November 2010
November
On the beginning of November it was easy tell that the winter was coming, and a birdless winter. There were absolutely no berries in trees or bushes so all Waxwings and thrushes had gone already a long time ago and most of the other birds were gone too.
On the 1st of November I saw a Nutcracker in our own garden sembra and on the 2nd day I visited Siikalahti where were still 460 Whooper Swans, a Mute Swan, 43 Wigeons, 43 Mallards, 4 Smews, a White-tailed Eagle, a Goshawk and a Great Grey Shrike. In Härskiinmutka I saw a flock of 21 Great Crested Grebes. After the work I went twitching to Kerimäki Jouhenlahti where a Bar-tailed Godwit still was – a new month-tick. Also 2 Common Scoters were seen there.
On the 6th of November I did a winter bird count around Siikalahti and luckily the bay wasn’t frozen yet even though it was minus degrees. 321 Whooper Swans, 5 Wigeons, 10 Mallards, a Long-tailed Duck, 2 Smews, 137 Goosanders, 2 Black Grouses, 25 Common Gulls, 2 Herring Gulls, 9 Rock Pigeons, 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers, 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, 10 Goldcrests, 12 Long-tailed, 2 Crested, 1 Coal, 49 Blue and 220 Great Tits, 1 Treecreeper, 7 Jays, 27 Magpies, 42 Jackdaws, 26 Hooded Crows, 5 Ravens, 36 House Sparrows, 37 Tree Sparrows, 3 Chaffinches, 122 Greenfinches, 2 Siskins, 88 Redpolls, 4 Pine Grosbeaks, 9 Bullfinches, 108 Yellowhammers and a Reed Bunting were seen. I had never seen so many species on the count before.
On the 7th day I found a Black-throated Diver and 5 Tufted Ducks in Joukionsalmi, 2 Smews in Tiviänlampi and 2 Bewick’s Swans in a flock of Whooper Swans in Vartianlahti where on the next day was also a Tufted Duck.
On the 12th day I saw the Nutcracker again and still 128 Whooper Swans and the same 2 Bewick’s Swans, 22 Canada Geese, 5 Mallards and on the next day also a Teal in Vartialahti. Then I saw again the Black-throated Diver and also a Tufted Duck and a White-tailed Eagle in Joukionsalmi.
On the 15th day I saw 7 migrating Velvet Scoters and a Smew in Härskiinmutka and still 130 Whooper Swans, 22 Canada Geese, 9 Mallards and the Teal in Vartialahti. In our own garden there were surprisingly 2 Starlings on the grass. On the 16th day there were still 77 Whooper Swans in Vartialahti, in Härskiinmutka I saw 260 Goosanders, 36 Common and 3 Herring Gulls. On the next day I twitched again in Kerimäki Jouhenlahti where a Wood Lark was now.
On the 19th day I saw 45 Common and 5 Herring Gulls and still 14 Whooper Swans in Härskiinmutka but a drive around Tyrjä produced only some Black Grouses and a flock of Long-tailed Tits.
On the evening of 20th day In Lappeenranta Toikansuo some birders saw a strange bunting that was first thought to be a Little Bunting but later they thought it might have been a Black-faced Bunting. So I had to go there on the next morning like about 100 other twitchers. Together with Karri Kuitunen, Sampsa Cairenius, Totti Toiskallio and Jouko Rantanen we walked around the snowy hillside where the bird had been seen while the rest of the twitchers were waiting but we couldn’t find the bird. Soon all birders were free to start searching for it but it wasn’t found. A Robin and a Wren were found on the ditch nearby, 10 Waxwings migrated over us and 8 Long-tailed Tits were found on the forest nearby but soon we decided to go to birding somewhere else with Pekka Punnonen. In Tyysterniemi we saw just 4 Long-tailed Ducks, in Voisalmi a Black-headed Gull, 7 Long-tailed Ducks, a Great Crested Grebe and a migrating Red-throated Diver, in Joutseno Kivisaari we twitched a Lapland Bunting and a Skylark and in Konnunsuo we saw a Kestrel before we went back to Toikansuo. A Merlin and 4 Teals were seen but no sign of the bunting.
I stayed overnight in Pekka’s home and next morning we were again in Tyysterniemi where we found a Tufted Duck before we went again to Toikansuo. The weather was again more like in winter and soon we gave up, the bunting was either dead or somewhere far. Only a Fieldfare was found. In Luukkaansalmi we saw 4 Common Gulls and a flock of 250 Greenfinches. Soon I started to drive towards Kouvola where I had a rink ball match in the evening. In Luumäki I saw a flock of 18 Pine Grosbeaks. I drove to Iitti Lyöttilä where I twitched 3 Marsh Tits on one feeder. I tried to record and photograph them but the wind was too strong and it was also so cold that my fingers and my camera-batteries didn’t last long. There was also a Great Grey Shrike visiting the feeder which made the bird very shy. Next I drove to Elimäki Mustila arboretum where I twitched a flock of 6 Two-barred Crossbills. I even got a short recording of them even though they were mostly quiet. Luckily I found a flock of 12 Grey Partridges in the very same place where we had seen them 1,5 years earlier on our Yellow-browed Bunting twitching trip. I still twitched a Little Grebe and saw a Dipper in Kuusankoski Keltti before I continued to ice-hall.
On the 22nd of November even Härskiinmutka started to get frozen, still 24 Whooper Swans were there but on the next day I saw only a family of 4 swans, 3 Herring Gulls were migrating. Also Vartialahti was completely frozen, 3 Whooper Swans were standing on the ice.
On the 27th day I was in Rautjärvi Simpele playing inner bandy tournament. Some Whooper Swans seemed to be still on Kokkolanjoki River. On the 28th of November we drove 260 kilometres to twitch the first ever Middle Spotted Woodpecker for Finland. After 4 hours searching in -15 degrees with Hanna and Sampsa Cairenius and maybe 100 other twitchers the bird was finally found. The bird was very active but finally it flew to some big trees where it stayed so I could get some photographs and video of it. Also a Song Thrush, a Black Woodpecker and a Dipper were seen in Asikkala Vääksy. On the way there we had seen an Arctic Redpoll in Iitti Kausala.
The end of the month was very cold! It was about -20 degrees every night and about -15 during the day. It was going to be a long winter!