October 2007
October – Geese and bird races
In the beginning of October the arctic migration was good. It was really awful to sit in a work and see flocks of geese flying over the building. On the 1st day I managed to see 4500 geese anyway, 1900 of them were Barnacle and 800 White-fronted Geese. After the work I went to Saari to see if there were local geese and I found some thousands, but I saw 10 000 migrating geese. On the 2nd day a Red-breasted Goose was found in Rautalahti but unfortunately it had a yellow ring so it was probably an escaper. In the evening I drove to Lappeenranta to a meeting and we twitched a Great Snipe with Pekka Punnonen. We also saw Barnacle Geese some Scaups, a Shoveler and a Red-throated Diver in Haapajärvi.
On the 4th day I twitched a Black Redstart in Koivusilta and then continued to Saari where were 10 000 geese, a Greylag Goose and 20 Bewick’s Swans. A couple of thousands of geese were migrating too.
On the 5th day we drove to Turku and took a ferry to Ahvenanmaa. We were going to Ahvenanmaa bird rally, Mikko Ala-Kojola came to our third team-member. We were in Ahvenanmaa very late and we still had some driving to our hotel.
After a couple of hours sleeping we woke up and started the rally from the hotel backyard where usually an Eagle Owl has been heard. No we weren’t lucky. The weather was extremely foggy so we had to change our plans and we started to try to find passerines. We had planned to go to watch sea-migration, but it was impossible. We got plenty of common species right in the beginning; better ones were a Chiffchaff, a Linnet, a Dunnock, a Mistle Thrush, a Coal Tit and a White Wagtail. In Storby we found a Moorhen and a Willow Warbler before we continued to Hammarland. On the border we found a Smew and first Coots. In Västmyra we saw first Whooper Swans, a Black Woodpecker and a Hen Harrier. Then we continued to Hammarudda to watch to the sea because of the weather has turned better. We got a Great Grey Shrike right away and later we saw White-tailed Eagles, Black Guillemots, a Razorbill, Red-breasted Grebes, Black- and Red-throated Divers, a Scaup in a big flock of Eiders, a Merlin, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Velvet Scoter, a Ringed Plover, a Grey Plover and the best species was a Purple Sandpiper. So we had a really good time in Hammarudda!
We continued and we saw Ravens, Stock Doves and a flock of Greylag Geese. In Torpfärden everything went well again and we saw a flock of Barnacle Geese, a couple of Bean Geese, a Pintail, some Gadwalls, a Shelduck, 4 Golden Plovers and a Kestrel
But then everything started to go worse. We had about 3 hours without new species. We tried to find some birdplaces that we had on our map but they really were nothing! Finally in Saltvik Lötö we had some Shovelers and Pochards and in Haga fields a flock of White-fronted Geese and Rooks. We still drove to twitch a Little Grebe which was our last and 92nd species.
After all we were the 5th in 16 teams rally. The winners had got 99 species but anyway this was our first time ever in Ahvenanmaa outside winter.
Next day we had the whole morning time to do birding in Ahvenanmaa. We twitched a Richard’s Pipit in Mellanö and I managed to get pretty good recording of it. There we saw also a flock of Brent Geese. In Torpfjärden we heard a Crested Tit, saw a flock of Long-tailed Tits andCanada Geese and then we went again to Hammarudda where we had a Black-headed Gull and 40 Little Gulls. So after all we had seen several species we couldn’t find in a rally.
In a ferry-trip we spent some time on the deck and saw 3 migrating Dulnins before we went to eat. It was late when we were in Kirkkonummi with my parents.
8th day I had a holiday so we had planned to do birding in South-Finland, but the weather was horrible! So we visited only Espoo Laajalahti where a Ringed Plover, a Ruff, 9 Lapwings, 2 White-fronted and 7 Bean Geese were seen. On the way back home we stopped in Hamina Kirkkojärvi where we saw a Peregrine and in Imatra Virasoja where a flock of 5000 Geese were recorded and photographed. A Pink-footed Goose was found from the flock too.
On the 9th of October in Jyrkilä I saw 5000 Barnacle and 350 anser Geese and 50 Bewick’s Swans. There was also the same yellow-ringed Red-breasted Goose. A couple of thousands geese were also migrating. The next few days were all pretty similar: on 12th day we saw altogether 62 Bewick’s Swans, on 13th 2 Great Black-backed Gulls, on 14th a Capercaillie and on 18th even more geese than before – about 6000 and 300 Whooper Swans but only 10 Bewick’s Swans.
On the 19th day most of the geese left and in the evening I could find only less than 1000 Barnacle Geese.
On 20th day we took part to a Jaala birdrace with Pekka Punnonen and Jari Kiljunen. We had amazing start when we managed to find a Tawny Owl that answered to my call just before the rally started. It took more than 10 minutes to make the bird call again when the rally started but I made it. Soon we found 2 Pygmy Owls too in Kemola. Also a Grey-headed Woodpecker and all normal tits were found easily, so the beginning was good.
The only bird tower in Jaalanlahti was a bit disappointment but a Smew was found amongst some more common species. Luckily a flock of Barnacle Goose was seen too. On the way to Kyrönlahti we saw a flock of 7 Snow Buntings and in Kyrönlahti we saw a Reed Bunting and a young White-fronted Goose. In Suolahti we saw a Hazel Hen, heard a Goldcrest and had the only House Sparrow of the day. Luckily we found a Dipper in Myllykoski but after that we had several hours with only Siskins, 2 Black-throated Divers, a Velvet Scoter, a Mistle Thrush and 2 Black Grouses.
Our second visit to the bird-tower wasn’t any better but a White-backed Woodpecker was a big surprise. We still went to Kimola where a flock of Common Scoters and a Coot were found.
After all we had 49 species and were 2nd in 7 teams’ race. The winners were on their own numbers with 58 species.
On the 21st of October we saw still 66 Barnacle, 81 Brent and a flock of 27 White-fronted and Bean Geese. Other good species from our backyard were 2 Red-throated Divers, a Goshawk, a Merlin, a Black-headed Gull, a Nutcracker, a Pine Grosbeak and a Snow Bunting. I think I should watch migration on our backyard more often.
The rest of the month was already boring. The winter was coming and birds were gone already. Siikalahti had been frozen once already, but luckily the last days of the month were warmer again. It was dark when I went to work and again dark when I got off. – frustrating, as Finnish winter always is!
On the 25th day I managed to twitch a Hawk Owl as a Parikkala tick. Other observations were on 26th day a Nutcracker in Ristimäki and on 27th day 2 Mistle Thrushes in Akanvaara Tetrisuo, a White-fronted Goose in Kuposenmäki, 2 Velvet Scoters in Muikkulahti and a Ural owl that answered to my call. In a couple of last days I saw just Whooper Swans, Common, Herring and a couple of Black-headed Gulls, a Mistle Thrush, and a couple of Wigeons and Coots and some Smews.