. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

Our team to Kymenlaakso First of May bird-race gathered our accommodations parking place. And soon together with Hanna, Teo Ylätalo and Elissa Soikkeli, we headed to owl-forests. It was only 5 minutes to 3 a.m. when we heard a female Ural Owl calling but unfortunately it stopped calling 2 minutes too early. So at 3 a.m. we had to start the race with some common songbirds.

Luckily later we found some good night-species like a Jack Snipe, a Spotted Crake and finally an owl too as a Tawny Owl started calling actively. Soon we headed towards south and in Hamina Kirkkojärvi we heard a couple of Water Rails and a Savi’s Warbler. Then we ticked a Moorhen that was calling very weakly and saw a Red-throated Diver migrating and a Northern Wheatear almost in the city. Then we continued towards Virolahti Harvajanniemi while making some stops on the way and the best birds we heard were a Grey-headed Woodpecker and some Tree Pipits.

There wasn’t much migration on the sea but we got some better species like Common and Velvet Scoter, Gadwall, Slavonian Grebe, Caspian and Arctic Tern.

After searching a Collared Dove without luck we stopped in Lupinlahti where some Pochards and Little Gulls were seen and also a flock of Barn Swallow and House Martins. Then in one nice forest we searched for some time before we found a Treecreeper and a Nuthatch and heard a Stock Dove calling, but new woodpeckers weren’t found.

Then it was time to head inland and to Kouvola where we visited quite a few bird-lakes and also an old forest. We suffered finding new species but luckily a flock of Waxwings, a Hazel Hen, a White-tailed Eagle, a Merlin, a Little Ringed Plover, a Wren, a Crested and a Willow Tit were found. We also tried to find a Kingfisher and a Black Redstart but without luck. But then a desperate search of a Wood Lark was a success.

We were running out of time and Teo counted our species and fell on agony as we had about 20 species than on normal year. But I had a feeling that the spring was just so late that there weren’t more species. So we decided to push until the end and luckily Lesser Black-backed Gull and Golden Plover were seen before we headed to our last point to Jaalanlahti.

There had been good numbers of waders in Jaalanlahti in the morning but they were almost all gone so no new wader-species were seen. But luckily Canada Geese, Garganeys, a Smew and a couple of Hen Harriers were seen before it was 6 p.m. and the race ended.

After all we had got 122 species which was about 20 species less that the winning result had usually been. But I was sure that if any team had got 130 species – they were lying… Because of Covid19 the results were sent by email and quite soon we were driving towards home.

On the next morning we got the results and we had won with our 122 species. The second team had got 2 species less and the 3rd had got 113 species. Altogether there had been 6 teams.

On the 2nd of May we slept long and were in Siikalahti only after 8 a.m. We stayed on the dam-road for a couple of hours but only Bramblings and some Lapland Buntings were moving. We also saw a couple of Wood Sandpipers before we went to eat. Then we headed to Saati to make the counts again. It was my birthday and I had my self-bought present Canon R5 with 100 to 500mm lens finally with me. The shipment had been problematic so Hanna still hadn’t got her lens and all our memory-cards were still somewhere. I had managed to get one memory-card in Kouvola on the previous day thanks to Elli! In Särkisalmi we saw a Nuthatch and then in Saari the best birds were a Peregrine in Pohjanranta, a Great White Egret and a Cormorant in Tarassiinlahti, a couple of Short-eared Owls, a twitched Citrine Wagtail in Suurenjärvenliete, a couple of Pink-footed Geese and a Spotted Redshank in Kanavalampi.

On the 3rd day a Red-throated Diver, a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and some Cormorants was seen in Härskiinmutka and in Siikalahti a couple of Little Gulls and 5 House Martins were seen. In the afternoon we ringed the Nuthatch in Särkisalmi. On the next day the only birds to mention were 65 Tufted Ducks in Siikalahti.

On the 5th of May I had the first day of my holiday. In Härskiinmutka I saw a flock of 20 Oystercatchers and soon we were driving towards Saari with Arttu Valonen who helped me in duck-counts. A Gadwall, a Willow Warbler and a Hawfinch were seen in Akonpohja, a couple of Pink-footed Geese were still in Kanavalampi, a male Greater Scaup in Tarassiinlahti and also a couple of flocks of Common Scoters, a Hobby, altogether 30 Whimbrels and a Stock Dove were seen and then in Suurenjärvenliete we saw a Citrine Wagtail again and also a Jack Snipe.

During the day I started a long drive towards South-west. My destination was Jurmo island where I was about to stay for more than a week!

J.A.