November 2007
November – Winter comes
Already in the beginning of November days were really short. It was almost dark when I went to work and after the work it was only a couple of hours light for birding. On the 1st of November I was birding on our back-yard and watching to Lake Simpele. At lunch hour I had a good start to a November garden birding competition: a Black-headed Gull, a Great Crested Grebe, a Nutcracker and some more common species. After the work I drove to Saari to check the fields. No geese were found but a flock of 7 adult and 1 young Bewick’s Swans was a surprise.
On the 2nd day I drove to twitch a couple of more month-ticks: a Pochard in Lappeenranta Hanhijärvi and a White-fronted Goose in Joutseno Konnunsuo. The day before there had been still a couple of more ticks, but they had left.
On the 3rd day we counted the first winter bird count with Hanna. We walked more than 18 kilometres around Siikalahti: best observations were 2 White-backed Woodpeckers, 2 Teals, a White-tailed Eagle, a Nutcracker, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a Great Grey Shrike, a Red-breasted Merganser and a Great Crested Grebe. New records were 94 Tree Sparrows, 253 Great Tits and 75 Blue Tits.
On the 4th day we were watching migration in Simpele water tower with Jari Kontiokorpi. We were expecting to see a good Whopper Swan migration but only 44 birds were seen. But a White-tailed Eagle and a flock of Pine Grosbeaks were good and a young Pomarine Skua was a really good one!
On the 5th day 2 Velvet Scoters were seen from our backyard and 3 Smews were still found around the lake. On the 9th day In Imatra Vuoksi I saw 9 Canada Geese, a Red-breasted Merganser, 8 Long-tailed Ducks, 6 Velvet Scoters and a Common Scoter with “konza”. Then we picked up “jamppa” and started a long way to western coast to Pyhäranta. On the next morning we started from Rihtniemi where only some Common Eiders, a Red-throated Diver and 4 Long-tailed Ducks were seen. The rest of the day we were checking many birding places in Uusikaupunki and saw a couple of hundred of Tufted Ducks, more than 130 Smews, more than 200 Mute Swans, Coots, a Crested Grebe, Common Buzzard, a White-tailed Eagle and so on. The second morning in Rihtniemi was better even though the weather was still really bad: a Black-throated Diver, a diver sp, 18 Long-tailed Ducks, 4 Common and 18 Velvet Scoters, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, a Black Guillemot, a White-tailed Eagle, a flock of Long-tailed Tits, 2 flocks of Waxwings, a Chiffchaff and the best one a Common Guillemot. Later we saw again a Common Buzzard, 19 Red-breasted Mergansers and a Great Crested Grebe but nothing much more.
On the 14th day I drove south to Kirkkonummi because of during the 15th and 16th day I was studying in Vantaa. On the afternoon of 16th day I had a couple of hour’s time for birding. In Espoo Laajalahti I saw 10 Canada Geese, a Grey Heron, 16 Bearded Reedlings, a Long-tailed Duck, 53 Great Black-backed Gulls, 215 Goosanders, 14 Smews and 13 Coots. In Helsinki Viikki and Kyläsaari I saw nothing. In the next morning we continued with Hanna and Pirkka to BirdLife meeting to Mikkeli. On the way we planned to twitch a Black-throated Thrush in Kotka. But we were lucky earlier – we were just crossing the border of Ruotsinpyhtää and Pyhtää when I saw a strange bird flying over the bay in Ahvenkoski. I parked the car and we ran after the bird and right away we heard 2 clear calls of a Kingfisher! We never saw the bird again but we were familiar with the call so it was a new self found bird species to me! Later during the day twitchers found 2 Kingfishers there. We had time for only a short stop in Kotka and the thrush wasn’t found – as it was never seen again. We continued to Mikkeli where we were a little bit late but we had a good weekend with good program and many friends.
The winter had arrived to Parikkala. It was dark when I went to work and again when I stopped working. In the end of November it was snowing a little so it wasn’t that dark anymore.
On the 24th day I was checking many places around the Lake Simpele but only some flocks of Whooper Swans and Goosanders and some gulls were seen. In Simpele Lahnanen I saw a Scaup and the best bird was seen in Pitkätsolaset – a migrating Golden Eagle.
On the 25th day we went to Taipalsaari with jamppa. On the way we stopped In Lappeenranta Toikansuo where were a Goshawk, 2 Linnets and a Twite. In Taipalsaari we found big flocks of Yellowhammers and Tree Sparrows, a couple of Chaffinches and a Brambling but nothing more. In Savitaipale we twitched a Hawk Owl that came to catch dead mice almost from hand. On a second try we managed to see a female Hooded Merganser in Taipalsaari. In the same place in Kirjamoinsalmi was also a Red-breasted Grebe. Another stop in Toikansuo was also good, we saw an Arctic Redpoll, 2 Teals and a Great Grey Shrike. Later we saw still 3 Siskins.
The last days of November I tried to do some birding but it was already winter. So only birds that I saw were the familiar Siberian Jays.