in Askola I noticed I had got new message about the bird staying on a small hill close the water area near the bird tower. I called to Paavo Rantanen (who had put the message) and he told the bird had flew to the other side of the water area. After small talk we decided to walk there even it was a factory area which is normally not aloud to go. But when you can have a lifer you don’t mind that much. Soon we heard a familiar voice from the sky (I have heard Tawny Pipits in Estonia and Lithuania). The call was something between House Sparrow and Pipits. We couldn’t see the bird at all. Later I saw a big pale pipit flying shortly in front of us but it disappeared amazingly and we couldn’t find it anymore. There came more twitchers but nobody found the bird anymore. Later we checked the voice from CD and it was exactly similar. I got also some pictures of young Grey Heron and Linnet.

Next day we went with Elissa and Hannas little brother Miika to get Hanna from Siikalahti. I was photographing a lizard on the track when it happened. My telescope felt! The scope went broken, not badly but bad enough that it had to send to Germany to Zeiss factory. I went really mad; I knew how long it can take! I have still my ocular there more than three months already! I couldn’t be without scope for that long time! I do have my old small Kowa but I would have to forget digiscoping. Next day I sent my scope to M-Opto and with a letter if they just had a telescope that they could loan for me until I can get my own scope back from Germany.

Like before M-Opto was doing everything very quickly. Next day Helena Elfvengren called me that my scope was already on the way to Germany but she said she was sorry but they hadn’t god a scope for me. But in next week she called me again and told they had got a scope for me, and in very next day I got it! I was so happy! Thank you M-Opto again! Now I don’t have to be the rest of the year inside as a maniac.

July – Holiday…a kind of

In the beginning of July we (Me, Hanna and our Catalonian friends Oriol and Toni) started our trip to North-Karelia, Kainuu and Kuusamo. Eastern Finland VI-VII (The whole trip, for example: Arctic Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatchers, Grey Wagtails, night with 14 BEARS, Black Kite, Little Buntings, maurus Stonechat, Red-flanked Bluetails, Carrion Crow with hybrid fledlings…)

After Oriol and Toni left back to Catalonia, we rest few days and started our another holiday trip to Lapland (for example Pallid Harrier, Gyr Falcon, Dotterel family, Ptarmigans, Ring Ouzel..) and Varanger (for example: Great Skua, Manx Shearwaters, Gannet colony, Guillemots, Puffins, Shore Lark, Pipits, a lot of digiscoping…) Lapland and Varanger VII

Back to normal life

From Varanger we had to come back to our normal life, boring! At least for me it was extra boring because I had to start again my work in Health Centre. And now I would have to work there the rest of the year. Hanna went again to Siikalahti and now Antti was able to have some holiday. And like normally, Antti hadn’t seen anything special while we were on our holiday, but when Antti left to Vaasa (Western Finland) Hanna found in next morning a rarity. Hanna was making duck counts when she heard a familiar voice from the reeds: 4th Savi’s Warbler in Siikalahti (in 4 years) was singing shortly.

We left the bird sing some nights, but 25th of July we asked all permits to ring the bird. Because of Siikalahti is a protected area and we have only a permit to ring night singers, we weren’t sure if we can get the permit, but we got it. After an awful wet walking in the reed wearing a rubber-trousers we luckily got the bird to the net. It didn’t mind the cassette-player at all and it also let you walk to two meters before it dropped down to the waterline hiding. But it was the rarest ringed bird for us!

June – Work, rally and some twitching

June seemed to go very fast, we had so much work to do! Counts and guiding took so much time that we couldn’t do any real night singer trips. So the best night singer areas weren’t checked at all this year. That’s a pity because in neighbour counts our friends made good job. But of course we twitched birds that our friends found: from Saari a Quail and from Rautjärvi Änkilä a Booted Warbler. In the beginning of month we heard still Baillion’s Crake few times while making counts in Siikalahti. But the bird was in too difficult place that to arrange any twitchings any more.

6th and 7th of June we had Siikalahti bird rally. The rally wasn’t that big that we had hoped, we had less than ten teams, but of course the competition was very exciting and good! At least the best teams were really good ones, our team Me, Hanna and Harry Nyströn from Lappeenranta of course one of the best teams. Rally area was whole South-Karelia, so Harry gave us good extra species from South. Rally started at 9 to 10 p.m. and it was raining really hard then. We decided to try something crazy, we went to forest because we couldn’t do anything wiser in that weather. Driving in deep forests at night wasn’t very bad idea at all: we got Red-throated Diver, Mistle Trush, Sparrowhawk… At night we found all night singers very easily (of course, we know that well night singers in Siikalahti area). So we heard several Nightjars, Spotted Crakes, Water Rails, a lot of Thrush Nightingales and Blyth’s Reed Warblers and some Grasshopper and River Warblers. But close to the Russian border we heard also three Owl species: Ural/Eagle Owl, Tawny and Tengmalm’s Owl. At mourning we visited Siikalahti pretty quickly, we knew the birds there so well that we didn’t need a lot time there: Little Crake, Great Reed and Reed Warbler, Garganey, Smew, Golden Oriol, Icterine Warbler… and one surprise White-tailed Eagle. After Siikalahti we started to move more South. On the way we got some more species (for example Hawfinch from Imatra), but in Joutseno we made out first good stop. Konnunsuo area gave us Ortolan Bunting, Ringed Plover and a twitched Booted Warbler. In Lappeenranta we made some good stops and the best species were Long-tailed Tit, Red-breasted Flycatcher and Red-necked Phalarope. But we checked the places very fast so we decided to leave back to North because there was still some species lacking. And that was good idea: in last hour we got still five more species and finally we came second in whole rally. Jari Kontiokorpi and Jussi Valonen were done so much work for the rally so they got two more species. But after all we had amazing good rally!

After rally we were relaxing two rainy days in my grandmother’s cottage in Ristiina with my brother’s family. Luckily we saw one Eagle Owl on the way and after 10 minutes on the beach of big Saimaa Lake I saw a migrating Pomarine Skua! I took also some photos, but it was too rainy to get good ones.

12th of June we (with Antti) twitched a Barred Warbler from Joutseno Konnunsuo. The bird was very difficult to digiscope! It was jumping a lot, and we could see it well for several times but always when I focused it was behind a leaf or something. Next two weeks went doing counts. We had duck-, mapping- and night singer counts. Somehow there were much less almost all birds than in normal year.

In mid June came some friends of mine (Tuomo Jaakkonen, Jarno Saarinen and Mikko Ala-Kojola) from Oulu to find some night singers. And like always Tuomo wanted to do some ringing too. First we caught Blyth’s Reed Warbler, then Corn Crake and after that very good ringing tick a Quail from Saari Jyrkilä fields! 24th day we twitched Yellow Serin from Kuopio (actually I went there by train, Mikko was already there and Antti came from Vaasa and we all came after twitching to Parikkala with Antti). Yellow Serin was a lifer number 321 for me (it really is rare in Finland!)

Last counts we made in tight schedule! We were all three working almost around the clock! Reason was that we had friends coming to have some birding with us from Barcelona! Our old friend Oriol Clarabuch came with his friend Toni Alonso to have birding in two weeks in Eastern Finland with us. Eastern Finland VI-VII (The whole trip, already in June Booted Warbler, Blyth`s Reed and River Warbler ringing, Lanceolated Warbler, Great Grey Owl, Ural Owl, Greenish Warblers, Red-breasted Flycatchers…)

Early May came many new birds to Siikalahti. 4th of May we had a traditional Bird tower Competition in whole Finland. Our results were also traditional, we were clearly the best tower in South Karelia and even the second best inner land tower in whole Finland – even it was still very snowy and Siikalahti bay melted just day earlier!

After the competition we took some free from Siikalahti which means of course that we went birding somewhere else. This time we guides (Me, Hanna and Antti Vierimaa) went to Saari and to new high Vaaramäki tower trying to see some raptors. After some sky scanning Antti found an eagle soaring far from North. We got the bird to our scopes… First we thought it was White-tailed Eagle (wings were extremely long, and fingers too, upper coverts were pale yellowish brown. And the shape of the bird has nothing to do with Spotted Eagles.) When the eagle flew closer we recognized it was a Steppe Eagle! Sub-adult Steppe left (after some attacking from Buzzard) gliding to South and it glided from half a kilometre from us. When it flew over some lakes (4 km from us) it soared a little and landed. We decided to go after it but we didn’t find it anymore. We got only some photos of Great Grey Shrike. When getting back to Parikkala we found a Mute Swan which was breeding two last summers in Parikkala but now it was alone. So no Mute Swans breeding this year.

In the beginning of May we started also bird counts in Siikalahti. So we spent time mostly doing counts, watching migration and of course guiding groups and people. Worst days were more than 15 hours long and sometimes we had only an hour to sleep at night if there was a night singer trip for a group and at 2 a.m. we had to wake up to do bird counts! We built also a fence to a track to new bird-hide, so birds won’t fly away if someone goes there.

… and better ones!

20th of May was THE DAY! At midnight I was with Antti counting some night singers at Siikalahti. There were only some Water Rails, amazingly only one Spotted Crake (in normal year tens). When we were in our last place we heard some strange voice from the small reeds. Yes, we knew the voice; we had heard it once earlier with Antti! It had been the only twitched bird for me and Antti together – Baillion’s Crake! We tried to get closer the bird but it was too wet. Antti managed to sit down to the water so we decided to wake up Hanna by phone and go to get her to hear the bird too. At home we listened some CD too before getting back. When back Baillion’s Crake was still “singing”. At last we managed to go to sleep at 4 a.m.

After few hours sleep phone ringed. Jari Kontiokorpi was telling that Geese were coming! When eating breakfast (and waiting for Antti to get us all to Siikalahti), we saw the first Barnacle Geese, flock of 500 birds with more than 30 Black-throated Divers. So we were in hurry! In Siikalahti we saw Geese quite much before the wind turned them to migrate too east to Russia. Over 30000 Geese included mostly Barnacles but also thousands of White-fronted and rossicus-type of Bean Geese. Also we saw few Brent Geese and one Pink-footed Goose. But we saw a lot more too! Nine White Storks, one or two 2 cy male Red-footed Falcons, female Little Crake was shouting all the day. But after Hanna left home (to prepare to go to Helsinki to get a group which wanted to get information about the area while sitting in a bus) it happened! I found a big bird very close over the reeds. Female Marsh Harrier which was attacking this bird seemed small. I realized this is good one – Red Kite flew just over us and continued north. I had seen Black Kite in Siikalahti about 40 times, so this was something I had been waiting for! At night we arranged for twitchers a possibility to twitch Baillion’s Crake because it was in protected are. And we managed to hear and also record the bird. So can you wait more for one day? (Next night we couldn’t manage to hear the Crake anymore. It was moved too far to protected area, so we didn’t arrange more group twitchings.)

Oulu area Rally

After some days we left to Oulu with Antti to join Oulu area bird rally (The best Rally I know!). Mikko Ala-Kojola was our third team mate. We had only one day to prepare the rally, so after driving 500km to Oulu we went directly to find some Owls with Pentti Hukkanen. Next day we checked places in Liminka and Siikajoki areas. We saw a male Montagu’s Harrier in Lumijoki Sannanlahti tower, Hawk Owl or two in Lumijoki Varjakka and nice flock of Dotterels in Siikajoki Sääri fields. We digiscoped Dotterels together with Harri Taavetti and Finnature group.

Next day we started the rally traditionally from Hailuoto Island. First we felt the rally was not going very well, and after all other teams started to find rarities which we had to twitch. We had to twitch pair of American Wigeons and three mail Ruddy Ducks in Pöllänlahti. Other good birds we found were Icterine Warble, Moorhen, White-fronted Goose, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope, White-tailed Eagle, Gadwall… All the time phone was getting more messages from other teams, but we couldn’t find any rarities. After getting to land we continued twitching: Citrine Wagtails in Kempele Sarkkiranta, Marsh Sandpiper in Oulu Oritkari. At night it started to go better. Maybe we had heard so many night singers in Siikalahti (which is the best night singer area maybe in whole Europe) so we had to hear them in North too? Our first stop gave us Corn Crake and Grasshopper Warbler at Kempele Teppola. Later we got Water Rail, Spotted Crake, Thrush Nightingales, Short-eared and Long-eared Owl… Morning gave us also many new birds so at the end we got 158 species in 24 hours! We were 3rd, which was pretty well – we hadn’t been birding in Oulu area at whole spring! When we were checking rally results we got a message about the rarest bird ever in Finland Oriental Plover, but we were far too tired to go twitching!

We drove back to Parikkala little longer way, because Antti needed to get some stuff from her girlfriend from Vaasa. At Kalajoki we spent an hour at Letto, and we found some better birds: Little Terns, Red-throated Pipit, Sanderling, Little Stint, some Red-necked Phalaropes… Some nice pictures too.

Late May it didn’t happen anything special (well I saw a possible Long-legged Buzzard, but too far). Biggest thing was maybe solar eclipse. While working I hadn’t much time to photograph, best “shoots” were maybe White-backed Woodpeckers on their nest. Luckily I got even some photos; because my scopes ocular took some water inside and I had to sent it for Zeiss to be cleaned. And after 3 months it is still there!!! Luckily M-Opto in Helsinki gave me another one until I can get my own back. Thank you, thank you and thank you!

April – Waiting for the spring

In the beginning of April it was very cold and snowy. First arrived migration birds left back to South. So I didn’t find much to photograph. On the 5th of April Timo Kauppinen called me that he has a Ural Owl sitting in his backyard. Owl had been sitting there and watching the traffic of the feeder. So I decided to leave there on my lunch-hour. After some searching we found the bird and soon it flew to sit over the feeding place. Of course the Owl was in a bad shape, it was hungry and that was why it was so brave. So I could take tens of good pictures of it.

After some back-winters I was digiscoping some Woodpigeons in my mother-in-laws backyard in Tarvaslampi. Pigeons were there eating under a feeder because of there was nothing to eat elsewhere yet. With Hannu Siitonen we visited also in Siberian Jay forest, but the birds were not easy. In Tarvaslampi Yellowhammers were very easy to photograph. I Digiscoped them inside, I just opened the window, so birds didn’t flush.

On the 11th of April I left to Oulu to move the rest of our stuff to Parikkala. Hanna was still there studying while I had been working in Parikkala for two months already. On the beginning of my Way I saw a beautiful male Capercaillie standing in a forest. I managed to get just one picture before it flew to the deeper forest. Close to Oulu in Liminka I digiscoped a Roe Deer eating in a snowy field. But in Oulu there wasn’t much to photograph. In Rusko rubbish tip there were just some funny looking Rooks.

Next week I had only time to photograph a Wood Lark which was singing loudly in Sounio, south from Siikalahti, before we left to spent whole Eastern in Varanger North Norway! Norway Varanger IV/2003 (Whole trip report: Yellow-billed Diver, Great Northern Diver, Fulmars, Gannets and very good time!)

After the trip to Varanger I started my work as a bird-guide in Parikkala Siikalahti (the best birding lake in Finland). (I had been waiting for that!) In the end of April Siikalahti was still almost totally frozen! Only small water areas where Coots and Goldeneyes could swim. Other ducks were only few. Some Slavonian Grebes brought some colour. During the last days of April the spring finally came! Migration birds were every day more and more. Every day I could find new species to digiscope. Light was still pretty bad and the weather wasn’t very good but still I managed to get some good photos.

J.A.

First weekend of March I was birding and digiscoping in Lappeenranta area with Harry Nyström. I got pictures for example of Hawk Owl at Lappeenranta Askola and White-backed Woodpecker at Imatra Salo-Issakka. But the funniest thing that happened was in Lappeenranta Vainikkala. We were searching for Owls that other birders had seen in the area when I noticed a Duck (or something) starting to land to a snowy field. And it happened, a male Goosander landed to snow and smashed deep in it. Perhaps it had too cold or it was too tired to fly anymore. And there was no open water in about 20 kilometres. We tried to catch the bird but it wasn’t that tired.

Before arriving back at Parikkala I had another try to scope the Black-throated Thrush. Now I managed to get better pictures. I got also wonderful pictures of a Waxwing which was trying to swallow a big frozen berry about 15 metres from me.

Beginning of March went mostly in work. When I had time I was photographing somewhere in Parikkala. The biggest work I made trying to get Grey-headed Woodpecker pictures. Finally I got them from backyard of Hannu Siitonen.

On the 14th of March I left to a weekend trip to Oulu where my wife Hanna was still making her studies. I was on a trip with Hanna’s aunt and almost the whole weekend I was a driver for her, Hanna and Hanna’s sister Elissa. But while they were shopping I managed to have some twitching. From Äimärautio I managed to get wonderful pictures of Crested Lark (which is very rare in Finland), from Oulu-river (Laanila) I got Little Grebe and from Rusko rubbish tip Shore Lark pictures. I was trying to find a Lark for about an hour and finally when I found it a worker came to shout me that the rubbish tip was closed already! I managed to get two photos before I had to rush. It’s possible to get left behind the locks with your car. At Sunday I had time to digiscope a Great Grey Owl in Hietasaari and Nutcrackers in Välivainio before leaving back to Parikkala which is 500km from Oulu.

On late March I visited my parents in Kirkkonummi (Southern Finland) but it was still so cold and so snowy that I didn’t manage to get good pictures. Last trips of the month I made by bike to Siikalahti. Not many pictures were taken but if you try hard enough, some days you are lucky! Once I was leaving Siikalahti after a poor trip and I decided to bike around Siikalahti bay. I took even my scope on my shoulder, so I would be ready if something founds. After scoping a Yellowhammer I continued biking. Suddenly I saw some animal walking on a snowy field. I jumped of my bike (bike was still moving and went to ditch) and in 10 seconds I had my scope and camera ready. I focused and I got some pictures of a LYNX! It was already dark and snow was steaming but at least I got something!

J.A.