Spring is coming – fast
I had hoped spring to come after my trip to Åland. But it was still very cold and lots of snow in Parikkala. So on the 10th of April my visit to Siikalahti was pretty boring – only a White-backed Woodpecker, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and 8 Snow Buntings were seen. On the next day all I saw was a Common Buzzard.
On the 12th day it started to feel more like spring – finally! 10 Whooper Swans were fighting for their territories even though Siikalahti was of course still completely frozen. A Goshawk, 2 Common Buzzards, a Kestrel, 7 Lapwings and a Reed Bunting were seen and White-backed Woodpeckers were drumming. Then in the evening it started to rain and the rain continued and continued!
Finally on the 14th of April the rain stopped and in Siikalahti I saw 12 Common Buzzards, 4 Kestrels, 2 Cranes, even 120 Lapwings, 2 Skylarks, even 35 White Wagtails, 2 Chaffinches, 44 Snow Buntings, a Reed Bunting, 14 Waxwings, a Great Grey Shrike, 2 Long-tailed Tits and 34 Ravens. On the 15th day I finally saw first Wood Pigeons and some more Skylarks – it seemed that migrants were coming in totally wrong order! In Särkisalmi and Lemmikonsalmi I saw some Goldeneyes and Goosanders and a Canada Goose.
On the 16th of April I saw a White-tailed Eagle, 2 Cranes, 106 Lapwings, 2 Stock Doves, 54 Wood Pigeons, 2 Meadow Pipits, a Fieldfare, a Mistel Thrush, some Chaffinches, 2 Common Gulls and a Curlew. Also the first Marsh Harrier had arrived and a Merlin was seen and I finally saw my first Mallards of the year in Parikkala…
On the 17th day I saw an Osprey, a Golden Eagle, a Stock Dove, a Rough-legged Buzzard and a Green Sandpiper and in the afternoon I managed to twitch a couple of White Storks that were migrating over the bay.
On the 18th day the weather forecast was great so I decided to go birding already early in the morning before I had to go to work. In Särkisalmi I heard a Robin and a Chiffchaff and saw 2 Teals. In Siikalahti there were already lots of passerines migrating and first Redwings and Song Thrushes were seen, 2 Pintails were flying around and some Coots were swimming in a small open water area. And one more Stock Dove was seen again. On my lunch-hour I was again in Siikalahti and saw some Bean Geese and a Bewick’s Swan. And I was back again after my work. Other birders had seen a lot during the day, but luckily there was still something to come. I still saw a very early Hobby, a Northern Wheatear, a Grey Heron and the first Barn Swallow! Only some days earlier I had been waiting for the first Wood Pigeons and now I had seen a Swallow and a Hobby! And there were already 10 Marsh Harriers flying around the bay! Crazy!
On the 19th day I was again in birding before my work but even though the weather was great I saw only 2 Smews in Särkisalmi and 2 Wigeons, 3 Stock Doves and a Black Woodpecker in Siikalahti. In the afternoon I managed to twitch a Spotted Eagle that was migrating over the bay. When I saw it, it was already very far but I was told that it had been very pale and looked most like a hybrid between Greater and Lesser Spotted Eagle. Other birds I still saw were a Rough-legged Buzzard, 12 Bean Geese in the evening a Woodcock.
On the 20th day we were in Siikalahti from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. The wind had unfortunately changed and it was not a southern wind anymore, the wind was from north-west. A Water Rail was calling next to the dam-road tower and when the sun started to rise thrushes and Chaffinches started to migrate. Later also Wood Pigeons were numerous but otherwise the day wasn’t very good. During the day we saw 34 Bean Geese, a Greylag Goose, 3 Canada Geese, 6 Wigeons, 8 Teals, 2 Hen Harriers, a (too) distant Pallid Harrier female, 17 Sparrowhawks, 9 Common and 8 Rough-legged Buzzards, 6 Ospreys, 5 Kestrels, 20 Cranes, 175 Lapwings, 8 Snipes, 29 Curlews, a Greenshank, 10 Green Sandpipers, 265 Black-headed, 29 Common and 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 528 Wood Pigeons, only 10 Skylarks that were all going south like the only Barn Swallow too, 8 Meadow Pipits, 23 White Wagtails, 17 Waxwings, 2 Dunnocks, a Northern Wheatear, 776 Fieldfares, 232 small thrushes (Redwings and Song Thrushes), 13 Mistle Thrushes, a Great Grey Sjrike, 2 Rooks, 636 Chaffinches, and so on. So the day wasn’t very special after all but anyway 56 species had been seen!
On the 21st of April I was again in Siikalahti already at 7 a.m. It was even more quiet now and I stayed there only for 4 hours. 2 Pochards, a Tree Pipit, a Pheasant (wherever it was from) and then at 8:50 a.m. a nice Black Kite was seen. The kite migrated together with a Common Buzzard straight over the dam-road! also 66 Bean Geese with 2 White-fronted Geese, 2 Rough-legged Buzzards and a Merlin were seen. In the afternoon I visited Saari Pohjanranta but it was surprisingly empty.
J.A.