December 2009
December
On the 1st of December I was in Lappeenranta to study. After a long day I went to twitch a Pintail that was still in Pallonlahti. It was the first ever Pintail in South Karelia in winter. I also made a couple of short stops in Imatra Vuoksi and Immalanjärvi and saw a Canada Goose, a Cormorant, some Velvet Scoters, a Scaup and some Herring Gulls. In Parikkala Koitsanlahti I saw 42 Whooper Swans and in Joukio I still saw a Scaup and 2 Velvet Scoters. In the evening I had a nice surprise when I saw a Woodcock while I was running around Likolampi.
In the first half of December Lake Simpele was still open and I could see some Whooper Swans, Goosanders and Common Gulls from our back-yard. A small flock of Common Crossbills were also visiting our sembra-pine.
Rally
The traditional winter rally was on the 5th of December. With Hannas brother Miika we started at 7 a.m. and during the 1.5 hours that was still dark we tried 4 different species of owls but only bird we heard was an Eagle Owl in Tarvaslampi. Only bird we saw was a Mallard in Siikalahti. Soon the sun started to rise so we continued to Melkoniemi forests. Ravens were the first birds to wake up; a Hazel Hen flew over us and soon we found a Willow Tit and some Goldcrests before Siberian Jays came to have their breakfast in a traditional place.
Unfortunately nothing else was found in the forest. We checked a couple of feeders where some common birds like Hooded Crows, Magpies, Bullfinches, Great spotted Woodpecker, Greenfinches, Great and Blue Tits and Tree Sparrows were seen but also a Siskin was heard. After we had seen also a Yellowhammer we drove to Härskiinmutka where Whooper Swans, Goosanders and Common Gulls were seen easily. In Kangaskylä we really had to work to find House Sparrows and a Rock Dove before we drove to Siikalahti. Jackdaws, Black Grouses, Waxwings and a Great Grey Shrike were found but no woodpeckers at all. Luckily we did a short drive in Surumäki where Jay, Fieldfares and a Grey-headed Woodpecker were found.
In Rautjärvi we just twitched a Dipper in Simpele Kokkolanjoki and then continued to Imatra. Immalanjärvi was checked from 2 places and 2 Velvet Scoters, 2 Tufted Ducks and Herring Gulls were seen. In Vuoksi we had 3 short stops and a Canada Goose, Redpolls, 2 Smews, a Cormorant and a Scaup were found.
In Salo-Issakka we could find neither forest tits nor woodpeckers and also Konnunsuo seemed to be empty. In Kukkuroinmäki we found Starlings easily but no raptors were found even though corvids and Herring Gulls were panicking. In Luukkaansalmi we found 4 Grey Herons and a biggest surprise a Red-necked Grebe before we had to hurry to Pallonlahti where a Teal and a Pintail were found with hundreds of Mallards. In Toikansuo we spent less than a minute and saw a Goshawk that was our species number 45.
Even though we still would have more than an hour light and more than 2 hours of rally time we had to stop birding and drive to Suomenniemi where I had an ice-hockey match that started at 4 p.m. Anyway we won the rally with same number of species than another team.
At 8 p.m. we were driving through Lappeenranta again and we decided to try if an Eagle Owl was possible to find in Toikansuo. And it was; the king of owls was perched on a tree and we saw it really well! After I had dropped Miika to Tarvaslampi and had sauna there I was back at home after 10 p.m. It had been a long day!
Winter comes
On the Independent day, 6th of December I saw a Pygmy Owl and a male White-backed Woodpecker in Siikalahti. In Särkisalmi I saw a Fieldfare and a Sparrowhawk. On the 7th day I saw 5 Goldfinches in Kannas and on 9th a Great Grey Shrike and a lonely male Mallard in almost completely frozen Siikalahti.
On 11th day I saw the last Goosanders and a Common Gull in freezing Kirkkoselkä. In Siikalahti a female White-backed Woodpecker, a Grey-headed Woodepecker and Long-tailed Tits were seen. In Vartialahti I still saw 48 Whooper Swans and 2 Mallards.
On 12th day we did a long bike-trip to Melkoniemi with Matti Lötjönen and went to see Siberian Jays. Luckily we found also a flock of 20 Pine Grosbeaks! In Melkoniemi we saw amazing flock of 80 Ravens. In Särkisalmi we saw how the last family of Whooper Swans left towards south.
Then it became really cold! All Lake Simpele froze and it started to snow a lot! On the 15th of December I went to twitch a Little Grebe in Simpele Kokkolanjoki. It was my year-tick number 258. I also saw 2 Dippers, 16 Mallards and a big surprise a Merlin! I also went to see a Nuthatch which was again in Likolampi.
On the 16th day in Tyrjä I saw a Great Grey Shrike, a Pygmy Owl, 2 Dippers and 2 Mallards. On the next day there were 4 Mallards and nice flock of 23 Black Grouses that were taking sun on the tops of trees. It was really cold – about -20 degrees. On the 18th day I saw a Little Grebe again and also same White-backed and Grey-headed Woodpeckers. On the 19th day I went by bike to Tyrjä and saw a Dipper. It was absolutely too cold to bike!
On the 20th a Canada Goose and Cormorants were still in Vuoksi. In Lappeenranta I couldn’t find anything before I went to do Christmas-shopping.
On the Christmas-eve I went to see a new bird-tower that was built to Siikalahti. The tower was really good but the place was really stupid. I hope the Forest and Park Service will do something for the small area that is visible from the tower. Otherwise there won’t be too much use to that tower. I didn’t see a single bird in Siikalahti but on the way back I found 12 Hawfinches on the flock of Waxwings in Muttelinmäki.
On the Christmas-day I did a winterbird-count. It was very hard day as I was skiing 18.5 kilometres and most of it in deep snow. Luckily I saw a flock of 9 Pine Grosbeaks and A Pygmy Owl that were new species to this count. After all I saw 20 species and 399 birds. Only other better birds were 7 Fieldfare. Siikalahti itself was absolutely empty and boring!
The last days of the year I was working and sporting so the last observations were a Sparrowhawk in Muttelinmäki on the 26th of December and 15 Black Grouses in Siikalahti and a Dipper and 4 Mallards in Tyrjä on the 31st of December.