June 2007
Night singer time
On the 2nd of June I was working as a guide in Siikalahti but nothing better was seen. At night we went to night singer trip to Saari with Ilkka Jarva and we heard a good selection of species and found a Quail and saw 2 White-fronted Geese. On the next day I was again in Siikalahti and at night we were out again. Now the best bird was a Reed Warbler, but in both night many Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Corn Crakes, some Marsh Warblers, Spotted Crakes, Golden Orioles, a couple of Nightjars and a River and a Grasshopper Warbler were heard.
On the 4th day some Blyth’s Reed Warblers were already breeding and once a male gets a female it stops singing. A Long-eared Owl was seen while recording a Quail in Lahdensuo.
On the 9th I led a night singer trip for EKLY-members. Also a Spanish group joined us and all the common night singers were heard (most also seen) and of course a Quail and a Long-eared Owl. Some of the group got even 5 lifers!
On the 12th day I twitched a Yellow-breasted Bunting in Kitee Kyyrönniemi. The place was really odd for the species but luckily it stayed there for a couple of days.
On the next night we birded together with Hannes Tiira in Saari. Three River Warblers, more than 20 Corn Crakes and Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a Long-eared Owl, an Icterine Warbler, a Grasshopper Warbler, lots of Thrush Nightingales, a couple of Marsh Warblers, some Golden Orioles and Wrens were heard or seen. Also a group of 5 calling Spotted Crakes was nice to find in Kanavanlampi.
Heavy rains destroyed our plans to go birding again together so the next better observation was a cute small very young Black Grouse that Hanna’s parents dog Jeri found in Tarvaslampi.
On the 16th of June was a bike rally. We were biking with Hanna’s brother Miika more than 75 kilometres in Parikkala. We got altogether 102 species and I think more than 50 were new for Miika. Best birds were a family of Grey-headed Woodpeckers in Argusjärvi, a Ural Owl in Ristimäki, a Wryneck in Mustiinpohja and an Eagle Owl in Soininmäki. We had really fun even though the biking was really hard! We were 2nd best team.
On the 18th day we had an EKLY-meeting in Lappeenranta. On the way I twitched a Marsh Sandpiper couple in Joutseno Kotasaari. They had started breeding there! There were also 7 Ringed Plovers and 6 Little Ringed Plovers on the pools and nearby I saw a Black Kite. After the meeting I spent whole night birding – 1st I drove to Savitaipale Jäkälänjärvi where I recorded Savi’s Warblers monotonic sing around the midnight, then stopped many times in Savitaipale and Lemi just to check some new places before I twitched and recorded a Booted Warbler in Lappeenranta Mentula. I got really excellent Booted Warbler recordings, because of the bird wanted to come to sing only 2 metres from me! In Konnunsuo I listened for a second a Quail before I had to hurry to work!
On the 21st day we made some IBA-counts in Sammallampi, but anything interesting was found. During the next night we counted night birds in Siikalahti, but only better birds were 3 Reed Warblers. On the morning a White-fronted Goose was found in Vartianlahti and a flock of 35 Barnacle Geese seen migrating in Kaukola.
On the 23rd and 24th day we were doing bird-atlas and birding in some 10×10km areas where nobody usually goes. In first day Mikko Ala-Kojola was with us and in a border of Parikkala and Punkaharju we saw a Capercaillie, Wrens, Chiffchaffs and also a Greenish Warbler that we managed to record and even photograph. On the next morning best ones were a nest of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a family of Grey-headed Woodpecker, a White-backed Woodpecker, a couple of Marsh Warblers, some Chiffchaffs and again a Wren. Not bad birding days!
On the 26th day I got a message that a Long-toed Stint had been found in Kotka! It took a minute to and we were driving towards Kotka. Luckily we got the instructions how to find the right place when we were almost there – surprisingly 2 hours after the 1st message. We studied the bird for next 3 hours and lots of twitchers visited the place! In dusk we continued to Hamina Kirkkojärvi to record a Little Crake. Also a Savi’s Warbler was heard, but soon we had to continue to Parikkala – I had to be at work soon.
On the last day of June we had an atlas-rally where all the teams had to choose a poorly known place where to do birding for 14 hours. We were birding on the border of Ruokolahti and Rautjärvi where were surprisingly lots of birds, altogether 75 species were found and 31 species we could tell that had been breeding on the area. Anyway only interesting thing was that altogether 16 Wrens were heard.