. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On Friday 25th of May we drove to Oulu region with “jassi” Kiljunen. It was a long drive and nothing interesting was seen on the way. Finally we were in Kiiminki Jääli where our good friend Harry Nyström lives. In the evening we made the final plans for the 24 hour bird-race that was starting on the next morning.

On the 26th of May we woke up at 7 a.m. and an hour later we picked up the fourth member of our team Antti Vierimaa. We had planned to visit a couple of places before the race would start between 10 and 12 o’clock. In Oritkari we didn’t find what we were looking for but we saw a couple of Grey Partridges. In Pateniemi we found so many birds that we already thought if it had been the best place to start. Even though we saw lots of Black-throated Divers, some Common Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Velvet Scoters, Barnacle Geese, Caspian Terns, an Arctic Skua and heard a Pheasant, we followed the plan and continued to Sanginjoki.

We still stopped at Pyykösjärvi and checked another lake before drove to Sanginjoki where we started to search any good species to start. Many common forest-birds were still singing but nothing better. Then at 11:14 a.m. we found a Three-toed Woodpecker and started the race! Luckily right then 2 Parrot Crossbills flew over us and made the start very good. Most of the singers had stopped but luckily we still found Treecreepers, Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs, Crested Tits, Common Crossbills and a Jay. We still had a breeding Pygmy Owl nearby so soon we were ready to continue.

In Asmonkorpi we twitched a Red-breasted Flycatcher and on the way there heard a Coal Tit. We still spent some time in the forests but after we had heard an Ortolan Bunting we finally continued to Oulu. In Pateniemi there were fewer birds but Barnacle Geese, Long-tailed Ducks, Shelducks and some common species were seen. Soon we continued to Toppila where we twitched a Black Redstart which wasn’t very easy this time.

In Hietasaari there was a marathon se the traffic was very jammed. So we had to walk a longer way but we heard even 4 Blackcaps, a Common Redpoll, a Wood Warbler and finally also a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

In Oritkari we had only Stock Doves and in Kiviniemi it was getting very windy. Anyway the first Common Whitethroat of the day was singing and a couple of Gadwalls and the first Little Tern were seen. In Iinatti we saw Linnets and in Vihiluoto 4 more Gadwalls. In Kempele Teppola we saw 4 Pheasants, more Stock Doves and then it was time to move to Liminka.

In Liminka we ticked Collared Dove easily and soon parked to Virkkula. We walked to the new tower and found out that Liminka bay was surprisingly empty of birds! 4 White-tailed Eagles, a Garganey and 2 Dunlins were seen but almost nothing else. So soon we continued towards Lumijoki. A Starling was seen easily and after we had seen a Hazel Hen we soon were in Sannanlahti bird-tower. 4 Bar-tailed Godwits were nice but a Terek Sandpiper was something very good! Unfortunately a Mandarin Duck that I had found some weeks earlier wasn’t seen even though we knew it was hiding somewhere there.

We hurried and saw a Short-eared Owl on the way to Siikajoki where Karinkanta and Alhonmäki didn’t show us anything new and continued to Tauvo. On the road to Tauvo we found a White-fronted Goose sleeping in a flock of Greylag Geese. In Tauvo we walked a long way and saw a Wryneck, an Arctic Tern, a Caspian Tern, at least 200 Dunlins, 12 Broad-billed Sandpipers, 2 Little Stints, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits, 40 Common Scoters, 2 Velvet Scoters and a Hobby. There were muvh more waders far on the other side of the spit but we weren’t sure if it was ok to walk there because of the are is protected. There would have been a couple of new species but at least we stayed in our schedule. In Säikänlahti we still saw a Pochard before we continued to Raahe.

Somewhere on the way we heard a Thrush Nightingale through the open windows and soon we were in one more forest that Antti had been checking during the week. First we watched a funny Pygmy Owl that came to call for us when we whistled. And right after midnight we found 2 Willow Grouse and heard 2 Jack Snipes – wonderful!

In Raahe rubbish tip we didn’t find an Eagle Owl but soon we ticked a Slavonian Grebe and heard another Thrush Nightingale. In Raahe harbour we saw Mute Swans, a Canada Goose and a Turnstone.

It was a tired drive to Pyhäjoki and on the way we heard only another Thrush Nightingale. In Heinikarinlampi we heard a Spotted Crake and even a bigger surprise a Blyth’s Reed Warbler. Then in Hietakarinlahti we had another Spotted Crake. In Parhalahti only strange animal was a “Blue Fox” which was destroying nests of all birds. Someone should use a shot-gun. Then one field nearby had 2 Grey Partridges, a Whimbrel and a Wren was singing on the spruces behind the fields. Bushes along the river had already the 4th Thrush Nightingale (they are not common this north) and another Wren.

Then it was time to go to the coast and see id there was any migration going on. On the way we heard the first Dunnock and when we got to the shore we saw the first Red-throated Divers. And soon we had more divers but they were all Red-throated! 3 Red-necked Grebes, Common Scoters, Velvet Scoters and even 7 Razorbills were other migrants. On the rocks nearby we saw Barnacle Geese, Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 2 Turnstones and 4 Slavonian Grebes were swimming on the sea. The weather was perfect but soon we had to continue even though we really wanted to see a single Black-throated Diver.

But we had to hurry to another area that Antti had prepared during the week. And it was a good place! We saw 2 Montagu’s Harriers, a Hen Harrier, 4 Red-backed Shrikes, a Hobby, a Wryneck, Black Woodpecker, a young Ural Owl, an Osprey and finally a Capercaillie too!

We had known already in the evening that we hadn’t seen enough raptors so we planned to visit Siikajoki Alhonmäki twice during the rest of the race. The first stop wasn’t productive, only a Wood Lark was seen. In Sääri we tried to see some missing waders and luckily found a very good one – a Marsh Sandpiper! Also the first Cormorant was seen finally. From the fields nearby we found a Merlin and a Canada Goose. In Varessäikkä we finally saw a Black-throated Diver so we were ready to drive back to Alhonmäki.

In Alhonmäki we still had 40 minutes to go but it didn’t look good! Finally after 20 minutes we found a couple of Honey Buzzards and soon it really started to happen – first we saw a Rough-legged Buzzard and while we were still looking at it jassi found a Common Buzzard. It was 11:03 and our last species only 10 minutes before the end of the race.

Our species-list had amazing 165 species and we knew it was the 3rd best ever in the race. And there hadn’t been very many birds around so we really had managed to find almost everything that was possible to find! We also knew that we had a good possibility to win!

The results were given in Liminka Virkkula information centre and it was once again interesting to find out the results. Several teams had seen all but 1 to 3 of the basic list that had 120 species. Then the rest of the species were shouted one by one and soon it was clear that there were 3 teams better that the rest of 11. When teams started to shout forest-species it soon became clear that we had all of them and the rest of the teams had only some, so soon we were leading by 10 species! Of course in the end the best species were shouted and then there were many species that we hadn’t seen but after all we won by 6 and 8 species marginal to the second and third teams! In the whole race altogerther 201 species had been found!

Our team “Wonderful men birding” didn’t have a possibility to celebrate much because we were all too tired. Luckily we managed to get a team-photo taken before everyone hurried to sleep. We of course dropped Antti to Oulu and continued to Harry’s place to sleep.

On the 28th of May we started a long way to south-east with jassi. We decided to drive first to Ylivieska where we twitched already the third lifer of the weekend for jassi. A nice Black-necked Grebe was swimming in a small pool with some Slavonian Grebes. The rest of the day we were driving in a rain and finally at 7 p.m. we were in Parikkala. We still twithed a Ural Owl as a South-Karelia year-tick for jassi and soon I was back at home. Jassi still had an hour drive to Lappeenranta. A great long weekend trip was over.

J.A.