Night and day birding
After the North Bothnia bird-race (which was 25th and 26th of May) I returned back to Parikkala very tired. On the 27th day I saw 2 White-fronted Geese and a Tundra Bean Goose in Siikalahti and in the afternoon I went to twitch a lifer. I drove to Lappeenranta where we continued with Petri Salakka and Pekka Punnonen to Virolahti Lintulahti where we were 15 minutes too late – a Whiskered Tern was gone. We waited and waited and finally I saw a black tern with my scope but unfortunately it was a Black Tern! I have never been so disappointed finding a Black Tern. Later we still saw a nice flock of 38 Bar-tailed Godwits before we gave up.
During the next days I saw a couple of flocks of migrating geese, a Hazel Hen, a Red-backed Shrike, a golden Oriole and heard a Red-breasted Flycatcher. On the 30th day I made a bike trip to forests near Siikalahti and heard a Greenish Warbler, a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a River Warbler, a Marsh Warbler, an Icterine Warbler and many Blyth’s Reed Warblers. On the next day I still saw a couple of Barnacle Geese, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a Long-tailed Tit and finally my first Long-eared Owl of the year.
On the 1st of June I drove to Lappeenranta, where we tried to find a long-stayed Ferruginous Duck in Kaislanen, but only Tufted Ducks, Pochards, a Scaup, 2 Long-tailed Ducks and 7 Brent Geese were seen. In Toikansuo we heard 2 Marsh Warblers but Askola was almost empty. In Kukkuroinmäki we saw 3 Garganeys and in kotasaari 4 Slavonian Grebes. In Kivisaari we heard a River Warbler and in Konnunsuo we managed to twitch a 2nd calendar year Red-breasted Goose that had stayed a couple of days with a flock of Barnacle Geese. On the fields we twitched a couple of Booted Warblers that Pekka and Petri had found earlier. They were quiet but we saw them well. Also a couple of Ortolan Buntings were heard. Together with Pekka we still continued to Vainikkala where we managed to see a Black Redstart very briefly. In Haapajärvi we counted 249 Whooper Swans and saw a male Gadwall. Then I had to continue with my not well working car back to Parikkala
In the afternoon we still went to Saari with Hanna. We tried to find a nest of a Great Grey Owl but didn’t see any owls in the forest we knew some other birders had seen them. Then in Kanavalampi we found a nest of White-backed Woodpecker which the local woodpecker specialists already knew. In Uukuniemi Suurenjärvenliete we heard an Ortolan Bunting and several Blyth’s Reed Warblers and a couple of flocks of Barnacle Geese were also found.
On the 2nd day we did a long night-trip mostly to Siikalahti where we heard a Savi’s Warbler, 5 Bitterns, 4 Water Rails, a Spotted Crake, 3 Thrush Nightingales, 9 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, 3 Golden Orioles and so on. In other places we heard mostly same species, but in Kullinsuo we heard also a Stock Dove. On the next night I went to twitch a Grasshopper Warbler in Kontiolampi and a Quail in Haukkavaara as a year-tick. And on the next night we went to twitch Great Snipes that had been found again from their usual field. They were very far but we could hear and see them displaying. But there were already too many mosquitoes to enjoy birding anymore!
On the 4th day we left towards Helsinki and on the way we checked a nest of a Grey-headed Woodpecker in Simpele that Jari Kontiokorpi had told to us. Then we drove to Helsinki-Vantaa airport where we met our old friend Paul French and his friend Tim Sykes – we were going to do birding together in Eastern Finland for the next 8 days – but it is a different story which can be found here:
J.A.