November 2006
November
The beginning of November was extremely cold! So there was no reason to get out – so I did the 1st observations on the 3rd day when I saw a Red-brested Merganser in a flock of Goosanders and a Fieldfare from our backyard. We had a backyard bird competition in November, so I had a good start. In the afternoon we started a long way to Oulu where we had a BirdLife Finland weekend. On the way we saw a Ural Owl in Leppävirta and a Pygmy Owl in Siilinjärvi Pöljä.
Next morning we woke up in Kempele Vihiluoto hotel and we had a couple of hours time for birding so we drove to Liminka. It was absolutely freezing weather with minus 27 degrees! We found a Collared Dove and a flock of 22 Tree Sparrows. In Tyrnävä we found a couple of flocks of Grey Partridges. Another flock was under the snow but we could see a head of one bird but another flock was close and we managed to get some good pictures. A couple of big flocks of Redpolls had altogether 3 Arctic Redpolls. In Oulu we met my brother Pirkka and Aappo Luukkonen and we released a Teal that Pirkka had saved from all frozen Kemijärvi.
The meeting on Saturday was very long, but we had important things to decide!
The Sunday morning was also really cold, but again we went to do birding with Hanna and Pirkka now to Oulunsalo Riuttu. Many Herring Gulls and some Great Black-backed Gulls, a Whooper Swan and a Snow Bunting were seen but the sea was all frozen. Soon we had to get to meeting which wasn’t that long and at 3 p.m. we were on our way back home. We stopped in Vuokatti to meet Ilkka Jarva and on the way south to Parikkala we had some problems with our car but luckily we managed to get home before the midnight.
On 6th day I saw a Great Grey Shrike in Siikalahti and after work I went to see a Great Grey Owl to Rautjärvi Änkilänsalo. On the next day I found a Great Grey Owl from Siikalahti! It was my Siikalahti tick number 229! When we went to see it again with Hanna we saw also a Ural Owl and a Great Grey Shrike! On 8th day I saw a Pygmy Owl almost in the same place so there really were lots of mice-eaters around! I think that was because of it had snowed really much for several days and there was nothing to eat for owls in the forests because of all the mice were under the snow.
On the 10th of November we saw a Cormorant from our backyard and In Kontiolampi we saw a Chaffinch. On the next day I did the winter bird count and walked more than 16 kilometres mostly in deep snow: 300 Goosanders, a Cormoront, 22 Common Gulls, 14 Whooper Swans, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, 2 Goldfinches, 420 Redpolls and altogether 30 species were seen. Also the total number of birds was a new record.
On the 12th day we went to clean some owl-nest boxes. Now the weather was warm again (+ degrees) so there were some biting insects in the nest boxes! A flock of Long-tailed Tits, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, some Hazel Hens and a couple of Goshawks were seen. At home I got a good backyard-tick – a Great Grey Shrike.
On the 14th day I saw a Great Black-backed Gull in Moskuunniemi and on the next day a Black Woodpecker in the same place.
I did birding every single day but the next better observation was a twitched Little Grebe that “konza” found from Simpele Kokkolanjoki. It was also good to see Dippers for the long time. On the 19th day a Smew was swimming on the shore in front of our house.
On the next day we saw with “konza” a Pygmy Owl in Siikalahti and a day after that I saw a flock of 40 Black Grouses there.
During the end of November the weather was very warm. It was raining a lot so the snow was melting again. The Lake Simpele was again completely free so it was worth to try to find some interesting birds there.
So on the 25th day I drove around the lake and tried to check all the bays and so on. All I saw were a Great Crested Grebe, a Mallard, one unidentified duck which was too far, about 300 Goosanders and 105 adult and 27 young Whooper Swans. Also some Common and Herring Gulls were seen. Only better bird was a Ural Owl in Murtoniemi.
On the next day I continued to check all the other lakes nearby but only better place was Rautalahti where I saw 55 adult and 23 Whooper Swans and 2 Canada Geese. The rest of the day was boring: only a Hazel Hen and a Goshawl even though I drove more than 200 kilometres around Parikkala.
The last days of the month were pretty good: on 28th day I saw a Great Grey Owl again in Siikalahti and on 29th a Pygmy Owl in the same place. Also a Common Scoter and a Goldeneye were seen. The latter was 27th species from our backyard during the November. In the evening we had our local EKLY meeting where we told about out trip to Georgia and Armenia and showed pictures. I was also chosen as a chairman of EKLY.
On the last day of November I found a Long-tailed Duck from Vartialahti. On the next day in December a winter bird rally would start!