March 2007
The spring comes early
On the 1st of March we had a meeting with South Karelian bird assosoation where Hannu Siitonen showed pictures of Parikkalas Siberian Jays. On the way to Lappeenranta we twitched a wintering Robin which was still alive even though on the same feeder a Least Wheasel was seen.
On the 3rd day I saw Black Grouses, a Hazel Hen and a Capercaillie in Siikalahti. The last one was a Siikalahti tick to me! On the next day I did the winter bird count, 24 Black Grouses, White-backed Woodpeckers, 7 Long-tailed Tits, 109 Great Tits, a Great Grey Shrike, 15 Goldfinches, an Arctic Redpoll and so on were seen. After the count I went to Imatra to twitch a Steller’s Eider and to see the first migrant – a Herring Gull.
On the 5th day we went to sauna to Tarvaslampi were we heard a Tenmalm’s Owl. So we did a short trip in Melkoniemi and heard another Tengmalm’s and 2 Eagle Owls too.
On the 9th day In Vuoksi I saw already 150 Herring Gulls and 2 Great Black-backed Gulls. Now there were male and 3 female Smews. During the next day 3 Herring Gulls arrived at Tyrjä and also a stunning adult Golden Eagle was migrating.
2 days later I went to search the last “missing” Ural Owl nest box which was in Rautjärvi Purnujärvi. In Asemaseutu I saw a Dipper and in Purnujärvi I saw with Jarmo Pirhonen in a couple of hours a couple of migrating Whooper Swans, a Blackbird, a Grey-headed Woodpecker and 5 Rooks. The nest box was also found easily because of the forest had bee cut and it was on the only tree left.
On the 12th day after work I saw 3 migrating immature Golden Eagles, 5 Lapwings, 2 Starlings, 4 Linnets, a Snow Bunting and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. On the next day the 1st couple of Goldeneyes had arrived at Lemmikonsalmi and in Siikalahti I saw 49 migrating Lapwings, 2 Buzzards, a Wood Pigeon and 3 Skylarks – it was really a spring!
On 15th day a White-tailed Eagle and 5 Rooks were seen in Siikalahti – the sun was shining and it was really warm!
On the next evening we had again EKLY meeting where Sampsa Cairenius showed a multimedia show about Southern Spain. On the way I saw 13 Stock Doves, Lapwings, Starlings and so on in Joutseno Konnunsuo and in Lappeenranta Luukkaansalmi 2 Grey Herons that had been wintering there successfully. After the meeting we had an owl trip but only 2 Eagle Owls were heard.
2 days later I saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker and on the 19th day a couple of Buzzards, 5 Lapwingsand on the 20th 5 Buzzards and already 75 Lapwings! On the 21st an old White-tailed Eagle was migrating, 120 Lapwings, Skylarks, 2 Meadow Pipits and so on!
In Parikkala Kangaskylä a flock of 30 Goldfinches were singing and on 23rd day a White-tailed Eagle was seen in Tyrjä, a Dipper in Honkakylä and 60 Snow Buntings in Tarassiinlahti.
On 24th day we first birded in Joutseno Konnunsuo where 119 Bean Geese, 3 White-fronted Geese, Canada Geese, 5 Stock Doves, 2 Wood Pigeons, a Meadow pipit, 25 Snow Buntings, a Reed Bunting and in Luumäki a Wood Lark was seen. We continued to Valkeala to BirdLife Finland meeting where surprisingly EKLY was chosen as the year’s bird association in Finland!
Even though the parties were long we managed to ged up early and started our way back. In Valkeala we saw amazingly 8 female Capercaillies and in Konnunsuo and Kivisaari altogether 290 Bean Geese, 8 White-fronted Geese, 28 Canada Geese, 5 migrating White-tailed Eagles, a Hen Harrier, a Kestler, a Merlin and 2 Goshawks, a Wood Lark, a Redwing and so on. On the way home we saw 2 male and 4 female Smews in Vuoksi and on the next day a female was seen in Särkisalmi too.
During the next few days I saw a White-tailed Eagle, a Merlin, some Black-headed Gulls, a Stock Dove, 2 Parrot Crossbills, 7 Canada Geese, 2 Coots and a couple of Teals. On the 29th day I was again in Joutseno where I counted more than 2000 Bean Geese, 250 White-fronted Geese, a Brent Goose, 4 or 5 Pink-footed Geese, a Greylag Goose, Canada Geese (so 6 species of geese in march!) and on the way back I saw a Woodcock.
On the 30th day a Bittern was calling in Siikalahti, there were also more than 10 Coots and in Särkisalmi we found the first Pochard.
On the last day of March we took part to a forest bird rally with Miika Suojarinne. Our area was the western part of the lake Simpele. We started at half past four in the morning with a Tengmalm’s and a Tawny Owl. Soon we saw a Woodcock and then we started to count Black Grouses and Common Crossbills, because in this rally we could get a point of every single forestbird and even more of better ones. 3 calling Pygmy Owls, a Capercaillie, a Hazel Hen, 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers, a Black Woodpecker, and then Black Grouses, Common Crossbills and Great Spotted Woodpeckers gave us most of the points in this rally. Also 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Merlin, 12 Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks, 3 Dunnocks, a Wren, a Song Thrush, 2 Great Grey Shrikes, 4 Long-tailed Tits, 12 Canada Goose, 30 Bean Goose, a Coot, a Stock Dove, a Common Gull and 6 Pheasants were good observations. The results of the rally were amazing! Even 90 species were seen! The winner team saw 74 species and also a Bobcat! White-backed Woodpecker gave most points and we never found one so we were only 4th. Anyway the rally was again funny and the weather amazing.