Windy bird-race in Oulu area
On the 22nd of May we drove to Oulu with Jari Kiljunen. There we met Mikko Ala-Kojola and did a short trip to a forest nearby and checked a Ural Owl nest, but this old Goshawk nest had collapsed and there was a broken egg and a dead juvenile under the tree. This was out only preparation for the next day’s bird-race.
In the evening also my brother Pirkka arrived, we had sauna, ate well and planned the 24 hour’s race.
On the 23rd of May we woke up before 7 a.m. and started to prepare for the race. After a couple of hours we drove north where we had planned to start. The weather forecast told that the first half of the race the weather would be extremely poor, so we had chosen to begin with owls. At 11 a.m. we were checking that a Hawk Owl with a youngster were easily found on their breeding site and moved to check a Ural Owl nearby. After we had found a youngster, we waited until 12 o´clock and started the race. Soon we had seen also the young Hawk Owl and continued our way. A female Black Grouse was seen and soon after that a female Capercaillie which was a nice surprise.
We continued and got only common species to our list and soon turned to a small road again and soon had got a Pygmy Owl too. And after some more driving we had seen also a young Tengmalm’ Owl looking out from it’s nest-box. And we continued towards Oulu and saw a Reindeer and a Rowe Deer on the way.
In Oulu we went to Taskila reservoir and there we realized how horrible the wind really was! Only a couple of Oystercatchers were seen and soon after we had continued again, we saw 2 Stock Doves. In Pyykösjätvi we saw only a Coot and Ravens and some even more common species. After we had seen a couple of Slavonian Grebes in Lintulampi we didn’t have luck in Oritkari, but a Starling was seen in Äimärautio. In Vihiluoto we saw Gadwalls, Mute Swans, a Shelduck, a Smew and heard a Pheasant. We missed the Garganey that only I saw briefly in flight. A couple of Little Terns were seen from the Oulunsalo side of the border. The wind was so hard it was really difficult to use a scope. In Teppola fields we saw a Black-tailed Godwit and soon continued towards Liminka.
In Liminka we found only Rock Doves – no Collared Doves at all! In Virkkula we saw 3 Garganeys, White-tailed Eagles, a Red-throated Diver and a couple of Broad-billed Sandpipers. It started to rain hard and then we saw a flock of 16 Knots flying in front of us. In Lumijoki Sannanlahti the rain had stopped but the water had risen very high and it was difficult to get in to the tower. A Sedge Warbler was singing, a Bittern calling, a Long-tailed Duck, a Caspian Tern and an Arctic Skua and 2 flocks of Barnacle Geese seen.
In Siikajoki we stopped first in Karinkanta, but the first birds were found in Sääri. Dunlins, Broad-billed Sandpipers, 3 Turnstones, and a Bar-tailed Godwit were seen, but the last one disappeared before 3 of us saw it. In Karinkanta fields we found a White-fronted Goose and then we hurried to Merikylänlahti to twitch a nice flock of 4 male Red-crested Pochards! In Kaasa we didn’t get out from the car at all as the wind was far too strong so soon we headed to Tauvo Ulkonokka.
Ulkonokka was under water so it didn’t take too long to check it. 3 Red-necked Phalaropes were the best one as all other birds were already on our list – Bittern, Turnstone, Caspian Tern, Little Tern… On the way back we saw a Hobby.
Then we headed inland to our traditional night-trip. But no Willow Grouses or Jack Snipes were found, but a Great Grey Owl was in her nest. The weather was finally getting better so even though at least some of us felt extremely tired the mood was high.
In Raahe Aittalahti we saw a male Pochard and in Kaijanaro we heard a Corn Crake. Soon we were in Pyhäjoki where Heinikarinlampi and Hietakarinlahti were disappointments. Luckily a Green Sandpiper was found nearby and first Wrens were heard. Along the river we heard some Blackcaps, Common Rosefinches and another Corn Crake and along road towards Harmi flocks of Redpolls and Common Crossbills were seen. Then it was time to continue to Elävisluoto for seawatching. Along the road I found a female harrier that turned out to be a Pallid Harrier. And when I gound 2 Grey Herons from the sky it felt we had finally some luck. On the sea we saw right away lots of Red-throated Divers and finally one Black-throated too, Velvet Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Common Scoters, a couple of Red-necked Phalaropes, 3 Knots, a Turnstone and finally a Razorbill too. As we thought that we had too many species missing, we stopped earlier as we had planned and continued. And soon we saw a Willow Grouse standing next to the road!
In Alhonmäki we weren’t in the right place when we already saw a Wood Lark and soon we twitched a Quail in Piikkikari. In Karinkanta we saw a Bluethroat and soon another one too. In Sääri there weren’t new wader species but a Rustic Bunting flew right over us and a Brambling and a Wood Warbler were singing along the road.
Then we made the bad choice and continued to see the breeding Goshawk and Three-toed Woodpeckers. Unfortunately we couldn’t find the nest of the woodpecker and the Goshawk nest was empty! We lost too much time! Only species we got was a Great Spotted Woodpecker. And in Virkkula other teams had 2 Red-rumped Swallows, a Gull-billed Tern and a Montagu’s Harrier – 2 of them were lifers for half of our team. Anyway we still needed to make a stop in Alhonmäki where we saw an Osprey, a Common Buzzard and a Hen Harrier in 15 minutes.
We still had 40 minutes to go when we arrived at Virkkula. The wind was still strong but the visibility was really good. But only new species we had was a Grey Plover.
After all we had got 143 species and we came 5th in 13 teams race. We had made some mistakes and this time we had done no preparations at all, so we were almost happy.
With “Jassi” we started our long way back to home right away and I was in Parikkala pretty early in the evening. 12 hours sleep later I was back at work.
J.A.