. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On the 19th of July we tested ringing on our new place in Kukonkanta. The expectations weren’t too high but anyway we caught 5 Sedge and 11 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a Reed Warbler, 4 Common Whitethroats, 6 Garden Warblers, 5 Willow Warblers, a Goldcrest, 2 Blue Tits, a Great Tit and a Yellowhammer. We also saw a White-backed and a Grey-headed Woodpecker and a Golden Oriole. Later we visited Siikalahti where we saw a couple of Great Egrets and a Black Kite.

The previous morning had been so good that we decided to go to Kukonkanta again on Sunday. We thought most of the birds would be same controls but no. We ringed an Icterine Warbler, 8 Sedge and 18 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, 10 Common Whitethroats, 5 Garden Warblers, 2 Blackcaps, 2 Chiffchaffs, 5 Willow Warblers, 3 Blue and 2 Great Tits, 4 Common Rosefinches, a Yellowhammer and 3 Reed Buntings – and we didn’t get a single control. Again we saw a Grey-headed and a Golden Oriole and a Black Woodpecker. In the evening we went to Siikalahti again and saw 10 Great Egrets, 2 Gadwalls and a Great Reed Warbler.

On the 21st of July we visited Saari Pohjanranta and it was worthy as we found a Bar-tailed Godwit, a Little Ringed Plover, a Broad-billed Sandpiper and a Dunlin and we saw a small migrating flock of Common Scoters. Then in our garden we still saw an Oystercatcher and it was the last time it was seen. On the 22nd day I visited Pohjanranta again and saw a Black-tailed Godwit, a Whimbrel and the same Dunlin and Little Ringed Plover. On the next day all the other better birds were gone but I saw a Broad-billed Sandpiper again and it was there still on the 25th day. Then we also saw a familiar Pygmy Owl near Siikalahti and while we were watching this tiny owl we saw a Black Kite flying over it. Otherwise there wasn’t anything to tell from the week.

On the 26th day we were having SSP-ringing in Papinlahti and we caught a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Song Thrushes, 5 Sedge and 10 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a Lesser and 1+1c Common Whitethroats, a Garden Warbler, 9 Willow Warblers, 8 Pied Flycatchers, a Great Tit and a Reed Bunting. One Golden Oriole was still singing and another one was seen. In the evening we made one more place for a net in Kukonkanta and saw a Little Ringed Plover there.

On the 27th of July we were in Kukonkanta again and we caught altogether 117+3c: an Icterine Warbler, 22+3c Sedge and even 40 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, 2 Lesser and 6 Common Whitethroats, 12 Garden Warblers, 6 Blackcaps, 3 Chiffchaffs, 13 Willow Warblers, 7 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Blue Tits, a Tree Sparrow and 2 Reed Buntings. A Northern Nutcracker, a Black Kite and a Black Woodpecker flew over us. Later we visited Pohjanranta but saw nothing. But in Siikalahti we counted already 28 Great Egrets.

On the 28th of July there was a female Gadwall with 2 ducklings, 11 Pochards, 2 Smews, a Black Kite and 2 Reed Warblers in Siikalahti and we saw the same Pygmy Owl again. And on the 29th day we saw one more Reed Warbler and heard a Black Woodpecker.

On the 30th day we visited Saari but saw only a Golden Plover and family of Linnets. In the evening we did the first autumn duck-count in Siikalahti and saw 12 Canada Geese, 4 Gadwalls, a Northern Pintail, even 18 Pochards, 3 Smews, a Great Bittern, 26 Great Egrets, 2 Grey Herons and so on. I also saw a Black Kite, a Marsh Warbler and a couple of Nuthatches and Hanna saw a young Yellow Wagtail.

On the last day of July the most surprising observation was 240 Common Scoters that were migrating but started flying around Siikalahti and then 90 birds decided to land to the bay! I had never seen a single Common Scoter in this 1 meter deep bay before. We also saw a Black Kite, a couple of Hen Harriers and so on. Then we still visited Pohjanranta but saw nothing.

On the 1st of August we had SSP and Hanna continued alone when I had to go to work. We caught a Common Snipe, a Tree Pipit, a Robin, a Common Redstart, a Whinchat, a Song Thrush, 3 Sedge and 9 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, 6 Lesser and 7 Common Whitethroats, 2 Garden Warblers, 2 Willow Warblers, a Pied Flycatcher and 1c Reed Bunting. On my lunch-hour I saw a Black Kite again in Siikalahti.

At weekend we were both mornings again in Kukonkanta. On Saturday we were busy especially at sunrise and it started to rain already at 9 a.m. when we had to stop. Anyway we caught more birds than ever – 140+3c: a Tree Pipit, a Blackbird, 16+2c Sedge, 41+1c Blyth’s Reed and 2 Reed Warblers, 6 Common Whitethroats, 20 Garden Warblers, 3 Blackcaps, 31 Willow Warblers, 7 Blue and 2 Great Tits, 2 Common Rosefinches and 8 Reed Buntings. In the evening we saw a Hen Harrier, the same young Yellow Wagtail, a flock of 20 Long-tailed Tits and egrets in Siikalahti.

Hopes were high on Sunday too but morning was much quieter. Especially Blyth’s Reed Warblers had moved on. We caught 3 Robins, 27+1c Sedge and 12+2c Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a Reed Warbler, 5 Lesser and 5 Common Whitethroats, 23 Garden Warblers, 2 Blackcaps, 17 Willow Warblers, a Goldcrest, 2 Pied Flycatchers, 5 Blue Tits, a Great Tit and a Reed Bunting – so altogether 114+3c. We saw a Nutcracker and a Grey-headed Woodpecker again. In the evening we counted 29 Great Egrets and saw also 2 Bitters, a Grey Heron, a Spotted Redshank and a flock of 31 Long-tailed Tits in Siikalahti.

During the week the record-breaking hot weather started to get weaker finally and it felt more like autumn. Anyway there weren’t many birds to see: On the 4th of August I saw the same Black Kite and Pygmy Owl and on the 5th day I visited Pygmy Owl again.

On the 6th day 3 Whimbrels were migrating in a flock of Eurasian Curlews ad on the 7th day I saw even 15 Red-backed Shrikes in Lahdensuo. We also counted Barnacle Geese and there were 76 ad and 30 juv in Joukio and 48 ad and 64 juv in Kangaskylä. On the 8th day we visited Saari but saw next to nothing.

On the 9th of August we were in Kukonkanta again and caught 2 Wrynecks, 2 Redstart, 26+1c Sedge and 12+1c Blyth’s Reed Warblers, 6 Lesser and 9 Common Whitethroats, even 50+1c Garden Warblers, 3 Blackcaps, 15 Willow Warblers, a Goldcrest, a Pied Flycatcher, 2 Blue Tits, a Great Tit, 1c Common Rosefinch and 2 Reed Buntings. A Red-breasted Flycatcher was briefly seen but even bigger surprise was our old friend Markus Keskitalo who was visiting Parikkala and left birding early in the morning and had been driving with open windows as usual and suddenly heard lots of birds singing. In this time of year birds aren’t usually singing so he stopped and then heard some speaking and recognized it was my voice. Then he followed the voice inside the bushes and found us photographing the Wrynecks we had just caught. The singing bird had been our players. After ringing we went to tick the Pygmy Owl to Elissa and later I still made a short forest-trip and saw a family of Hazel Hens and a Black Woodpecker. In the evening we went to Siikalahti where we counted 45 Great Egrets and saw a flock of 6 Stock Doves and heard a Golden Oriole with Markus and Anna-Stiina.

On the 10th day we had SSP and we caught a Tree Pipit, a Robin, a Blackbird, 2 Sedge and 2 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, 7 Lesser and 6 Common Whitethroats, 4 Garden Warblers, a Pied Flycatcher, 3 Red-backed Shrikes, a Jay, a Common Rosefinch, 2 Yellowhammers and 5 Reed Buntings. Late in the evening we did a short visit to fields nearby where we found a few Woodcocks, a couple of Common Snipes and a single Great Snipe. But it was very calm weather with full moon so it was impossible to catch any snipes. We only ringed one young Skylark. We also saw Nightjars here and there, altogether 9 birds.

During the week I saw again a couple of Black Kites every time I was in Siikalahti, also a White-tailed Eagle was showing up a couple of times. There were quite a few other raptors too but nothing better. I visited the same fields very briefly one night and saw already 5 Great Snipes but we have to wait darker night to catch them. On the 12th of August we did duck-counts again but only better birds were the same Gadwalls. Otherwise the week didn’t give any surprises either except a Nuthatch in Kangaskylä.

J.A.

On Sunday the 13th of July we started driving across the whole country. In Savonlinna Punkaharju Laukansaari we saw a flying Northern Nutcracker but otherwise we didn’t see much. Finally at 5 p.m. we parked to Vaasa Vaskiluoto where we met our friend Pekka Peura and soon we were enjoying food that Pekka and Maria had prepared.

Pretty soon we were ready to go shopping and then continued to Mustasaari where we drove through Raippaluoto and parked to Ledören. Then we continued with Pekka’s boat to Korsören where we still di a short walk in rocky terrain and saw a Common Eider and so on. But finally we had to go to sleep as the day had been very long.

On the 14th of July morning we were watching to the sea with Hanna and saw 3 Red-throated Divers, 2 Black Guillemots, 6 Razorbills and a Black Woodpecker. In the afternoon we headed to islets where we were supposed to find Razorbill-colonies. Pekka had ringed almost 1000 Razorbills and our target was at least to get his 1000th bird and then as much more as possible in the days to come.

When we stranded to Norra Djupörbådan we could already tell that there weren’t any Razorbills. We walked through the island and checked under some of the rocks but we couldn’t find a single inhabited nest-burrows. a Rock Pipit couple we alarming actively so we decided to put up a mist-net, but the weather was too windy so we couldn’t catch them.

Södra Djupörbådan was also deserted. There was also a Rock Pipit couple but in windy conditions we didn’t bother to try to catch them.

We still visited Fladagrund where Pekka had seen a tern-colony earlier but it was also empty. Predators had been active and all the nests had been destroyed. At least Minks were to blame but maybe also Otters.

On the 15th of July we slept longer and took easy in the morning. Pekka had mist-nets on his property and he had caught the second White-throated Robin a couple of years ago here. Pekka had already had his SSP-ringing so we didn’t open the nets at all.

For once weather forecast was right and the wind got calmer. So we packed Pekka’s boat again and drove to the harbor where we put the boat to a trailer and started driving towards Björkön Svedjehamn.

In Svedjehamn we launched and packed the boat again and soon we were zigzagging between buoyes towards Valassaaret. Near the harbor we saw a Gadwall, a Caspian Tern and later a couple of Black Guillemots.

Finally we stranded to Valassaaret and carried our stuff to the station buildings. With Hanna we accommodated sauna-building. After some searching we found all the keys we needed and then we struggled a bit longer with the fridge but finally manage to get it on. Then it was time to head to some islets further in the middle of the sea.

When we were approaching Gråsjälsbådan we saw about 100 Razorbills and a couple of Black Guillemots. When we had stranded Pekka started to check burrows under the rocks while we put up a mist-net for Rock Pipits again. It didn’t take long when Pekka shouted and showed a young Razorbill that he had managed to catch. Pekka gave this amazing bird for Hanna to ring as it was of course the first for Hanna and also the first time she had to put a triangular ring to any bird.

Soon we were all checking the burrows but they were all empty! Pekka almost caught a young Black Guillemot but it was under a huge rock and managed to escape. We also heard a couple of young Razorbills calling under the biggest rocks so they were impossible to catch. All the other burrows were empty! There must have been some predator visiting the island very recently as most of the adults were still flying around. Only young birds we managed to find were a Hen Harrier and an Arctic Tern which Hanna ringed.

We had moved the mist-net already once when we finally caught our first Rock Pipit. There were 2 young birds nearby so we decided to keep on trying. And then I found a young Black Guillemot and managed to catch it too! So this time Hanna had to ring with an oval ring. And then very soon there were 2 young Rock Pipits on the mist-net so we could give Pekka one new ringing-tick too.

On Gråsjälsbådgrynnan we saw only a few Razorbills and a couple of Black Guillemots but all the burrows seemed to be empty. We could see that birds had been there recently but they had already gone. Probably predators had visited this island earlier as there weren’t more adults around. There were a couple of Rock Pipits too but they were moving in a too big area so we didn’t try to catch them. Other birds we had seen were a couple of Greater Scaups, a flock of Common Eiders and a young Little Gull.

It had been hard work jumping from rock to rock in very hot weather but at least we had managed to ring some nice species. But of course we were disappointed that all the colonies had been destroyed. We just had to hope that the situation was better on other islets.

On the 16th of July we took it easy and only quite late in the morning we made a longish walk in Storskär, the main island where we were staying on the bird-station. We hadn’t got rubber-boots with us so we had to stay on the paths, but we walked to the lighthouse and saw a family of Redpolls and a female Red-backed Shrike on the way but nothing else interesting really.

In the afternoon we headed to some more islets but Båtslaget, Båtslagsbådan and Båtslaggrynnan were all deserted. On these islands we found quite a few dead young gulls and also an adult Razorbill. So at least a Mink had visited these islands but probably also an Otter and a Raven.

While we were boating I saw a flock of 5 Greater Scaups and we also saw another Rock Pipit and a flock of 30 Whooper Swans and so on.

On the 17th of July we did morning seawatch with Hanna from 03:20 to 05:20 a.m. We counted 102 Razorbills and 45 Black Guillemots but none of them had fish on its bill. We also saw 6 Arctic Skuas, a Common Eider, a Spotted Redshank, a couple of Little Gulls and so on. While we were walking back to the station we found an alarming Icterine Warbler.

17.7. suuntasimme Hannan kanssa lintulavalle parin tunnin aamustaijille klo 3:20-5:20. Ruokkeja ja riskilöitä liikkui kyllä merelllä (102 ja 45) mutta yhdelläkään ei ollut kalaa suussa eli pesiviä nekään tuskin olivat. Näimme myös 6 merikihua, haahkan, mustaviklon, pari pikkulokkia ym. Asemalle palaillessamme löysimme vielä varoittelevan kultarinnan.

Soon it was time to start packing and cleaning the station. We met the stationmaster Niclas Fritzén who visited the station but soon we had to start carrying our stuff to the boat.

In Svedjehamn we got the boat to the trailer again and then had some drinks and cake in the cafeteria. Then it was time to say thanks and goodbye to Pekka. With Hanna we still visited a huge Saltkaret tower from where we saw a nice view but also some Grey Herons and Caspian Terns.

After all we had came back from Valassaaret a day earlier than what was our ordinary plan because of there hadn’t been Razorbills to ring. So our schedule was fully open. We really hadn’t planned at all what to do next. After all we decided to start driving towards Pori as an American Black Duck had still been seen there and it would be a world-tick to Hanna.

After all we spent several hours in Enäjärvi bird-platform but we couldn’t find the right duck. There were crazy numbers of Cormorants which were quite noisy. A couple of times a White-tailed Eagle went to their colony to pick up some snacks.

When the light went too bad, we went to eat pizza and then continued to Reposaari Junttilanjärvi where we tried to twitch a Mandarin Duck but all we found was an Icterine Warbler. Then we stopped in Kirrinsanta where we managed to find a couple of noisy Little Grebes, a Bearded Reedling and a Common Reed Warbler.

Then we drove back to Enäjärvi where the light was much better again, but there were also much more ducks! After an hour we managed to find the American Black Duck which was swimming about 30 seconds well visible before it disappeared into the reeds again. And soon it would have been to dark so we had been lucky.

As we had seen out main-target, we decided to start driving and finally we stopped in Kokemäki where we put up our hammocks and tried to get some sleep.

On the 18th of July after a few hours sleeping we continued driving and finally parked to Omenojärvi in Salo. There we tried for 4 hours to see a Ferruginous Duck which would have been another Finnish-tick for Hanna but we couldn’t see it. We saw a White-tailed Eagle, a Caspian Tern, a Moorhen and a family of Common Pochards.

Then we went for another twitch which we knew should be easier. And after some searching we found one of the rarest and most beautiful plants in Finland – one Red Helleborine was blooming nicely on one of the only places it exists in Finland.

On another place we found plenty of Dark Red and Broad-leaved Helleborines. And then on the way back home we still stopped in one place where were one of the only Broad-leaved Helleborines without leafy green so they were all white – even the leaves.

Finally we were at home where we rested a little and then went to Kukonkanta to make our ringing place ready for the weekend. It was hard work to make places for 5 nets in this heat but hopefully it was worthy.

J.A.

On the 1st of July we still met with Pirkka and his family in Siikalahti but in very windy weather we didn’t see anything special. On the 2nd of July we went to ring 2 nestlings of Nightjar. While walking towards the nest we flushed a female Capercaillie.

On the 3rd of July I went to check that a Black Kite was still on the top of the tree next to its nest. In the evening we went to search for Short-eared Owl chicks and we found 3 of them but they were already flying. We managed to get pretty good pictures of one bird. There were also Long-eared Owl fledglings nearby but they were too shy. On the 4th day I visited cemetery and saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a young Wryneck looking out from the nest-hole and heard a Golden Oriole and an Icterine Warbler. In Kukonkanta we heard a Common Reed Warbler and saw a family of Little Ringed Plovers – two young birds were flying well already.

On the 5th day we went to Kesusmaa areas where we managed to make this Atlas-square better. In cemetery the Wrynecks were out from their nest and they seemed to be everywhere. We also heard 2 Golden Orioles. In the evening I went to a proper night-trip to Saari with Arttu Valonen. The trip started well when we found 2 fledlings of Great Grey Owl! But then next 5 hours we were just counting Corn Crakes (48), Long-eared Owls (1 ad+11 juv) and Blyth’s Reed Warblers (7).

When the sun was rising Arttu dropped me to Papinlahti where Hanna had already put up the mist-nets at 3:30 a.m. Right away we had a feeling that there will be lots of birds and for once we were right. On the first two rounds we got plenty of both Great and Blue Tits but then surprisingly the next round was empty. But luckily then the rush continued and on one round we got more than 30 birds. After all we got a Robin, a Redwing, a Song Thrush, a Blyth’s Reed Warbler, a Lesser Whitethroat, 14+1c Common Whitethroats, 3 Willow Warblers, a Pied Flycatcher, 18+1c Blue and 54 Great Tits, a Bullfinch, a Yellowhammer and a Reed Bunting. So altogether we had got 98r+2c = 100 birds!

During the day we went to twitch a Common Quail in Koitsanlahti Syrjärinne and then went to check that everything was OK with Grey Wagtails in Kokkolanjoki – but we found only 1 male and then saw one female-type bird very briefly in flight. Young birds had probably already spread around the river. Once we were back at home Hanna found a tiny young Common Sandpiper from our garden.

On the 7th day I saw a Black Kite and a Great Egret on my lunch-hour and in the afternoon we did a short field-trip and saw Short- and Long-eared Owls, a Hen Harrier, Stock Doves and so on. Then I still saw a flock of 60 migrating Common Scoters in our garden.

On our 25th anniversary it was a storm and very rainy. After my work we went to eat to Iloinen Pässi and then decided to visit Saar Pohjanranta if the storm had dropped any waders there. Luckily we found 8 Dunlins and a Little Stint which were my 200th and 201st Parikkala year-ticks. I have got every year since 2013 more than 200 species in Parikkala.

On the 9th of July we did the second duckling-count in Siikalahti. There were already lots of Mallards, 348 birds and of course mainly adult males but also 158 Wigeons. It was nice to find 2 families of Common Pochards too. But gulls, terns and grebes had really had bad summer as storms and crows had destroyed almost all their nests. We also saw 4 Great Egrets, a Grey Heron, a Black Woodpecker, once again a Black Kite and I heard a Nuthatch.

Next couple of days I didn’t see anything special but on the 12th of July we did SSP-ringing again. We caught a Common Snipe, a Robin, a Song Thrush, a Blyth’s Reed Warbler, a Lesser Whitethroat, 17+1c Common Whitethroats, 4+1c Willow Warbler, a surprise female Red-breasted Flycatcher, 2 Pied Flycatchers, a Great Tit, finally out first Willow Tit in this place, a Greenfinch, 2 Common Rosefinches, a Yellowhammer and 2+2c Reed Buntings. We also heard a Black Woodpecker, a Golden Oriole and a few Common Crossbills and I saw 3 Cormorants.

After SSP we did a quick butterfly-trip and managed to find 5 Poplar Admirals and 4 White Admirals. It was finally warm, even very hot day but anyway we still went to build a new ringing place to Kukonkanta. A huge ditch had been made to our old place so we had to change to a new place there.

J.A.

On the 1st of June we had SSP-ringing in Papinlahti and we caught 4+3c Common Whitethroats, a Pied Flycatcher, a Red-backed Shrike and a Common Rosefinch. We also ringed young Jackdaws on one of our owl nestbox. In the evening I still did a short trip to fields and to Siikalahti dam-road. I found a Taiga Bean Goose, a Hen Harrier, a Great Snipe, a Short-eared Owl, a young Boreal Owl that was right outside the nest-box where it had been living, heard a Savi’s Warbler and a Great Reed Warbler and saw a European Nuthatch.

On the 2nd day only better observations were a too distant female-plumaged harrier and Boreal Owl fledlings that I found at night. And on the next day only birds I saw were 3 Oystercatchers.

On the 4th of June I saw a Black Kite on my lunch-hour and in the evening we went to ring the 2 smaller Tawny Owl youngsters. At night we still visited dam-road and heard a Savi’s, a Great Reed and a Common Reed Warbler.

On the 5th day I saw 2 Red-necked Phalaropes and a Black Kite on my lunch-hour. In the afternoon we did a trip to Saari but only better birds we found were a River and a Common Reed Warbler and a Grey Heron. Then we found another Grey Heron on the way back to home in Särkisalmi. On the next day I saw just the same birds as earlier.

On the 7th of June we did a proper night-trip to Saari but found nothing special. 22 Corn Crakes, 5 Great Snipes, Long-eared Owls, a Short-eared Owl, 5 Nightjars, 21 Thrush Nightingales, an Icterine Warbler, 30 Blyth’s Reed and 4 Marsh Warblers, 3 Golden Orioles and so on were found. We visited Soininmäki forests too and found a Hazel Hen singing, a Three-toed Woodpecker drumming actively and 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers singing. In Tarvassaari we still found a Great Reed Warbler which we decided to catch and ring and we also saw 2 Red-throated Divers flying over us.

On the 8th day we had SSP again and we caught a Sedge and a Bylth’s Reed Warbler, 3+2c Common Whitethroats, a Willow Warbler, 3c Great Tits and 2+1c Reed Warblers. In the evening we made the first stop in Siikalahti and surprisingly heard a Bearded Reedling calling. We played some tape and it came well visible and it was so aggressive that we decided to put up a mist-net and ring it. All local birders who came to see the bird managed to see it well.

When we arriving back at home we found a young White-backed Woodpecker on our garden. Late in the evening we still went to a short trip and found a Great Snipe and a new Common Reed Warbler.

On the 11th of June I saw a Spotted Redshank and a couple of Ruffs which were already on their autumn-migration. On the 12th day we continued mapping Siikalahti and did night-counts. On the southern side of the bay we found a Spotted Crake, 13 Water Rails, a White-backed Woodpecker, a Marsh, a Great Reed, a Common Reed Warbler and a Golden Oriole.

On the 13th day we continued counts and my better observations were a Hazel Hen family, a White-tailed Eagle, a Lesser Spotted and a White-backed Woodpecker and again a new Common Reed Warbler. Hanna found a family of Nuthatches which I had to go to twitch too. On the 15th day counts I saw a Black Kite, 3 White-backed and 6 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, an Icterine Warbler, a Common Reed Warbler and the same Great Reed Warbler. In the evening we saw a Tundra Bean Goose, a Great Snipe and then we went to check that everything was OK with Tawny Owl – at least 2 of them were already out from the nestbox. And on the next day we managed to see an adult owl too.

On the 16th day I counted 24 adult and 35 juv Barnacle Geese in Saharanta and in the evening we saw 4 Oystercatchers flying over the village. We also went to see a Nightjar that Hanna had found incubating. On the 17th day Hanna found a Yellow Wagtail in Saharanta and at night I went to twitch a Quail as Rautjärvi-tick but I didn’t hear it.

On the 19th of June I saw a female Garganey on the dam-road and in the evening we went to check some fields and found even 9 Great Snipes on one field and 3 more on another field. And now all the Tawny Owls were out begging food.

At Midsummer morning we slept a little bit longer and then headed to Tähtiniemi to search for a Greenish Warbler that had been found in recordings that had been made on one summer-cottage. After some searching we managed to find it. Then we headed to Rautjärvi and decided to try to twitch the Quail again but again without luck. But on a bog nearby we caught and ringed 3 young Common Greenshanks. On Kokkolanjoki we saw a couple of Grey Wagtails and after some searching we managed to find their nest.

On the 21st of June we had SSP again and we caught a Sedge Warbler, 2c Common Whitethroats, 1c Garden Warbler, 3+1c Willow Warblers, 10 Blue and 2+1c Great Tits and a surprise Crested Tit and a Reed Bunting. In the evening crazy news were out as a young boy had photographed the first ever Dalmatian Pelican somewhere in Finland! Thanks to Martin Helin and Karoliina Hämäläinen the location was revealed and it had been in Kökar island a couple of days earlier. So the news was old after all but luckily there were some birders in Kökar and the bird was located! So we had to start planning a big twitch – but first we left to eat crepes to Hanna’s parents – there must be some order in life…

While we were eating crepes I decided to book a boat for the next morning. Hanna, Elissa and Veikka Kosonen were also ready to go twitching so there were still 21 places in a big boat. After I had put a message to Lintutiedotus it took only a couple of minutes to get the boat full.

We tried to sleep a couple of hours but before midnight we met in our parking place and soon left towards Parainen. It was a long drive but finally we turned to Saaristotie where we saw the first wave of happy twitchers driving towards us. Finally at 5:30 a.m. we were on Nauvo ferry and a half an hour later on Korppoo ferry with several other twitchers. Then we still had to wait for an hour in the harbor before our boat Princess Explorer arrived. Luckily all 25 twitchers had came early and at 7:40 we started sailing towards Kökar.

It took 2 hours to get to Kökar and on the way I had got some ridiculous year-ticks as I hadn’t seen sea at all this year – Common Eider, Mute Swan and Arctic Tern.

Finally we were on Kökar and out captain had booked a couple of taxis for us. The first car was already there so 8 first ones started driving towards the place where the Dalmatian Pelican had been also this morning. We had been driving only some hundreds of meters when we got a call that the pelican was in flight! The rest of our group that was still on the harbor saw it! It was flying close to the wind-mill and with that information we managed to see the bird with Hanna. But we were on the front-seat, it was impossible to see it from the back of the car before it flew behind some trees. So we drove after it to Västerfjärden where it had been also on the previous evening fishing. We could see the bay well from the bird-tower but the furthest part of bay was invisible. After some waiting we decided to leave to the place where the bird had been seen most. And of course we got a call that the bird was flying again. Only I managed to see it flying low behind some tree again, but now it was flying towards the islet where it had been seen most.

We drove along a small track towards Storstensudden where the bird had been watcher. Of course another car was driving towards us and there was no room to pass it. In this car were the owners of the road and they had promised that the early morning twitchers could use the road but it seemed that it wasn’t early morning anymore. So we had to continue by feet as our taxi had to reverse back to a bigger road. Veikka and Teo Ylätalo, who had already seen the bird a couple of times, passed us by bike that they had rented from the harbor. And soon we saw them on a top of a rock and luckily the Dalmatian Pelican was on their scopes as it was on its ordinary islet.

Some of our group was still on the harbor, but they had seen the bird already. And now finally the last twitchers that had been in our car managed to see it. And soon taxis brought the rest of our group to watch the bird. It was quite far but well visible. After some time it flew a little bit but landed to the sea and after some swimming it climbed to another islet where it stayed until we decided to call the taxis to get us back to the harbor.

The way back to Korppoo was happy and on the way I still managed to get a couple of year-ticks: a Black Guillemot and a Razorbill. Then in Korppoo there was really bad Midsummer traffic-jam. Luckily we managed to get to second ferry to Nauvo and then it took an hour to get to another ferry to Parainen. Luckily I managed to sleep a little while waiting for the ferries.

In Turku there were a White Stork couple breeding and in Raisio a Long-billed Dowitcher and then further in Jyväskylä an Eurasian Stone-curlew but we (except Veikka) were too tired to think about any more twitching. On the way we tried briefly to twitch a Ferruginous Duck in Salo Omenojärvi but we saw only a family of Pochards and a Caspian Tern. After we had eaten we continued to Kouvola where Elissa eptied her mail-box and then we continued to Parikkala. There we still went to listen to young Tawny Owls before the trip was over.

On the next day I was really tired but on the 24th of June we went to ring young Common Kestrels in Rautalahti, saw a couple of Whimbrels in Tönkinsuo and then went to check that Nightjar-youngsters had been hatched – but they surely were still too young to ring. Then we continued to Rautjärvi Kokkolanjoki and ringed 6 nestlings of Grey Wagtail. We still continued to a short field-trip and saw a Great Snipe.

On the 25th day we did only a short afternoon-trip and found a Pygmy Owl in Yrttitarha. And on the 26th day there were again 3 Oystercatchers in the village. On the 27th day we did the first duck-count where we tried to count all ducklings. It as easy to say that there aren’t many birds on the northern side of Siikalahti anymore. Only better observations were a few Gadwalls, a Grey Heron and a Spotted Redshank.

On the 28th day we drove to Mikkeli to my cousin’s birthday-parties. There we made only some atlas-records like a nests of a Treecreeper and a Wren. On the 29th day I went to check that everything was OK with the Grey Wagtails. Then in the afternoon we went to Saari where we saw a Black Kite in Akonpohja, a couple of Gadwalls in different places and found a nest of Golden Orioles.

On the 30th of June my brother Pirkka arrived for a short visit with his wife Anitta and two older children Iina and Veikka. In the afternoon we tried to find Golden Orioles in the cemetery but found only an Icterine Warbler and a nest of a Wryneck. At night we did a tour in the area around the village and Siikalahti with Pirkka and Veikka and even though it was already very quiet, we managed to find several Long-eared Owl fledlings, 2 Short- eared Owls, a Red-throated Diver, a few Great Snipes, several Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a Common and a Great Reed Warbler and a River Warbler. So we got a few good year-ticks for Pirkka.

J.A.

Spring-weather was still pretty bad as it was blowing from north almost all the time. There were a couple of days with good geese-migration and in best moments the sky was full of meat. Unfortunately most of the migration was going on during the week when I was at work. Anyway I have been pretty bored to geese for a long time so I would’ve been trying to find anything else from the sky.

In mid May some observations to mention were on a Black Kite and a Common Swift on the 15th and then on the 17th day there were 3 Greater Scaups in Härskiinmutka, 109 Little Gulls and a Gadwall in Akonpohja, a Pink-footed Goose and 2 Temminck’s Stints in Pohjanranta, a Common Rosefinch in Riionsalmi, 2 Temminck’s Stints and 2 Rooks in Kanavalampi and 2 Wrynecks in Karinmäki. And then the best bird of the trip was a Red-breasted Goose in Poutasenryhmä. It was also nice to find some House Sparrows in Koukkuinnurmet.

On the 18th of May we did our first SSP-ringing session and caught 4 Common Whitethroats, 1r+2c Reed Buntings, a Fieldfare, a Bluethroat and a Chiffchaff. We also heard a Golden Oriole singing and saw 2 migrating Honey Buzzards. Then we headed to Saari again where we twitched a Grey Plover in Pohjanranta where we also saw 10 Temmick’s Stints and in Ala-Ollukka we saw 7 Gadwalls and a Pintail couple.

In the afternoon we went to search for Ural Owl chicks and managed to find one to photograph. Then we still went to twitch a Great Reed Warbler to Siikalahti and a Common Reed Warbler in Kukonkanta.

On the 19th day we had duck-counts but before the counts we went to ring our first ever Tawny Owl mama. We had counted that all the eggs had been hatched now as the mama can’t be caught until that.

In the count we saw less birds as almost all the migrants were gone and the breeding birds were hiding on their nests. But the Greater Scaup was still there and we also saw a couple of Gadwalls. We also saw a flock of 2 migrating Arctic Skuas and I saw a White-backed Woodpecker collecting food. After the count we still stayed on the dam-road and saw a few migrating flocks of Long-tailed Ducks and Common Scoters and a migrating Short-eared Owl.

On the 20th of May was the huge geese-migration day. But I was out only on my lunch-hour and again I tried to find something better from the sky. I managed to find a Black Kite, 3 migrating Arctic Skuas, 6 Great Egrets that landed to the bay and a few flocks of Black-throated divers (61 birds) with one Red-throated Diver. I did look at the geese enough to find some Brent Geese too. There were already 60 Common Swifts circling on the sky – so I guess it was summer now.
On the 21st of May I started my lunch-hour by twitching a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a Wood Warbler and an Icterine Warbler as Siikalahti year-ticks – then I continued to dam-road. A Great Reed Warbler was singing and a couple of Black Kites were seen. I was about to pack my scope when I noticed an eagle on the eastern sky. It looked promising but it started gliding towards north before I caught it with my scope. Then I still had to help others to find it before I could really concentrate to identifying it. But the bird was just gliding. It was turning a couple of times so I could see that it had paler upperwing-coverts contrasting to dark flying-feathers. The bird was quite far but Tahvo Repo and Mika Huhtinen were trying to get pictures of it. The rest of us were trying to see more with our scopes. But all I saw was a quite clear and big Aquila-patch.

The eagle kept on gliding and I had to put a message about this “Lesser Spotted Eagle” to Lintutiedotus if there was someone north from us. Probably then the bird made a bigger turn and Tahvo managed to get a couple of better pictures of it. Soon I found the bird again but it was already very far. But then it started soaring and I could see that also underparts of the wings had the same contrast. I also noticed something white on the base of the primaries but I thought it was just bigger than normally half-moon patch. For some reason alarm-bells weren’t ringing when I also thought that the bird looked also long-winged, not at all as compact as it had looked when it had been just gliding…

Tahvo hadn’t got a good computer and only a bad screen with him on his cottage, but finally on the next evening he sent me one picture of this eagle. And immediately I could see that there were clear white bars on the underwings! It really looked like a Steppe Eagle. Soon Tahvo sent more pictures and after all it was quite clear that we had seen a Steppe Eagle! It was my 251st species in Siikalahti, 311th self-found bird in Finland.

But let’s go back to the eagle-day. After the bird had glided far north and disappeared behind the trees I had to hurry back to work. But after work I had to hurry to Lappeenranta Joutseno Kotasaari to twitch a Long-billed Dowitcher that Totti Toiskallio had found. It was my 311th species in South-Karelia. With Veikka Kosonen we checked the rest of the pools and we saw a Ruddy Turnstone, 3 Marsh Sandpipers, a Dunlin, 2 or 3 Black-tailed Godwits, 4 Temminck’s Stints, a Citrine Wagtail couple, 2 couples of Garganeys, a Slavonian Grebe couple, 6 Little Ringed Plovers and we also heard a couple of Common Moorhens, a Common Ringed Plover and a Spotted Redshank. It is quite a bird-paradise! Before I drove back to home, I still twitched an Ortolan Bunting in Konnunsuo.

On the 22nd day a Grelylag Goose couple was again in Siikalahti, in Lahdensuo I saw a Red-backed Shrike and in the evening we went to check our ordinary field and saw 6 Great Snipes and heard a Corn Crake. We ended the trip by twitching a River Warbler that was singing on Harri Partanen’s garden in Moskuunniemi.

On the 23rd day I didn’t see anything special on my lunch-hour and Saari-tour in the afternoon wasn’t much better. A Black Kite and a Hen Harrier were seen and a Blyth’s Reed Warbler was heard. In Kangas we noticed a big nest-box that was now visible because of some trees had been cut and there was a Ural Owl chick perched on the branch in front of the box.

On the 24th day we did part of the night-count in Siikalahti and heard 6 Spotted Crakes and a Nightjar and saw a Long-eared Owl. During the day I saw a Greylag Goose and a Gadwall couples, a flock of 550 Brent Geese, 11 migrating Honey Buzzards, a Black Kite and a Spotted Flycatcher. But the end of the trip was bad as our car broke down. Luckily I got a ride from Matti Lötjönen. In the evening we did as short trip with Tahvo and Harri and saw 3 Great Snipes and heard Corn Crakes and found a new River Warbler.

On the 25th day I had to go to count birds to Siikalahti by bike. Only better bird I found was a Red-backed Shrike. I also heard a possible Bailloin’s Crake, but it stopped calling too soon. I managed to get only 3 weaker notes videoed with my phone. And of course it wasn’t heard later even though we tried several times.

Our car had broken down at the worst possible time as we both had two works to do. Surprisingly I found out that there was a possibility to rent a car in Parikkala. I called to Tarmo Kosonen and found out that he also had a big truck that could take my car to a service. Then he also helped me to contact a service and soon we were towing our car there. It was Sunday but on the next morning I got a call from the service that they would look at our car even though they were fully-booked. And soon they called me that it would take at least this week and maybe next one too to repair our car – but at least it was still possible to repair.

So we also rent small VW Polo and managed to keep on working in Siikalahti. But the next day it was raining so I couldn’t do much. But on the 27th day I saw a couple of flocks of Brent Geese (550 birds) on my lunch-hour. In the evening we did duck-counts and there were fewer birds now as almost all migrants had gone and breeding birds were hiding on their nests. Greylag Geese and Gadwall couples and 3 female Smews were seen and a Wryneck was heard.

On the 28th of May I saw a Black Kite again and then twitched a Marsh Warbler in Moskuunniemi. In the evening we went to ring Tawny Owl chicks but only 2 of them were big enough to get their rings.

On the 29th day we did more counts and rowed around the southern part of Siikalahti. We saw a Long-eared Owl, Greylag Geese again and heard 3 Corn Crakes, a River Wabler and a Common Reed Warbler. Later there were more singers along the dam-road when there were a Common Reed, a Marsh, a Blyth’s Reed, a Great Reed and a Savi’s Warbler singing. During the day we headed to Saari again and saw a Heuglin’s Gull on the way in Kinnarniemi. In Pohjanranta we heard a Common Grasshopper Warbler and saw a Temminck’s Stint and in Akonpohja we saw a White-backed Woodpecker feeding youngsters to nest. In Hiekkaniemi we saw a Tundra Bean Goose and heard a Golden Oriole, in Ala-Ollukka we saw 2 couples of Gadwalls and in Saarenkylä we heard another Golden Oriole.

On the 30th of May our car was fixed! But as Hanna needed our car to make her counts in Siikalahti, we left twitching in the evening with Tahvo, Minna Terävä and Merja Laari with Merja’s car. It was a long drive to Kuhmo Hirvivaara but once there my friends Veikka Kosonen, Pyry Laurikka and Teo Ylätalo were already there and pointed where our target-bird was – and soon we heard the second Oriental Cuckoo for Finland! We spent several hours there listening and sound-recording this cuckoo and after all we managed to see and photograph it too!

The drive back was long and we had to stop in Saari Pohjanranta to stay awake. There were 3 Long-tailed Ducks. Then we ate delicious meat-crepes before continued to Parikkala. The rest of the day I was sleeping.

On the last day of May I did some extra-counts as Hanna was still busy with her school-work. The biggest surprise was a flock of about 100 Red Knots that migrated over me. I also heard a Savi’s, a Great Reed, 2 Common Reed and 2 Marsh Warblers. In the afternoon we still did a trip to Saari where we saw a stunning Grey Plover in two different places – in Pohjanranta and in Ala-Ollukka. In Karinmäki we found once again a Eurasian Curlew that has been ringed in 1997 in Lincolnshire England.

J.A.

My brother Pirkka came once again to spend traditional Bird Tower competition weekend in Parikkala. He has came from Lapland to get some spring-feeling every year since 2013. We started the 1st of May in cold Siikalahti where we saw nothing special but Pirkka of course got plenty of year-ticks. The best bird was a Peregrine Falcon but also a Gadwall, a Garganey, a Whimbrel and a Whinchat were seen. Funny observation was an Elk that was wading in the middle of the bay. In Kangaskylä we visited one Nuthatch.

During the day we were birding in Saari where weren’t many birds as there is no floods at all this spring. In Akonpohja we saw a Gadwall couple, in Pohjanranta a Black Kite and a Little Ringed Plover, in Jyrkilä a Short-eared Owl and in Valkialampi a Slavonia Grebe couple. Late in the evening we still went to Siikalahti where a Spotted Crake was calling.

On the 2nd of May, on my birthday, we started in Moskuunniemi where a Wood Warbler was singing and then saw a flock of Red-breasted Mergansers in Särkisalmi. Then we continued to Saari where we saw a Black Kite in Jyrkilä before we continued to new platform to Kuposenmäki. Finally it was southern wind but it was probably too strong and nothing really was seen. I saw a couple of Yellow Wagtails. After we had made some sausages on the fire we continued to Ala-Ollukka where we checked one more flock of geese and found one Red-breasted Goose. But then we saw nothing else really. In the evening we again visited Siikalahti and saw a couple of Common Redshanks.

3.5. On the 3rd day was the Bird Tower competition. And once again we were in Siikalahti main-tower with # x Aalto and Matti Lötjönen, Miika Soikkeli and Erkko Elonen. When we walked to the tower before 5 a.m. it was raining heavily, so we were soon completely wet.

And it kept on raining whole morning so the beginning was pretty bad but slowly we started to gather good number of species. Some better ones were a couple of calling Spotted Crakes, a couple of Whimbrels, a couple of distant flocks of Common Scoters with at least one Velvet Scoter, a Red-throated Diver, a Red-breasted Merganser, a Gadwall, some Garganeys, a Common Redshank, a Ringed Plover, a Stock Dove, a Sand Martin, a flock of Waxwings, a Gold Finch, a Linnet, a Long-tailed Tit, a Lapland longspur and so on. It started to feel like we were really doing well.

We were really freezing but as there were all the time something new, it was easy to stay focused. But we were really hoping to see something better too and then finally saw some strange-looking bird flying right over us and it was a Nuthatch!

Finally the rain stopped but in same time it started to blow from west. Of course we didin’t get som many new species anymore as at 9 a.m. we had already got 93 species! But still we saw a Greylag Goose couple, a small flock of Cormorants, several White-tailed Eagles, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Hen Harrier, 2 Merlins, a Goshawk and a Spotted Redshank. But there were still many common species missing like several raptors, woodpeckers, waders and especially passerines. And unfortunately our best observation had been a Beawer – and of course the Nuthatch. When it was 1 p.m. we knew we had got a really good species-list but it started to rain again, so we decided to count our list at home.

At home we counted that we had got 101 species which was our new record by one species. And after all we were the 6th best tower in whole Finland which was clearly the best position ever! But anyway at least I felt very disappointed as we could have got several more species with some more luck. And of course it didn’t help that Team Tarassiinlahti had got 102 species and now got the all time inland-record.

With Pirkka we went to eat to Iloinen Pässi and then decided to visit Simpele Kokkolanjoki where we easily saw 3 Grey Wagtails. And in the evening we went to try to ring a Ural Owl mama on one of our nest-boxes. But surprisingly there weren’t any adults at home but 4 big young owls. So we decided to ring them.

On the 4th of May we visited Siikalahti briefly and then went to twitch a couple of Red-breasted Geese that Harri Hölttä had found in Järvenpää. Then we continued to Saari where we saw a Black Kite in Kanavalampi, Common Scoters and a Long-tailed Duck and heard a Lesser Whitethroat in Tarassiinlahti, but then we had to drive to Särkisalmi to eat and Pirkka had to start a long drive back to Kemijärvi. And he really had a long way as there was a snow-storm in Kuusamo and he had summer-tires. So he had to drive via Oulu and Rovaniemi.

With Hanna we still went to check some owl nest-boxed and finally found on Tengmalm’s Owl with 3 very small nestlings and 3 eggs.

The next days the weather was bad so I didn’t do much else than rested. On the 6th of May I saw a Citrine Wagtail flying over me in Siikalahti. It looked like an adult male but later a 2nd year male was found in the same place.

In the evening we did duck-counts and managed to see this Citrine Wagtail very well and while photographing it, we found also 3 Rustic Buntings. It was nice to hear one of the buntings to sing shortly. On the count we saw nothing special.

On the 8th day I checked some more nest-boxes and I was just driving towards the dam-road when Arttu messaged that he had found a Savi’s Warbler. It took some time but finally I heard it singing shortly.

On the 9th day I also started mapping counts in Siikalahti which Hanna had already started on the previous morning. It was much easier than ever to walk in Siikalahti as it was so dry – and overgrown. I could do the counts wearing only rubber-boots.

During the morning I found a nest of a White-backed Woodpecker and a couple of pairs of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and Long-tailed Tits. I also saw a Blackcap of the year and heard a Common Whitethroat.

On the 10th day we did night-counts and mapped altogether 28 Water Rails, 6 Spotted Crakes, 8 Great Bitterns and 10 Sedge Warblers and so on. I also heard a Thrush Nightingale briefly. The night was very cold and we thought that it was the reason why we didn’t hear neither of the Savi’s Warblers but then they weren’t heard later either. We still continued with mapping-counts too but didn’t find anything better.

On the 11th day we still had some mapping to do and found one very nice bird but I have to keep it as a secret so it can breed without any disturbance. After the counts we still went to the bird-tower where we saw a Greater Scaup, a Slavonian Grebe, 4 male Gadwalls and nice flock of 8 migrating Bar-tailed Godwits.

In the evening we made a good tour in Saari but as there are no floods at all it is really not so good this spring. On the 12th the only better observation on my lunch hour was a migrating 3cy Golden Eagle. And on the 13th day we went to check Tengmalm’s Olw nest and it wasn’t a surprise that only 2 young birds had survived until ringing age. But even bigger surprise was that Tawny Owl had still only 1 very tiny nestling and 3 eggs so we have to still wait for them to grow up.

It really starts to feel like this is the worst spring ever – at least around here…

J.A.