August 2010
August
On the 1st of August we started early and drove together with Daniel Burgas to Joutseno where we tried to listen if any Corn Crakes or Quails were still calling but they weren’t. In Kotasaari there was still a thick fog at 6 a.m. but a Dunlin, a Spotted Redshank and some Little Ringed Plovers were seen. Then we continued to Lappeenranta Toikansuo where were already some lifer and month-tick twitchers waiting for a Pallas Sandgrouse to show up. We waited for more than an hour and heard a Grasshopper Warbler, a Thrush Nightingale and saw a family of Blyth’s Reed Warblers and a single Marsh Warbler before the Pallas Sandgrouse finally was found from the dense vegetation on the top of Toikansuo hill. Soon it flew almost straight over us calling and landed somewhere behind the Askola pools. We waited for some time and saw 7 Temmink’s Stints, a Curlew Sandpiper, a Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpipers and 4 Little Ringed Plovers, but continued to Kuusela forests. Soon after that the sandgouse had flew to the closer pools.
In forest we saw 3 Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Woodcocks but not any Greenish Warblers. Then we drove to Reijola where a long-staying Crested Lark was found after some searching.
On the next night we had a huge storm and even in our garden a tree was fallen and flagpole was snapped. But in Rautjärvi there was a huge disaster – almost all trees broke down in many big areas! And a couple of days later we had another storm that also hit to Rautjärvi very hard. It also hit to Siikalahti where many trees were fallen to the path and even small duck-counting towers were fallen.
So the next few days were very quiet. We did visit Siikalahti a couple of times and photographed the disaster. Some Grey Herons were seen. In Joukio there were a couple of families of Barnacle Geese and in Punkaharju we saw a Nutcracker flying over the road when we were going to Savonlinna.
On the 7th of August we drove south. On the way we stopped in Toikansuo where was a Little Stint and some flocks of Common Scoters were migrating. Pallas Sandgouse had left already some days earlier. We continued to Kotka Sapokka harbour where the rest of the participants to a trip to Hamina Koivuluoto Island were already packing the boat. Soon we were on the way to this one of the outermost islands on the south-eastern sea. On the way we saw a Razorbill and right away when we landed to the island we saw the first Rock Pipit.
This day and also the next one we were working as volunteers and worked pretty hard to make this small island’s facilities better. We did 3 campfire places, painted one house and so on. Of course we did some birding too and a couple of Black Guillemots, an Icterine Warbler, a Cuckoo, a couple of more Rock Pipits, a Wren and some other birds were seen. But during the daytime it was absolutely too hot for birds so most of the time we had free we were looking for dragonflies. There were a couple of extremely keen dragonfly experts with us so we managed to see several interesting species. The most interesting one would have been a new species for Finland but we never saw it landing and right then we didn’t have dragonfly net or camera with us. But it was all golden and therefore easy to identify as a Green-eyed Hawker. We also saw some other interesting butterflies like Admirals, Bath Whites, Blue Underwings and some other insects like 4 to 5 Migratory Locusts and I also saw a blue-winged grasshopper but even though I saw it landing-place we never found it again.
On the 9th day we visited Siikalahti together with Mikko Ala-Kojola and we photographed the fallen trees wondered if anyone can somehow make the path open anymore. A Red-breasted Flycatcher was heard calling on the top of the trees that were still up.
But luckily on the 12th day the paths were open and duck-counting towers up so I could do a duck-count again. It was easy to tell that this summer had been extremely bad for breeding ducks as only some small families were seen. Anyway 227 Mallards, 143 Wigeons, 121 Teals were counted so the numbers were good. But diving ducks were missing almost completely. The bird of the day was a Nuthatch that was migrating over me. Another good bird was a Wryneck on the dam-road.
On the 13th day I twitched a Crested Lark in Imatra on the way to pick up our washing machine from the service. On the next night we did a short night-trip to Saari but no Quails were found. Only birds were a couple of Nightjars but we saw lots of Perceides – falling stars! On the 15th day the only interesting bird was a calling Spotted Crake.
On the 17th day I saw a 2 cy White-tailed Eagle, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Grey Herons and on 19th I did a duck-count again. There was much less bird now: 155 Wigeons, 90 Mallards and 100 Teals. A Garganey, an adult White-tailed Eagle and a White-fronted Goose were the best birds.
Twitching lifers
I was very bored to Parikkala so I decided to go south on the weekend. Our goal was to get at least one gull lifer as there had been a couple of Mediterranean Gulls around. But anyway my first stop was in Joutseno Myllymäki where had been a local Short-toed Eagle on the previous day. But in a couple of hours only some Buzzards, Honey Buzzards, Ospreys and smaller raptors were seen. It wasn’t windy enough for eagles. Only better birds were a local Waxwing and a family of 5 Wood Larks. In the afternoon I continued my drive until Salo where still a day before had been a Med Gull but even though I searched until the dark I couldn’t find anything else interesting than a calling Collared Dove. It was already late when I parked to Kirkkonummi to my parents.
On the 21st of August I visited Espoo Suomenoja and Laajalahti and saw altogether 66 Gadwalls, 18 Moorhens, 4 Curlew Sandpipers, a Little Stint, 2 Temminck’s Stints, 15 Dunlins, a Spotted Redshank, 227 Lapwings, 2 Caspian Terns and so on.
In the evening I got a message that there had been a Yellow-legged Gull and a Caspian Gull in Ämmässuo rubbish tip. I planned to go there for the next day and asked some information from the local birders, but as I already knew they told that the place was closed and the thought it’d be impossible to see the birds from outside the gates.
So on the 22nd day I slept long and was going to Laajalahti again when I got a message that the gull-counters gad found the Yellow-legged Gull again and there were twitchers going to try to see it from outside. I decided to go there too right away. I was already were close when I got the instructions to a place where the bird was visible, but unfortunately it was right on the other side of the huge rubbish tip. After all I was the 6th car to park to the place where I still had to walk some to the right place. Luckily the bird was still there and I was there early enough to fit to that small area where the bird was visible. It was possible to see the bird from only on small rock!
I studied this Finnish lifer for some time and then left to my parent to eat. I was on the way when I got a message that there had been a Med Gull in Kirkkonummi Lapinjärvi. I had just passed that place! Anyway the bird had left towards the rubbish tip so I decided to wait that the other birders find it and went to eat. The Med Gull wasn’t found but a Caspian Gull was. So I drove soon back to Ämmässuo and managed to see at least one 1 cy Caspian Gull, probably a 2 cy bird was seen too.
After that I still tried to find a Med Gull until the late evening when I had to start my long way back home.
On the 25th of August I got a phone call from Jouko Rantanen that he had found a young Pallid Harrier from Siikalahti. I immediately drove there and managed to find the bird easily. This beautiful harrier was flying together with a couple of young Marsh Harriers. I had to go back to work soon but I went back there after work but the bird wasn’t found anymore.
On the 27th day I still saw a Curlew in Siikalahti. In the afternoon Hanna left to Helsinki by train to BirdLife meeting and I was juts planning what to do on the weekend when I got a message that there was a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Espoo Laajalahti! I left immediately!
I picked up Sampsa Cairenius in Lappeenranta and we drove against the sunset towards southwest. The bird had flight to a reed bed soon after finding and it had been missing for hours so the bird-tower was absolutely full and in worst time there had been more than 100m queue! When we were finally there most of the people had already given up so after 15 minutes wait we fit to the tower. It was already too dark so we just checked some of the other birds like 3000 Barnacle Geese. But it meant that we had to stay over night and come to try again at early morning.
Twitching lifers – part II
On the 28th of August at 6 a.m. we were back in Laajalahti. It was already too late as the tower was already full of twitchers. Luckily we managed to fit somehow to the back of the tower where it was possible to see a part of the bay. We found a Red-necked Phalarope, a Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Dunlins, 2 Little Stints and so on before Mika Bruun found the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper on the backside of the bay. It took a long time to see it behind all the twitchers and after all I managed to climb to a bench where I could see the bird over all other twitchers. Soon I made room to other twitchers that were first on the line under the tower. After we had managed to find another place than the tower where it was possible to see the bird, we decided to go somewhere else. We’d come back to try to see the Sharpie better later anyway.
We drove to Helsinki Niskala where had been a Red-breasted Goose but only Barnacles were found. A Red-throated Pipit flew over us calling. Soon we had information that a Yellow-legged gull was again in Ämmässuo suo we drove there so also Sampsa could get a lifer! After some work we managed to find a beautiful pale 1cy Caspian Gull too! In best moment we had both of these rarities in our scope in same time! Many friends came to see these birds after twitching a Sharpie and “potu” got 2 more lifers in a minute!
We checked Lapinkylänjärvi where we saw a Red-throated Diver before we went to eat. In Veikkola we saw a mixed flock of Parrot and Common Crossbills before we continued to Siuntio to try to find a Mediterranean Gull that had been seen there a couple of days before. We had checked almost all the fields around the village when I got a message that it had been found 12 km from us from Pikkala! We drove there and the bird was still there! 2nd lifer to me in same day! But “potu” made it his 4th lifer in very same day! And after just 15 minutes watching the bird left.
We continued to Inkoo Kopparnäs where we saw 3 Wood Larks, 4 Eiders, Caspian Terns, 12 migrating Sparrowhaks and heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, before continued to Suomenoja where Gadwalls, Moorhens and 2 Slavonian Grebes were seen easily.
Light was already getting worse when we drove back to Laajalahti where Hanna was also now. She had got a ride from BirdLife meeting to get a WP-tick too. We saw the Sharpie a little bit better than in the morning but still it was too far to photograph. Soon we started out way back home. We still had a short stop in Etu-Viikki where the Red-breasted Goose had been seen, but saw only 130 Ruffs and a Golden Plover. Altogether we had seen 112 species during the day.
On the 29th of August we slept long but then went to Siikalahti to try to see Honey Buzzard migration. But they had probably gone on the previous day as the only migrating raptor we saw was a Black Kite – which is a good bird of course! Also a White-tailed Eagle was seen but we didn’t see a Greater Spotted Eagle that had been seen just before we came. Another good bird was a late Golden Oriole.
On the 30th day I saw another White-tailed Eagle in Siikalahti and on the last day of August I did duck-counts again. 554 Wigeons, 146 Mallards, 111 Teals, a Gadwall, 2 Canada Geese, 128 Coots etc. were seen. Also 10 Bean Geese, 75 Cranes, a Rustic Bunting, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a couple of White-backed Woodpeckers and a thousand of Chaffinches were seen.