Tenth October-trip to Säppi
On the 1st of October I visited Saari Pohjasuo briefly but couldn’t find a Corn Bunting anymore. I didn’t see almost anything else either – just one of the last pairs of House Sparrows.
On the 2nd of October Merja Laari and Oskari Saunisto came to pick me up at 7:30 a.m. and soon we were driving towards Lappeenranta. There Merja and Oskari did some last shopping while I had to visit hospital for a couple of hours. When I was ready we continued driving towards west coast.
We curved to Riihimäki where we picked up Ahti Ihonen from the railway station. Merja’s car was absolutely full when we continued towards Pori.
We didn’t see many birds on the way – just Pheasants in a couple of places and a Grey Heron in the middle of the field in Huittinen. Finally we were in Kuuminainen Salokankaanranta 5 minutes late at 5:05 p.m. Soon Kala-Tommi’s boat was packed and we started heading towards Eurajoki Luvia Säppi. Paul Boijer was also with us as Petteri Mäkelä had dropped him to the harbor as there hadn’t been room in our car anymore.
A half an hour later we were in Säppi where we carried our stuff to the station. It was already late so we just made ourselves as home. We of course met Jani Vastamäki, Petri Saari and Sebastian Andrejeff too.
On the 3rd of October a ringer left early to the mist-nets and the rest of us cathered to Prakala to do 2 hours sea-watching.
It was quiet at the sea like almost always but at least a couple of Gadwalls, some Razobills, a couple of Black Guillemots, a small flock of Purple Sandpipers, a young Lesser Black-backed Gull, a Rook, a couple of flocks of Parrot Crossbills and so on were seen.
After the breakfast we headed to walk around the island and it was hot as the weather was still warm. We did check all places carefully as we had an island-competition against some other islands. But all we found were a Great Egret that was far on the coast, a couple of Hen Harriers, a Merlin, a young Common Tern, a Greenshank, 3 Jack Snipes, a Blackcap and so on.
After all we found 81 species during the day and were 3rd in the competition. Uto had got 87 and Lågskär 82 species and so on. We hadn’t seen any rarities but I had got a few Säppi-ticks as I had never been in the island as early – it was my 10th autumn in the island but I had always been later in October.
In the evening we were watching good thrush-migration with our thermal-cameras and saw also a couple of Woodcocks and a short- or long-eared owl.
On the 4th day it was even warmer and calmer weather. The visibility was really good but still there wasn’t much migration. So the morning went without surprises but after the sea-watch we found a Lapland Bunting in Prakala.
We walked around the island again but saw almost nothing really. A Little Bunting was caught on the mist-net but we were as far as possible on the other side of the island so we didn’t go to twitch it. Luckily we saw it later in Hanhisto, but only a couple of times in flight. There were lots of Goldcrests (543 were booked) so it was strange that nothing rare was found. The only Säppi-tick I got was a Jay that was seen flying over the coast.
In the evening we had sauna and again had mist-nets up for owls but no owls were observed.
On the 5th of October it was even warmer and calmer – and quieter. Early in the morning we missed a Bewick’s Swan that had probably flight over us but was seen only from the garden.
The best birds of the morning were a Greater Scaup and an Arctic Skua. Then we walked only a bit more than a half of the island as there hadn’t been birds in Kräveli at all. We spent time watching towards the coast and Ahti managed to see a Magpie which was a good Säppi-tick. But the rest of us saw only Jays and other birds. But with Petri we managed to hear a Red-breasted Flycatcher calling shortly and other birds we saw were a Lapland Bunting, a Goshawk and other daily birds.
On the 6th day the weather was windy but it was still quiet on the sea. But a Little Gull was seen migrating and an Oystercatcher landed to Prakala. Paul and Ahti headed to walk around the island earlier and they managed to see a Sanderling. We tried to twitch it with Oskari but without luck. And after all we saw nothing else either.
Finally at 2 p.m. Tommi came to pick us 5 back to Kuuminainen. Somehow we managed to get all our stuff and ourselves into Merja’s car and soon we were driving toward Yyteri.
There we walked to Sannannokka bird-towere where we found a big flock of Mallards and soon saw a long-staying American Black Duck too! We also found a male hybrid between a Mallard and a Northern Pintail. Ahti and Paul had seen a similar in Säppi in the morning. Maybe it was the same bird? Maybe black duck will visit Säppi too?
After we had seen some Dunlins, 3 Grey Plovers and a Ruff, we walked back to the parking place, dropped Paul to the railway station and started driving towards Helsinki. After a long drive we dropped Ahti to a service-station where his father was already waiting. Then we ate well in Sipoo and after a long drive we were finally in Parikkala before midnight.
Even though we hadn’t seen anything rare, it had been a good trip in nice weather and good company!
J.A.