. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On the 1st of October we were having Siikalahti autumn birding day. It was the 5th time we tried to see as many species as possible in Siikalahti by walking around and watching from the bird-towers. I decided to get to Siikalahti early in the morning by bike. On the way I heard a Pygmy Owl calling in Muttelinmäki and I got to Siikalahti dam-road already at 6 a.m.

I walked a little bit along the road and soon heard another Pygmy Owl! It was till dark, but I managed to see this little owl pretty well while it was calling very actively. There were amazing numbers of Barnacle Geese on the southern side of the bay and their calling sounded amazing! They were all flushed a couple of times and it sounded like a bomb! Unfortunately too many flocks left to fields too early, so I couldn’t count them at all.

At 7 a.m. Hanna arrived and we walked to the northern side of the bay. It took 2 hours to walk to the end of Raikanniemi and back, but we had altogether 51 species. Some of the better species were a Wren, a Hen Harrier, Goldcrests, Treecreepers, Dunnocks, Willow Tits, 6 Parrot Crossbills, a White-backed Woodpecker, 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Great Crested Grebes, Goosanders, Black-throated Divers, a Black Grouse and already the 3rd Pygmy Owl of the morning! This bird was enjoying sun on the top of a dead tree and Hanna got some nice pictures of it.

We were back on the dam-road tower at 9 a.m. and Harri Partanen had already been walking on the other side of the tower for almost 2 hours. He had seen 2 Coal Tits and heard a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a Water Rail and a Chiffchaff. Two latter ones were heard again soon. Merja Laari had stayed on the tower and she had seen 2 Grey Herons. Soon also Matti Lötjönen arrived.

The morning had been nice calm and sunny but it started to get windier and cloudy. The wind was from south-west but anyway we saw quite an amazing selection of bird-species in next few hours. We had 6 Bewick’s Swans, 12 Long-tailed Ducks, 3 Smews, 4 White-tailed Eagles, a late Marsh Harrier, 7 Common Buzzards, 4 Rough-legged Buzzards, a late Osprey, a Kestrel, a Peregrine, 110 Cranes, a Golden Plover, a Ruff, a Jack Snipe, about 900 Wood Pigeons, 100 Waxwings, 30 Long-tailed Tits, a Great Grey Shrike, a Gold Finch and 4 more Parrot Crossbills.

When others had left we moved to the main bird-tower with Hanna and were checking the masses of Barnacle Geese and found 2 Pink-footed Geese but also 2 Scaups, a Long-tailed Duck and another White-backed Woodpecker.

I had a break in the afternoon but came back after 2 hours and stayed until the sunset. The last couple of hours Miika Soikkeli and Matti Lötjönen were also enjoying the Barnacle Geese masses coming to roost on the bay with me. We estimated 17000 of them, which was for sure less than there had been in the morning. The only new species for the day was a Coot, but we also saw the same Peregrine again and another Osprey was migrating towards south even though it was already getting dark.

After all we had 83 bird-species during the day in Siikalahti. One more species, a Cormorant, had been seen but it was seen while using a car.

On the 2nd of October I decided to get to the main tower early in the morning to see the masses of Barnacle Geese. There were incredible lots of them and I estimated 20000 birds on the bay and 8000 birds more flying around. Unfortunately there weren’t any Goshawks or White-tailed Eagles before 8 a.m. when my recorder was out of batteries.

Other birds seen were 43 Parrot Crossbills, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a White-backed Woodpecker and a Gold Finch.

After breakfast we were photographing 2 Nutcrackers in Kangaskylä and then continued to Saari with Hanna. The first bigger flock of about 2500 Barnacle Geese were seen in Rautalahti. In Akanvaara Tetrisuo and in Pohjansuo were no interesting birds, but in Pohjanranta we saw 2 Lapwings and a Ruff. In Suurenjärvenliete we saw 3000 Barnacle Geese and in Jyrkilä about 7000. There we found also the best bird of the autumn; a Red-breasted Goose! It was showing pretty well in 150 meters.

In Tarassiinlahti we saw 8000 Barnacle Geese and also 2 Pink-footed Geese. In Karinmäki we had a late Northern Wheatear and in Kuposenmäki at least 5000 more Barnacle Geese. Altogether we saw 7 or 8 White-tailed Eagles and 3 flocks, 118 birds, of migrating Cranes in Saari.

In the afternoon I still stayed a couple of hours in Siikalahti and saw 3 White-tailed Eagles, a nice 2nd year Golden Eagle, a Hen Harrier, the same Marsh Harrier again and 3 Goshawks.

J.A.

After Azores pelagic trip on the 4th of September I did a short afternoon trip in Kirkkonummi where I had been sleeping and resting after night-traveling. In Saltfjärden there had been both Greater and Lesser Spotted Eagles, Pallid Harriers, a Peregrine, a Great white Egret and so on, but I saw only a too brief eagle, that might have been a Greater Spotted Eagle, 2 Hen Harriers and a Bar-tailed Godwit. I also visited Espoo Laajalahti where were lots of birds as almost always. I counted quickly 15 Dunlins and found also a Little Stint, before I had start a long drive back to Parikkala.

It seemed that many birds had left to south already and some northern species were on the move. On the next days I saw in Siikalahti and its surroundings still some Lesser White-throats, Hobbies and Ospreys and so on and some Hen Harriers, a Merlin, some Lapland Buntings and Bluethroats and every day more and more Bramblings and Chiffchaffs.

On the 9th of September the first flocks of Barnacle Geese started to migrate and there were already 348 birds in Särkisalmi with the first strange looking hybrid of the year. A couple of days later the flock was a little bit bigger and then there was also a nice leucistic Barnacle Goose.

On the 10th day we finally went to catch 2 Nuthatches. We had planned to color-ring the local birds already for some years, but finally we had time to do it. We had always been wondering if these birds were breeding successfully, but now we found out that one of the birds was an adult male and another one was a young female. And already a couple of days later we got the information we had hoped. 2 unringed birds were visiting a feeder only a couple of hundred meters from these birds. We had always thought that they were the same birds visiting these feeders! So a couple of days later we managed to ring another young birds which probably was a male. But another was more tricky and we are still trying to catch it.

I did quite a few trips to fields and I tried to find any better species while walking a lot, but once again I had to disappoint. Parikkala is a really bad birding are in autumns! I do understand that huge Lake Ladoga is the reason why we can’t find any eastern rarities, but why on earth I can’t find any single Red-throated Pipit or any northern candy either!?

I visited also Saari a couple of times and walked a lot on the fields, but the best birds I saw were a migrating flock of 8 Grey Plovers, 19 Dunlins and one single a Jack Snipe.

After a couple of Quiet days on the 14th of September the Barnacle Geese migration started really. I a couple of visits to Siikalahti I saw already more than 4000 of them, also 100 Brent Geese, one some kind of Snow Goose hybrid or strange looking Blue Goose was seen a bit too distant and already 4 Rough-legged Buzzards were migrating too.

On the 15th day I finally had something better when early in the morning I found a Rustic Bunting in Siikalahti. It wasn’t a good bird in the past but in recent years it had become a true rarity in South Karelia too.

On the 16th in Saari we had already more than 10000 Barnacle Geese, but nothing else really. During my lunch-hour I had seen already 3000 migrating in Siikalahti with 800 Brent and 50 Bean Geese too, but then it had started to rain and I actually expected to find even more birds landed to fields in Saari. The first Great Grey Shrike of the autumn was seen and soon they were found in several places.

On the 17th day I stayed in Siikalahti for whole morning and day and counted about 10000 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti only and 3000 more were seen migrating. Again 2 flocks of Brent Geese were seen, 784 birds altogether. 4 White-tailed Eagles were chasing the geese together with a young Goshawk. 6 Rough-legged Buzzards and a Peregrine were also seen.

During the night we tried to catch migrating owls and got 2 Tengmalm’s Owls in Tarvaslampi.

On the 18th day we were again in Siikalahti for whole morning but there was almost no migration. I saw a late Honey Buzzard and also a Bewick’s Swan, a Grey Heron, 5 Rough-legged Buzzards, a stunning Golden Eagle were seen and 32 Waxwings were seen and another Rustic Bunting type of bird was heard calling but unfortunately it wasn’t seen at all.

On the 19th day there were about 11000 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti and in the evening we tried to catch owls again but only a Pygmy Owl was heard calling back to the tape.

During the next days there was almost no migration, so we tried to catch the unringed Nuthatch but still without luck. We have to wait for colder days, so it will visit the feeder more often. There were about 15000 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti and there was a probable Cackling Goose seen but I couldn’t find it even though I tried pretty much. It’s not easy to find one bird in a mess like that. Geese are flying to fields and back all the time and Goshawks and White-tailed Eagles are chasing them time to time.

Only interesting observations were a Bittern on the 22nd day, 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and a Grey-headed Woodpecker on the 24th day in Siikalahti and 2 Nutcrackers in our own garden.

On the 25th of September there were still 14000 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti. Also 80 Brent Geese, a Scaup, 2 White-tailed Eagles, an Osprey, 98 Cranes, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, 15 Waxwings, a Bluethroat, 12 Chiffchaffs and 3 Parrot Crossbills were seen and a Tree/Olive-backed Pipit was heard. In the afternoon we went to Saari and after checking all fields and lakes we estimated that we had seen 51500 Barnacle Geese! 40000 of them arrived to Lake Pien Rautjärvi in the late evening. Only very few other geese were seen and only other birds to mention were a Marsh Harrier in Kirjavala and a Long-eared Owl in Pohjanranta.

During the week the low depression made birds to stay where they were so there were mostly Barnacle Geese to see, but I started to get bored to them. Only other birds to mention were a Grey Plover that I heard from a cloudy sky in Siikalahti on the 28th day and the flock of 29 Canada Geese on the next day. In the end of the week there started to be also Tundra Bean and White-fronted Geese by tens and even a few Pink-footed Geese were found.

J.A.

On the 26th of August we woke up when we heard calls of a flock of Barnacle Geese through the open window. Local geese were flying somewhere. On my lunch-hour I saw a Blyth’s Reed Warbler in Siikalahti and a Cormorant in Härskiinmutka.

After the work we left towards Kirkkonummi with our new Skoda Yeti. We had to make a stop on the way in Vantaa Seutula where was a Black-winged Pratincole. It was a long walk from the parking place to the field where the bird was. While walking we saw a young Pallid Harrier. It was already getting dark when we finally were there. Unfortunately the bird was hiding behind some vegetation and we could hardly see it. It was already too dark to get any pictures, when it flew a little bit and landed visible in the middle of the field. When the bird flew second time, we decided to leave, but there were still twitchers arriving. I bet they didn’t see the bird very well…

On Saturday the 27th day Hanna left early towards Helsinki and BirdLife meeting and I left even earlier towards Hanko. I drove straight to Tallholmarna where I saw a Common Sandpiper, 2 Oystercatchers, a white-tailed Eagle and so on. In Långören I saw almost nothing as it was very windy, so I continued to Vedagrundet where I knew to get shelter from the hut that is on the shore. There were lots of waders in Veda and I was photographing a flock with 75 Dunlins, 2 Little Stints, a Curlew Sandpiper, a Sanderling, 4 Knots, 2 Turnstones, a Ruff and 50 Ringed Plovers. Also a Bar-tailed Godwit and 2 Grey Plovers landed to the shore. But on the stormy sea I saw almost nothing, only some more waders.

I still visited Svanvik where I saw 2 Curlew Sandpipers and 4 Grey Plovers and Täktom where I saw only some Kestrels before I left back towards Kirkkonummi.

I called to my parents and we decided to go to see bird-paintings to Galleria Karaija, also Hanna had 10 painting in the exhibition.

During the day I still visited Kirkkonummi Saltfjärden where I saw one possible adult female Pallid Harrier migrating but a young Pallid Harrier was showing well. 5 White-tailed Eagles were also seen.

In the evening I was relaxing and early in the next morning I left towards Azores pelagic trip.

J.A.

On the 19th of August I did a good visit to Siikalahti on my lunch-hour. First I saw some flocks of migrating Golden Plovers, 60 altogether, and there was also a Bar-tailed Godwit in one flock. Then I saw a dark and small skua but it flew to Vartialahti and never came close enough to make sure if it was an Arctic or a Long-tailed Skua. Soon after that I found a harrier that came close enough to identify it as a young Pallid Harrier. I also saw 15 migrating Honey Buzzards, so not a bad 40 minutes at all!

On the 20th day we did a morning trip to Siikalahti with Miika Soikkeli. In a rainy weather we saw some quality waders: a Red-necked Phalarope was swimming on the bay, a flock of 13 Ringed Plovers migrated over us, 7 Bar-tailed Godwits were flying around over the bay and a lonely Little Stint was flying over us. So there were several species that I don’t see every year in Parikkala! Maybe I should do more birding in rain?

Later in the same day the duck-hunting season started and I went back to Siikalahti to see if there was migration going on. I saw 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Common Rosefinch and some flocks of ducks that all landed to Siikalahti to safe. There were some Pintails and Shovelers too. In the afternoon I still saw 12 Velvet Scoters and a Common Scoter in Härskiinmutka.

On the 21st day I went to Siikalahti by bike but I got a flat tire one kilometer before the dam-road. 2 Ringed Plovers, a Spotted Redshank, 2 White-backed Woodpeckers, a Cuckoo and a Blyth’s Reed Warbler were seen. Already 170 Common Cranes arrived to the bay.

On the 22nd day I saw 2 Canada Geese and 7 Grey Herons in Härskiinmutka and 3 Nutcrackers in Kangaskylä and 1 more later in the afternoon in Kirjola while playing tennis.

On the 24th of August we headed to Lappeenranta after the work. We had been searching a new car in the internet and found a good candidate. Luckily the car was perfect and now we are proud owners of Skoda Yeti. The first stop was made to Askola where we twitched 2 Sanderlings. It was only my 2nd observation of the species ever in South Karelia! We also saw 20 Canada Geese, 5 Ringed Plovers, a Stock Dove, a Goshawk and a Goldfinch there.

The rest of the week I was birding a little but saw almost nothing. I was already preparing to my pelagic trip to Azores.

J.A.

After the bird-race in Hailuoto I started to visit Siikalahti every day. 2 Great White Egrets were still there and I saw at least one of them every day and both together in some days. On the 13th of August Hanna managed to get some good pictures of one another bird when it flew over the dam-road.

There were also 6 Gray Herons in best day and quite a few local raptors. Honey Buzzards were calling pretty actively which was something that is not so often heard. Other birds seen during the next week were a family of Red-backed Shrikes, a young Goshawk and a young Hen Harrier, some Water Rails were still calling and the best birds were seen on the 12th of August when I found 2 Caspian Terns. It was only my second ever observation of the species in Siikalahti and the 3rd in Parikkala.

Birds seen in other places were a flock of 20 Long-tailed Tits in Tarvaslampi where we also saw a Beaver, a Nutcracker that was still in Kangaskylä in the beginning of the week and 2 Nuthatches that I twitched in Kirkonkylä on the 15th of August. On the 17th day I saw a beautiful young Pallid Harrier flying over me in Härskiinmutka. It flew towards west over the Lake Simpele. On the 18th of August I saw the Great White Egret for the last time. It was still seen a couple of days later but not since that.

J.A.

On Saturday the 5th of August was once again bird-race in Hailuoto. We had driven there on the previous day with Jari “Jassi” Kiljunen, Miska Loippo and Jani Varis and met Antti Peuna and Antti Vierimaa on the cottage in the evening. We had sauna, pizza and good time and late in the evening decided the teams too as 6 members were too much to one team.

Alarms woke us up at 5 a.m. and led than an hour later we were driving towards Riisinnokka. Our team was Antti P., Miska and me and another one Antti V., Jassi and Jani, both Anttis were driving.

While walking to Riisinnokka we saw a Woodcock and a couple of minutes before 7 a.m. we were finally on the shore. Then we found a Jay which disappeared 2 minutes too early! So we had to start the race from the birds we found from the shore.

There was some haze on the sea as the day was warming up quickly. Unfortunately there weren’t many waders, just some Ringed Plovers, a couple of Dunlins and some sandpipers. We kept on scanning the shore and found Curlews, Golden Plovers, a Merlin and a Broad-billed Sandpiper that was flying with Common Snipes. From the tops of the trees behind us we found a Bramling, 2 Pied Flycatchers and some Lesser Whitethroats. Some Redpolls and Common Crossbills were heard and of course some other common species were seen. Finally Miska found a Black-tailed Godwit flying over Isomatala and suddenly it got 3 Bar-tailed Godwits following. On the sea we saw some Mute Swans, Cormorants and so on.

Once we were walking back to our car we heard the Jay calling and saw 3 species of common thrushes which always are difficult in this time of year, especially when the race starts so late. In Rautaletto we still saw 2 Red-backed Shrikes and 2 migrating Red-throated Divers and on the parking place we had a Treecreeper, some Goldcrests and a Cuckoo.

We made some stops on the way and got a Coal Tit and a Waxwing and once we got to Kirkkosalmi, there was a bus on the parking place and the tower was full of noisy old people! From the bridge we saw some common species and luckily the bus left soon with all the people so we could climb to the tower. There we saw Gadwalls, Spotted Redshanks, Sparrowhawks, Honey Buzzards, White-tailed Eagles and Hobbies and heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

In Patelanselkä a Marsh Harrier was chasing the ducks so we couldn’t see them well at all. Luckily an Osprey was found soon and we were ready to go on. In Järventakusta fields we found more Hobbies and Honey Buzzards but then Miska found a nice female Pallid Harrier! Luckily it was in very good light even though it was quite distant. One more Red-backed Shrikes was also seen.

Then we decided to continue a long way east and the next stop was made in Ojakylä where we had House Sparrows as expected but also a Grey Heron, a Common Redstart and a Hen Harrier!

In Potinhamina we saw 20 Common Shelducks, 5 Grey Herons and I saw 2 waders that looked like young Red-necked Phalaropes but they disappeared too soon. We hoped to find them again once we get to Pökönnokka where I saw them. But first we visited Huikku ferry-harbor and there we saw an Arctic Skua and Kestrel – both far on the sea! And soon we were back in Pökönnokka where the meadow was surprisingly empty, only many Common Snipes were flushed. Luckily from the flocks of ducks I found first a Pochard and then a Garganey. And soon I also found the missing Red-necked Phalaropes! But no other new waders were found…

We were almost back to our car when we got a message that a Black Tern that had been in Huikku in the beginning of the month, was still there. We were so close that we decided to go twitching. We had no idea where exactly the bird had been, but as we hadn’t seen it an hour earlier, we thought it must have been on the breakwater next to the ferry-terminal, where had been too many cars as the ferry had been just leaving. So we drove straight there and found the tern resting with other tern on the breakwater. It was a nice moulting adult bird. There had been a couple of Black Terns breeding in Kirkkosalmi in the summer, so this was one of these birds.

While we were driving in Santonen, very close to our cottage, we saw a flock of crossbills crossing the road. We stopped and tried to find the flock but the birds were gone. Luckily another flock of 3 birds flew just over us and they were Two-barred Crossbills! We started to have a feeling that the race was going well!

But then in Ulkokarvo all the birds were too far and only new bird for us was a Sedge Warbler. And in Pöllä we also found only ducks, gulls and terns but then I found a young Black Tern that was perched on a rock with Little Gulls. So we had this special bird also spontaneously! We decided to skip Kuivasäikkä as we had heard that the road was in bad condition. This saved us lots of time so we knew we didn’t need to hurry too much.

So we did some extra stops on the way and finally found Tree Sparrows. And in Koivukylä we found a flock of Jackdaws.

Finally we were west in Marjaniemi where we had a Velvet Scoter, 2 Turnstones and 2 Whimbrels. Then it was time to head to Keskiniemi which was our last place. The road was almost too bad for Antti’s low car, but he drove carefully and we made it there so that we still had 40 minutes to go. But unfortunately we didn’t find better waders that Antti had seen there on the previous evening. Just Dunlins, Ringed Plovers and a couple of Temminck Stints were found. Another new species for us was a Skylark that was numerous. We had expected to find at least 5 new wader-species! We had still 20 minutes to go, so we decided to start walking along the shore and hoped to find anything new. 10 minutes later Miska found a Black-throated Diver from the sea. The bird was very close and we had scanned to sea already many times. Then 5 minutes after that Antti was checking the shore for the 10th time and suddenly there was an Oystercatchers on the scope! We still had one minute left when Miska found a distant Green Sandpiper flying over the forest and luckily I managed to find it before it dropped behind the trees! For once we had amazing last minutes!

The results were given in the school of Hailuoto. Our 117 species were enough to win the race with clear marginal. The 2nd were J. Markkola , V-P. Honkanen, H. Kianen and A.Niemi with 112 species, 3rd our friend’s team with 108 and 4th V.Suorsa, K.Hiekkanen and T.Herva with 107 species. Altogether 137 species had been found in 12 hours in Hailuoto.

In the evening we had sauna and pizza again and had fun until the midnight.

On the 7th of August we did a morning trip with Antti P., Miska and Jani. We drove to Marjaniemi where a Velvet Scoter and a Red-necked Grebe that we had missed in the race were still present. Now there were no tourists, so we found 5 Turnstones easily.

Next we drove to Virpiniemi where had been quite a few waders in the race but only new species we found were 2 Curlew Sandpipers. Also Dunlins, 10 Temminck Stints, Ringed Plovers, a Spotted Redshank and a couple of flocks of Whimbrels were found.

Then we still drove to Pöllä where we met Jassi too. Antti V. had already left to Oulu to his family. Jassi had seen quite a few good birds like a flock of Two-barred Crossbills and 2 Starlings and so on even though he had started birding much later than us. With Antti V. they had slept longer and then cleaned the cottage. In Pöllä we saw the same young Black Tern again and 2 Honey Buzzards but nothing else. Soon we had to drive to our cottage, take our luggage and continue to Huikku. Luckily we managed to get to ferry that left 11:30 a.m. and in Oulunsalo we said goodbye to Antti P. and started a long way back to south-east. In Siilinjärvi we dropped Jani that had his wife waiting there. In Juva we said goodbye to Miska and finally in the early evening we were in Parikkala. Jassi still had some driving before he was in Joutseno.

It had once again been a funny weekend with good friends in Hailuoto! Race in August had been surprising and at least it had been the first race ever when we had been sweating all the time!

J.A.