April 2009
April
On the 1st of April I tried to twitch a Black-throated Thrush again in Savonlinna, but the bird was gone. On the way back to Parikkala I saw a Nuthatch in Punkaharju Lusto. In Siikalahti and small open waters nearby I saw some Whooper Swans, Goldeneyes, Lapwings, Woodpigeons, Blackbirds, Common Buzzards and a Snow Bunting. On the next couple of days I saw also some Starlings and Skylarks and a couple of Canada Geese and twitched a Greylag Goose and 2 Nuthatches.
On the 4th day in Siikalahti I saw already 30 Lapwings, 7 Buzzard, 52 Woodpigeons, a Rook, a Goldfinch and a Reed Bunting. Also a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was seen amongst the “common” White-backed Woodpeckers, a Grey-headed and a Black Woodpecker and several Great Spotted Woodpecker. In the afternoon I went to check some owl nest boxes and saw a young White-tailed Eagle migrating.
During the next few days it was colder again so almost all Lapwings and Woodpigeons were going back to south. It was pretty cold and everything still covered with snow. So on the 5th day I drove to Joutseno where in Konnunsuo were already more like spring. 2 flocks of Bean Geese, lots of Common and Rough-legged Buzzards, some Chaffinches and a couple of Stock Doves and Meadow Pipits. On the way back I saw still 2 Red-throated Divers in Imatra Vuoksi.
On the 7th day I saw 2 Nuthatches, I even got pretty good recordings. In the afternoon I drove to Ylämaa to twitch a Great White Egret. The bird was found standing on the ice with Whooper Swans. Also the 1st White Wagtail was seen and on the way back I saw some Black-headed Gulls. On the next afternoon I had pretty good time in Siikalahti where an Osprey, a Marsh Harrier, a Merlin, a Stock Dive, a Curlew and altogether 3 White-tailed and a Golden Eagle were seen. A Grey-headed Woodpecker and Black Grouses were calling too.
On the 9th day the best birds were a Cormorant and the 1st vulpinus Buzzard. A Flock of Mistle Thrushes, 500 Woodpigeons and 250 Lapwings were again flying south, and soon it started to snow very hard. So on the next day we decided to visit my grandmother in Mikkeli.
On the 11th day it was more like spring even though the weather was stilp retty poor. 68 Curlews were going straight to north. 45 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Lesser Black-backed and 2 Common Gulls, 40 Skylarks, a Wood Lark, 2 Song and 4 Mistle Thrushes, 24 Fieldfares, 10 Redwings, 25 Meadow Pipits, 100 Starlings, 500 Chaffinches and 25 Siskins were also seen. A flock of 15 Long-tailed Tits were moving towards east. On the small open water places Goldeneyes, Mallards, Goosanders and Coots didn’t hate too much space. Also a Couple of Canada and Bean Geese were swimming there.
On the 12th day I twitched a Shellduck in Imatra and on Konnunsuo there were already 550 Bean, 50 White-fronted and 6 pink-footed Geese. Also 6 Hen and 4 Marsh Harriers, 4 Merlins, a Peregrine, 10 Golden Plovers, a Green Sandpiper, some Linnets and Lapland Buntings and at least 5000 local Chaffinches were seen.
On the 13th of April I went to twitch. On the way I twitched a Mute Swan and saw an Oystercatcher in Imatra but then I continued to Pukkila Kantelejärvi where I easily saw a Green-winged Teal – my bird number 339 in Finland. The spring was further there so I stayed there longer and saw Pochards,, Tufted Ducks. Wigeons and Pintails. I continued to Orimattila Ruha to see geese but the biggest surprise weren´t the geese or Bewick’s Swans but that I found the same Green-winged Teal there! It had moved several kilometres exactly while I was changing the place. On the way back I saw a Wheatear and 2 Shelducks in Lappeenranta.
On the 14th day I saw my 1st Rough-legged Buzzards for the year in Parikkala. The species had been very common only 100 kilometres south for whole winter! 40 Wagtails were also migrating. On the next few days the open water areas were still very small but Teals, a Pochard and a Bittern arrived. On the 15th day I saw 8 Canada Geese, 2 Bean Geese, 3 Cormorants, 4 Snipes, 3 Goldfinches and so on in Siikalahti but then it started snowing again! So I went to check some owl nest boxes and found the first Ural Owl. In Rautjärvi Lahnanen I saw again 2 Shelducks, they were probably the same birds that had been flying around South Karelia for days.
During the next days the back-winter continued: On the 16th day I saw a Greylag Goose, on the 17th another Ural Owl was found, on the 18th a Tengmalm’s Owl was found, on the 19th we saw a Woodcock and on the 20th day a Bittern was walking on the ice in Siikalahti. On the 21st day 2 White-tailed Eagles, already 7 Marsh Harriers and a Rook were seen.
On the 22nd day 125 Curlews were migrating and 75 Bean Geese were flying around. 2 Rooks were on the field with a Whimbrel on a flock of Curlews. The open water areas were already full of common waterfowl but nothing better.
On the 23th of April I found a hybrid male of Mallard and Wigeon. Also the 1st Wigeon, and 2 Great Crested Grebes were seen, but the best bird was a beautiful male Pallid Harrier that I found in Siikalahti. In the afternoon I drove to Lappeenranta Vainikkala to twitch a flycatcher that had been there for days but only now it had been though to be something else than Pied… The bird had been found again just a minute before I got there and the bird sure was something special. As I’ve seen quite a few Semicollared Flycatchers on my trips I really thought this to be the 1st ever in Finland. Unfortunately the bird wasn’t caught during that evening and on the next morning it was gone. Maybe it stays as a mystery bird forever?
On the 24th day new birds in Parikkala were a Smew, a Pochard, 2 Bewick’s Swans, a Linnet, a Greenshank and a couple of Hen Harriers. In the evening also 3 Water Rails were heard. On the 25th day we were counting migration in Siikalahti. And it was really a good day! In 8 hours we saw altogether 5212 thrushes, 7369 finches, 1746 Woodpigeons, 93 Wagtails, 80 Whooper Swans, 420 Bean Geese, 7 Black-throated Divers, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 36 Rough-legged Buzzards, 201 Lapwings, 105 Curlews, 655 Black-headed Gulls, a Common Tern, 2 House Martins, 3 Tree Pipits and some local bird numbers were 2 Gadwalls, 102 Teals, 350 Mallards, 6 Pintails, 5 Shovelers and so on. In the evening I twitched a White Stork in Simpele.
On the next day still small open water areas were full of life: altogether more than 200 Goldeneyes and Teals, 128 Mallards, 31 Great Crested Grebes and Smews, a Common Sandpiper and a Chiffchaff were found. In Siikalahti the first couple of Slavonian Grebes, 2 Little Gulls, a Garganey, a White-tailed Eagle and a Common Tern were seen but I decided to go to see what birds I could found from the new open waters in Saari. Greenshanks, Shovelers and Pintails were found on every place; in Jyrkilä I found 2 Pink-footed Geese and lots of Teals. I decided to check all of them carefully. In Lammintaus I found 200 geese but also lots of Teals again. I was checking them for a second time when I found it – a Green-winged Teal! After an hour the 1st twitchers arrived – it was the 3rd ever in South Karelia.
During the next days I was able to go to see the 1st ever Grey Wagtail in Parikkala. The bird was singing actively so we decided to keep the place as a secret because of there might have been too many birders coming to see it as the season in Siikalahti was beginning.
On the 28th day I saw a Greylag Goose and 2 Garganeys in Lemmikonsalmi, already 14 Slavonian Grebes, 10 Ospreys, a Ruff, 2 Redshanks, a Hobby, 2 Swallows, a Rook and a Whinchat in Siikalahti. At night the 1st Spotted Crake, 5 Water Rails and a Long-eared Owl were heard.
On the 29th day I went to ring the Tengmalm’s Owl mother that had still 6 eggs on its nest. On the last day of April we went to Saari to twitch a Green-winged Teal as a lifer to Hanna. It was pretty difficult to find from a flock of 820 Teals! Also a Redshank, a Yellow Wagtail, a Spotted Redshank, 5 Wheatear, 5 Whinchats and altogether 400 geese were seen and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was heard. At night I heard 6 Water Rails, 2 Bitterns, 2 Long-eared Owls and a Ural Owl.