. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On the 6th of April I saw a Great Black-backed Gull in Siikalahti, other observations were a White-tailed Eagle and a couple of Long-tailed Tits. In the evening I went to Lahdenkylä. Peräsuo where I counted 312 Tundra Bean Geese, 18 White-fronted Geese, 2 Pink-footed Geese and a Barnacle Goose. On the 7th day I saw 3 Curlews, 15 Common Crossbills and counted 160 Whooper Swans in Siikalahti. In Peräsuo I counted 530 Wood Pigeons and in Särkisalmi I saw a Greylag Goose. On the 8th day I saw a couple of Pochards,a Green Sandpiper and an Osprey in Siikalahti and on the 9th I counted 420 Tundra Bean Geese, 60 White-fronted Geese, 10 Pochards, 4 Tufted Ducks and saw also a White-tailed Eagle and a God Finch. On the 10th day I visited Lappeenranta and saw 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers on the way in Simpele, Kangaskoski. In the evening I saw 2 Great Crested Grebes in Särkisalmi. On the 11th day I heard a Wren and a Song Thrush in Tiviä and saw 22 Pochards, 5 Smews, a Baltic Gull and then some ashy-backed Lesser Black-backed Gull in Siikalahti.

On the 12th day we went to Lappeenranta to do some shopping. On the way we saw a Wood Lark in Joutseno Muukonkangas and then on the way back a Peregrine in Peräsuo. In Siikalahti we saw only a White-tailed Eagle. On Sunday 13th I biked to Siikalahti and saw 90 migrating Whooper Swans, 4 Canada Geese, 6 Barnacle Geese, 2 Shovelers, 8 Smews, 5 Black-throated Divers, a Cormorant, 9 Marsh Harriers, 25 Rough-legged Buzzards, 2 Peregrines, a Merlin, a Greenshank, a Stock Dove, a Rock Dove, 7 Waxwings, 2 Linnets, 40 Bramblings and 400 Redwings.

On the 14th day I did a short trip to Saari where I found lots of birds in Pohjanranta. I counted 650 Tundra Bean Geese, 90 White-fronted Geese, 9 Barnacle Geese, 80 Pintails and 64 Curlews but there had been even more birds earlier during the day and also all the better species were gone. Other places were surprisingly quiet: In Riionsalmi I counted 400 Mallards and in Kanavalampi I saw a Hen Harrier and a Greylag Goose. On the 15th day I saw a White-tailed Eagle and heard a Grey-headed Woodpecker again in Siikalahti. I changed summer-tires to my car in Tarvaslampi and heard a Black Woodpecker there. On the 16th day I saw a Peregrine again in Siikalahti and after my work-day I left to Saari again. On the way I stopped in Rautalahti and saw 770 anser geese, 184 Whooper Swans and a nice Black Kite! In Akanvaara Tetri suo I saw a Hen Harrier and in Pohjansuo a Great Grey Shrike. Pohjanranta was more quiet but best species were a Grey Heron and a Redshank. Other places were very quiet. On the 17th day I saw a Golden Eagle and a White-tailed Eagle on my lunch-hour in Siikalahti. After work I still saw a female Pallid Harrier so my Eastern-holiday got a good start! In Kangaskylä I twitches a local rarity, an Oystercatcher and in the evening we went to check some owl nest-boxes with Matti Lötjönen but they were all empty.

Eastern:

On Friday we woke up at 7 a.m. and drove to Siikalahti. In 4 hours we saw 2 Canada Geese, 7 Barnacle Geese, 250 Teals, a White-tailed Eagle, a Hen Harrier, a Merlin, 6 Golden Plovers, a Greenshank, 300 Bramblings, a Gold Finch and the bird of the day a Nuthatch that was flying east. In the afternoon I did a Saari-trip with Kristiina Järvenpää but we saw only 19 Barnacle Geese and a Goldfinch in Rautalahti, a Northern Wheatear in Akanvaara, Tetrisuo, a Hen Harrier in Pohjanranta, 11 Barnacle Geese and 51 Pintails in Suurenjärvenliete and a couple of Stock Doves in Jyrkilä. In the evening I drove Hanna to Siikalahti and then followed soon by bike. I had planned to collect some eco-competition ticks during next day’s migration watching day.

On Saturday we woke up in information center at 4:30 and soon walked to the dam-road tower. A Spotted Crake and Water Rails were calling but they stopped soon. At 5 a.m. there were already plenty of birders participating to the day. We counted all migrating birds for 10 hours and the first hours were OK but the afternoon very quiet. The beginning was good when we saw a Mute Swan landing to the flock of Whooper Swans. We counted 943 Fieldfares, 518 small thrushes, 986 Chaffinches, 276 Bramblings, 178 small carduelis, 694 unidentified passerines, 328 Wood Pigeons, 41 Barnacle Geese, 14 Black-throated Divers, a Hen Harrier, 6 Common Buzzards, 10 Rough-legged Buzzards, a Merlin, 2 Grenshanks, 12 Green Sandpipers, a Stock Dove, 16 Mistle Thrushes, 7 Jays, 18 White Wagtails, 38 Starlings and then the best bird of the day that was migrating in the quietest time of the afternoon – a White Stork! Best local birds were a Garganey and a Slavonian Grebe. The weather was perfect but after all the migration pretty bad. Anyway we had really good time as there were almost all local birders for whole day!

On Sunday 20th of April I biked to Siikalahti at 7:30 and heard a Wren in Torokanniemi and started migration watching at 8 o´clock on dam-road tower. Harri Partanen was there almost all 6 and half hours too. The best birds were a Chiffchaff, 19 Barnacle Geese, 6 Black-throated Divers, 12 Rough-legged Buzzards and 5 Common Buzzards. During the day the migration was so quiet that Harri planned to cut some willows along the road but after all gave up and stayed with me and enjoyed the sunshine. At 11:40 there were a couple of noisy women on the tower and then I heard something calling behind us. I walked to the road and then heard it again – a Penduline Tit! Soon I saw it landing exactly to those willows that Harri had planned to cut! I shouted to Harri and e saw it again right away. We followed the bird and managed to get some recordings and pictures of it before it disappeared. Soon we heard it again and surprisingly found 2 birds together! But soon they flew further to the reeds.

When the twitchers arrived they ween’t found in an hour, so I decided to drive to the northern side to check if they had gone there. But once I got there I got a call that one Penduline Tit had been found again along the dam-road. After some time almost everyone managed to see the bird. Soon after that I found a Swallow migrating over us and then I decided that I had seen enough and got fartoo much sun and biked back home.

On Monday I biked to Siikalahti again and there were already some birders that had managed to see the Penduline Tits again and more still came. It seemed that the tits were a couple but they weren’t making the nest actively yet. I statyed there for 5 hours and it was a great day! In the morning we saw a Bewick’s Swan migrating with Whooper Swans and then at 10 a.m. we got a message that a Lesser White-fronted Goose had been migrating north-east in Lappeenranta. We counted that it might be possible to see it after an hour and 20 minutes. I even guessed that it might go from the south-eastern side of us like the geese usually did. And exactly in time at 11:11 we sae a right flock coming – 15 Bean Geese and a tiny long and thin-winged anser-goose coming. And unfortunately the used the route I had guessed to they were in bad light. They were also pretty far even though they turned towards us a couple of times. Anyway the size and the shape were clear – but we still hoped to see some pictures that we had heard that had been taken in Lappeenranta. Soon after that Jari Kontiokorpi heard a call that was like a Marsh Sandpiper and soon we found the bird migrating over us. It was also against the sun but the shape and the call confirmed that it was a Marsh Sandpiper! After we had seen a Swallow again, I decided to bike at home. But after an hour we were back with Hanna and Pekka Punnonen. Hanna heard a Penduline Tit singing too and I saw a new butterfly species, Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell! Then we still saw a female Palli Harrier looking bird migrating a little bit too far before we drove back home.

Even though I gad been birding for 12 hours already I still left to check some owl nest-boxes with Harri. In 3 hours we checked about 20 boxes and managed to find a Pygmy Owl with 4 eggs and a Tengmalm’s Owl with 2 small chicks and at least 1 egg from the boxes. We also saw some Black Grouses, 2 Hazel Hens and a Capercaillie and heard a Grey-headed Woodpecker, so we had really good time. On the way back home I saw a Red-breasted Merganser and a Red-necked Grebe in Härskiinmutka. But there was till more to come! At 10 p.m. Ari Myllys called that he was listening to a Savi’s Warbler in dam-road. We drove there and heard it still singing a couple of seconds before it stopped. But we heard also 3 Spotted Crakes, 6 Water Rails and a Jack Snipe – so the Eastern had really been amazing! And at home I saw the geese pictures – it was clearly a White-fronted Goose!

J.A.