Quiet winter-time
On the 8th of January we came back from Ireland and on the way back to Parikkala, we stopped a couple of times in the evening and saw an Eagle Owl in Lappeenranta and Mallards, Goldeneyes, 2 Smews and a Canada Goose in Imatra Vuoksi.
On the 9th day we had both started at work again but on my lunch-hour I saw Rock Doves in Kangaskylä, twitched 2 Marsh Tits that had been found (or relocated, the birds might be the same that I had found already in November) in Kannas where I also saw a White-backed Woodpecker.
On the 10th day I saw the Marsh Tits again and also a Treecreeper and a Blackbird and in Tyrjä I found 6 Mallards. On the 11th day I saw a Goshawk in the village and a flock of 5 Black Grouses in a short forest-trip.
On the 14th of January I had a game in Lappeenranta and on the way I stopped in Simpele where I saw 3 Nutcrackers and in Vuoksi where I saw 3 Cormorants and the same Canada Goose. On the 15th day I visited Melkoniemi forests again and saw some Crested Tits and familiar Siberian Jays. In Peruspohjanjoki I found a Dipper. On the 16th day I saw 5 Long-tailed Tits in Kannas and a Great Grey Shrike in Siikalahti. On the 17th I saw 2 Nuthatches in Kirkonkylä and a White-backed Woodpecker in Siikalahti.
On the 19th the Rock Doves had been breeding again and there were 6 birds flying around the village. It is crazy that they are breeding in the middle of the winter! On the 21st day I saw a Great Grey Shrike in Kolmikannankangas, 8 Whooper Swans and 2 Dippers in Simpele Kokkolanjoki and in Lappeenranta 6 Teals in Reijola, a Grey-headed Woodpecker in Pappilanniemi and 3 Cormorants in Kaukaanselkä.
On the 22nd of January we were birding with Hanna and her brother Miika and sister Elissa and after we had seen 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers in Tarvaslampi, we started from the Siberian Jays. Then we saw a Goshawk while driving towards Melkoniemi and then surprisingly found a new Marsh Tit that was visiting one small feeder. After we had seen a flock of 9 Black Grouses and a big flock of Yellowhammers with some Tree Sparrows and 1 House Sparrow, we made next stops in Kokkolanjoki. There we found some Whooper Swans and a Dipper and heard a Redpoll.
In Koitsanlahti Mantkanniemi we saw the familiar 2 Marsh Tits and soon continued to Siikalahti where we had a Great Grey Shrike and then we ended the trip in Kannas where we saw 2 more Marsh Tits. So we saw 5 Marsh Tits in a couple of hours!
On the 26th day I saw a Hazel Hen in Siikalahti and on the 27th a Coal Tit in Kannas where I didn’t see any Marsh Tits anymore and strangely I didn’t see any other Marsh Tits either anymore. During the day I drove south to Kirkkonummi but on the way I saw only the same familiar birds in a very thick fog.
27th of January Matias Castrén picked me up and together with him and Jari Laitasalo we drove to Hanko where we had Bongariliitto meeting in the weekend. But first we did some birding and saw Mute Swans, Common, Herring, Great Black-backed and some Black-headed Gulls, a Coot, some Red-brested Mergansers, some hundreds of Long-tailed Ducks, a few White-tailed Eagles and so on on the open sea. Later we met the others in Tvärminne and had a long meeting which ended about at midnight.
On the 29th we started birding again and after we had seen a Black Woodpecker in Tvärminne we headed to Vedagrundet where we found a Rock Pipit that had been seen a couple of days earlier there. We checked a couple of places before it started to get too windy and saw mostly same species as on the previous day but also some Tufted Ducks with 29 Scaups and a Smew in Täktbukten Kobben and about 70 Velvet Scoters with at least 1 Common Scoter in Högholmen.
On the 31st day I found a Nuthatch in Siikalahti and of course there was also a White-backed Woodpecker.
On the 1st of February I saw a couple of Coal and Crested Tits in Särkisalmi and a White-backed and a Grey-headed Woodpecker and a Great Grey Shrike in Siikalahti. In the evening we heard a Tengmalm’s Owl in Tarvaslampi while having sauna.
Marsh Tits had disappeared even though I visited the feeders several times but woodpeckers were seen almost daily. On the 2nd day the only new bird was a Chaffinch in Särkisalmi.
On the 4th day I saw Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Siskins in Kirkonkylä and then we continued to Siikalahti with Harri Partanen. There we had a magical time as we saw a Grey-headed, a White-backed, of course several Great Spotted but also a Lesser Spotted and a Three-toed Woodpecker and a Nuthatch in a very short time! We had so great time that we still drove to Rautjärvi Latvajärvi and twitched a Hawk Owl.
On the 5th day I was again in Lappeenranta and saw some familiar birds on the way. I also tried to twitch Collared Doves but had no luck. But I managed to see the first ever wintering Stock Doves, 4 birds in Joutseno Myllärilä.
Then I saw again only woodpeckers and the same Great Grey Shrike and on the 10th day the same Mallards and a Dipper in Tyrjä. On the 11th day I was driving a long way along forest-roads but saw only one flock of 5 Black Grouses and 2 Common Crossbills.
On the 12th of February I was in Lappeenranta again and on the way I managed to twitch 2 Collared Doves in Anola. I had to wait for them for an hour before together with Pekka Punnonen we saw them flying over us and an adult male Goshawk was chasing them! It was vey close that the another bird wasn’t caught but luckily it survived. We managed to see also the Stock Doves again and then I had to hurry to my game.
On the 13th day I visited Melkoniemi forests in nice sunny weather and saw a Black Woodpecker and heard 3 Hazel Hens. On the 17th day I saw in Siikalahti a White-backed Woodpecker and a Nuthatch again. On the 18th day I did a winterbird-count and there were less birds than ever. I started a little bit late and the weather was also quite poor, but I really had to make the count now, as all the other possible days I will be doing something else, mostly birding in Thailand. Anyway there were some nice surprises like 2 Coal Tits, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, 3 Redpolls, 2 Hazel Hens and a Rook that was really a big surprise! In the evening we did a owl-listening trip to Melkoniemi and heard altogether 5 Tengmalm’s Owls.
On the 19th of February there were 4 Whooper Swans, 13 Mallards and a Goosander in Kokkolanjoki. On the next day there were already 5 Goosanders. Then on the next days we were preparing to our trip to Thailand. Only bird seen was on the way to the airport when we saw a Common Buzzard in Porvoo.
J.A.