. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On the 1st of June we had SSP-ringing in Papinlahti and we caught 4+3c Common Whitethroats, a Pied Flycatcher, a Red-backed Shrike and a Common Rosefinch. We also ringed young Jackdaws on one of our owl nestbox. In the evening I still did a short trip to fields and to Siikalahti dam-road. I found a Taiga Bean Goose, a Hen Harrier, a Great Snipe, a Short-eared Owl, a young Boreal Owl that was right outside the nest-box where it had been living, heard a Savi’s Warbler and a Great Reed Warbler and saw a European Nuthatch.

On the 2nd day only better observations were a too distant female-plumaged harrier and Boreal Owl fledlings that I found at night. And on the next day only birds I saw were 3 Oystercatchers.

On the 4th of June I saw a Black Kite on my lunch-hour and in the evening we went to ring the 2 smaller Tawny Owl youngsters. At night we still visited dam-road and heard a Savi’s, a Great Reed and a Common Reed Warbler.

On the 5th day I saw 2 Red-necked Phalaropes and a Black Kite on my lunch-hour. In the afternoon we did a trip to Saari but only better birds we found were a River and a Common Reed Warbler and a Grey Heron. Then we found another Grey Heron on the way back to home in Särkisalmi. On the next day I saw just the same birds as earlier.

On the 7th of June we did a proper night-trip to Saari but found nothing special. 22 Corn Crakes, 5 Great Snipes, Long-eared Owls, a Short-eared Owl, 5 Nightjars, 21 Thrush Nightingales, an Icterine Warbler, 30 Blyth’s Reed and 4 Marsh Warblers, 3 Golden Orioles and so on were found. We visited Soininmäki forests too and found a Hazel Hen singing, a Three-toed Woodpecker drumming actively and 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers singing. In Tarvassaari we still found a Great Reed Warbler which we decided to catch and ring and we also saw 2 Red-throated Divers flying over us.

On the 8th day we had SSP again and we caught a Sedge and a Bylth’s Reed Warbler, 3+2c Common Whitethroats, a Willow Warbler, 3c Great Tits and 2+1c Reed Warblers. In the evening we made the first stop in Siikalahti and surprisingly heard a Bearded Reedling calling. We played some tape and it came well visible and it was so aggressive that we decided to put up a mist-net and ring it. All local birders who came to see the bird managed to see it well.

When we arriving back at home we found a young White-backed Woodpecker on our garden. Late in the evening we still went to a short trip and found a Great Snipe and a new Common Reed Warbler.

On the 11th of June I saw a Spotted Redshank and a couple of Ruffs which were already on their autumn-migration. On the 12th day we continued mapping Siikalahti and did night-counts. On the southern side of the bay we found a Spotted Crake, 13 Water Rails, a White-backed Woodpecker, a Marsh, a Great Reed, a Common Reed Warbler and a Golden Oriole.

On the 13th day we continued counts and my better observations were a Hazel Hen family, a White-tailed Eagle, a Lesser Spotted and a White-backed Woodpecker and again a new Common Reed Warbler. Hanna found a family of Nuthatches which I had to go to twitch too. On the 15th day counts I saw a Black Kite, 3 White-backed and 6 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, an Icterine Warbler, a Common Reed Warbler and the same Great Reed Warbler. In the evening we saw a Tundra Bean Goose, a Great Snipe and then we went to check that everything was OK with Tawny Owl – at least 2 of them were already out from the nestbox. And on the next day we managed to see an adult owl too.

On the 16th day I counted 24 adult and 35 juv Barnacle Geese in Saharanta and in the evening we saw 4 Oystercatchers flying over the village. We also went to see a Nightjar that Hanna had found incubating. On the 17th day Hanna found a Yellow Wagtail in Saharanta and at night I went to twitch a Quail as Rautjärvi-tick but I didn’t hear it.

On the 19th of June I saw a female Garganey on the dam-road and in the evening we went to check some fields and found even 9 Great Snipes on one field and 3 more on another field. And now all the Tawny Owls were out begging food.

At Midsummer morning we slept a little bit longer and then headed to Tähtiniemi to search for a Greenish Warbler that had been found in recordings that had been made on one summer-cottage. After some searching we managed to find it. Then we headed to Rautjärvi and decided to try to twitch the Quail again but again without luck. But on a bog nearby we caught and ringed 3 young Common Greenshanks. On Kokkolanjoki we saw a couple of Grey Wagtails and after some searching we managed to find their nest.

On the 21st of June we had SSP again and we caught a Sedge Warbler, 2c Common Whitethroats, 1c Garden Warbler, 3+1c Willow Warblers, 10 Blue and 2+1c Great Tits and a surprise Crested Tit and a Reed Bunting. In the evening crazy news were out as a young boy had photographed the first ever Dalmatian Pelican somewhere in Finland! Thanks to Martin Helin and Karoliina Hämäläinen the location was revealed and it had been in Kökar island a couple of days earlier. So the news was old after all but luckily there were some birders in Kökar and the bird was located! So we had to start planning a big twitch – but first we left to eat crepes to Hanna’s parents – there must be some order in life…

While we were eating crepes I decided to book a boat for the next morning. Hanna, Elissa and Veikka Kosonen were also ready to go twitching so there were still 21 places in a big boat. After I had put a message to Lintutiedotus it took only a couple of minutes to get the boat full.

We tried to sleep a couple of hours but before midnight we met in our parking place and soon left towards Parainen. It was a long drive but finally we turned to Saaristotie where we saw the first wave of happy twitchers driving towards us. Finally at 5:30 a.m. we were on Nauvo ferry and a half an hour later on Korppoo ferry with several other twitchers. Then we still had to wait for an hour in the harbor before our boat Princess Explorer arrived. Luckily all 25 twitchers had came early and at 7:40 we started sailing towards Kökar.

It took 2 hours to get to Kökar and on the way I had got some ridiculous year-ticks as I hadn’t seen sea at all this year – Common Eider, Mute Swan and Arctic Tern.

Finally we were on Kökar and out captain had booked a couple of taxis for us. The first car was already there so 8 first ones started driving towards the place where the Dalmatian Pelican had been also this morning. We had been driving only some hundreds of meters when we got a call that the pelican was in flight! The rest of our group that was still on the harbor saw it! It was flying close to the wind-mill and with that information we managed to see the bird with Hanna. But we were on the front-seat, it was impossible to see it from the back of the car before it flew behind some trees. So we drove after it to Västerfjärden where it had been also on the previous evening fishing. We could see the bay well from the bird-tower but the furthest part of bay was invisible. After some waiting we decided to leave to the place where the bird had been seen most. And of course we got a call that the bird was flying again. Only I managed to see it flying low behind some tree again, but now it was flying towards the islet where it had been seen most.

We drove along a small track towards Storstensudden where the bird had been watcher. Of course another car was driving towards us and there was no room to pass it. In this car were the owners of the road and they had promised that the early morning twitchers could use the road but it seemed that it wasn’t early morning anymore. So we had to continue by feet as our taxi had to reverse back to a bigger road. Veikka and Teo Ylätalo, who had already seen the bird a couple of times, passed us by bike that they had rented from the harbor. And soon we saw them on a top of a rock and luckily the Dalmatian Pelican was on their scopes as it was on its ordinary islet.

Some of our group was still on the harbor, but they had seen the bird already. And now finally the last twitchers that had been in our car managed to see it. And soon taxis brought the rest of our group to watch the bird. It was quite far but well visible. After some time it flew a little bit but landed to the sea and after some swimming it climbed to another islet where it stayed until we decided to call the taxis to get us back to the harbor.

The way back to Korppoo was happy and on the way I still managed to get a couple of year-ticks: a Black Guillemot and a Razorbill. Then in Korppoo there was really bad Midsummer traffic-jam. Luckily we managed to get to second ferry to Nauvo and then it took an hour to get to another ferry to Parainen. Luckily I managed to sleep a little while waiting for the ferries.

In Turku there were a White Stork couple breeding and in Raisio a Long-billed Dowitcher and then further in Jyväskylä an Eurasian Stone-curlew but we (except Veikka) were too tired to think about any more twitching. On the way we tried briefly to twitch a Ferruginous Duck in Salo Omenojärvi but we saw only a family of Pochards and a Caspian Tern. After we had eaten we continued to Kouvola where Elissa eptied her mail-box and then we continued to Parikkala. There we still went to listen to young Tawny Owls before the trip was over.

On the next day I was really tired but on the 24th of June we went to ring young Common Kestrels in Rautalahti, saw a couple of Whimbrels in Tönkinsuo and then went to check that Nightjar-youngsters had been hatched – but they surely were still too young to ring. Then we continued to Rautjärvi Kokkolanjoki and ringed 6 nestlings of Grey Wagtail. We still continued to a short field-trip and saw a Great Snipe.

On the 25th day we did only a short afternoon-trip and found a Pygmy Owl in Yrttitarha. And on the 26th day there were again 3 Oystercatchers in the village. On the 27th day we did the first duck-count where we tried to count all ducklings. It as easy to say that there aren’t many birds on the northern side of Siikalahti anymore. Only better observations were a few Gadwalls, a Grey Heron and a Spotted Redshank.

On the 28th day we drove to Mikkeli to my cousin’s birthday-parties. There we made only some atlas-records like a nests of a Treecreeper and a Wren. On the 29th day I went to check that everything was OK with the Grey Wagtails. Then in the afternoon we went to Saari where we saw a Black Kite in Akonpohja, a couple of Gadwalls in different places and found a nest of Golden Orioles.

On the 30th of June my brother Pirkka arrived for a short visit with his wife Anitta and two older children Iina and Veikka. In the afternoon we tried to find Golden Orioles in the cemetery but found only an Icterine Warbler and a nest of a Wryneck. At night we did a tour in the area around the village and Siikalahti with Pirkka and Veikka and even though it was already very quiet, we managed to find several Long-eared Owl fledlings, 2 Short- eared Owls, a Red-throated Diver, a few Great Snipes, several Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a Common and a Great Reed Warbler and a River Warbler. So we got a few good year-ticks for Pirkka.

J.A.