On Friday the 20th of November I drove to Kirkkonummi. On the way I stopped in Imatra Immalanjärvi and saw 5 Long-tailed Ducks, a Velvet Scoter and a Scaup.
On Saturday I woke up early and headed to Espoo Kaitalahti where had been a flock of Bearded Reedlings and 2 Little Grebes. It was still dark when I arrived at Kaitalahdenranta as it was only 7:55 a.m. I saw a passerine flushed from the parking place and decided to go to have a look what it was as it looked like a bunting. Kaitalahdenranta is very good place for Reed Buntings and they are even wintering there but when I found the bird that was again on the road, it looked too small and different. It was absolutely too dark to see any real identification marks, but the birds really looked like a Little Bunting! Then a man came walking towards me and flushed the bird away from the road. Luckily I found the bird again and after some time it started to get lighter and I could really see that it was a Little Bunting!
I tried to get some pictures of the Little Bunting but it was still too dark. So I checked the bay and walked back later and there the bird still was. After some 30 minutes trying I managed to get a picture where the bird was easy to identify. And as there still were no twitchers, I decided to move to Kaitalahti bird-tower to try to twitch Bearded Reedlings.
(Pictures here are pretty much what I saw in the beginning and then a picture taken much later with 1 second exposure).
Soon I got some phone-calls that the bunting had disappeared. And even there were people for whole day, nobody else saw it! I managed to hear a couple of Bearded Reedlings and also a Reed Bunting, but never saw a Little Grebe. Soon I had to drive back to Kirkkonummi from where I took a train to Helsinki where we had Bongariliitto (twitchers association) meetings. After the meetings Markus Lampinen and Juho Könönen showed pictures from their ringing trip to Baikal. And I was back at Kirkkonummi after 9 p.m.
On Sunday I headed to Kaitalahti again but saw really nothing there. In Suomenoja I saw 12 Gadwalls and then I headed to Kirkkonummi Masala where I managed to twitch a Hoopoe pretty easily even though there were plenty of twitchers that hadn’t seen the bird earlier in the morning at all. At midday I went to eat to my parents and soon I started a long drive towards Parikkala.
In Porvoo I twitched a Little Grebe in Seitlaxfjärden and in Pyhtää I tried to twitch Red-crested Pochards without luck. I did see 30 Smews and 24 Coots there.
After we had come back from Icelandwe drove back to Parikkala via Hollola where we twitched a Pied Wheatear. We also saw a Pink-footed Goose there.
On the 26th of Octotber there were still 1600 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti, also 6 Long-tailed Ducks, a Teal and 3 White-tailed Eagles were seen.
On the next days the geese left quickly and only a couple of flocks were seen. A family of 4 White-tailed Eagles were seen on several days and on the 27th day I still saw a Black-throated and a Red-throated Diver too. The next night was very cold and Siikalahti got frozen. In Tiviänlampi I still saw 10 Smews.
The last 2 days of Ocotber I saw only 3 Canada Geese in Härskiinmutka, a couple of Goshawks and White-tailed Eagles in Siikalahti, 3 Siberian Jays in the forests and 2 Red-breasted Merganser, a Great Crested Grebe and a Black-headed Gull in Lake Simpele.
In November we had once again a bird-competition, so I was birding every day in the beginning of the month. Of course on my work-day I could only do a short trip during my lunch-hour.
On the 1st of November I did a winter-bird count and saw 34 species. Siikalahti was open again but I saw almost only Whooper Swans there. In Lake Simpele I saw 5 Red-breasted Mergansers, a Great Crested Grebe, a Black-headed Gull and on the long walk also 3 Black Grouses, a White-tailed Eagle, a Woodcock, a Black Woodpecker, a Blackbird, 5 Fieldfares, a Goldcrest, 2 Long-tailed Tits, a Great Grey Shrike and a Redpoll.
On the 2nd day I saw 10 Wigeons and Tufted Ducks and a Grey-headed Woodpecker in Siikalahti. In Joukio I saw a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, in Moskuunniemi a Chaffinch and in Kangaskylä 4 Waxwings.
On the 3rd day I saw 3 Black-headed Gulls in Särkisalmi, a Goshawk in Tähtiniemi, 2 Common Scoters and a Siskin in Koitsanlahti and a Red-throated Diver and a Crested Tit in Oravaniemi. On the 4th day my only new species was a Scaup in Siikalahti.
On the 5th day I saw a Nutcracker and finally 2 House Sparrows in Kangaskylä. On the 6th day a Black Woodpecker and a flock of 25 Long-tailed Tits were in Oravaniemi. Then I drove to Saari where I checked many places but saw only a flock of 14 Fieldfares in Pohjasuo and Wigeon in Kanavalampi. I was already very bored of birding in November but I decided to drive back to Parikkala along the Russian border. There I saw in the late afternoon 2 Black Grouses, a Hazel Grouse, a Dipper, a Pygmy Owl and even a Great Grey Owl!
On the 7th of October I was playing floorball in Simpele but on the way there I saw a flock of 4 Velvet Scoters in Pistoniemi. On the 8th day we did a short visit to the forests but it started to rain too soon. Anyway we saw the familiar 3 Siberian Jays and 2 Coal Tits. In Muikkulahti we saw the same 3 Canada Geese. The 9th day was the first day without new species. I did visit several places but only better birds were a White-tailed Eagle and a Great Crested Grebe in Oravaniemi and 8 Wigeons, 45 Mallards, 7 Goldeneyes and 240 Whooper Swans in Siikalahti. On the next days it was raining, so I wasn’t birding much.
Next better birds were a Three-toed Woodpecker in Oravaniemi and a flock of 7 Barnacle Geese in Kangaskylä on the 12th of November. On the 13th day there were 2 Starlings in Kangaskylä, in Moskuunniemi I saw a Black-headed Gull, in Rautalahti a Velvet Scoter and 6 Smews in Saari Lahdenpohja.
During the weekend I was in Lappeenranta. On the way I twitched a Dipper in Rautjärvi, Simpele, Kokkolanjoki and in Lappeenranta I twitched a Black-throated Diver in Mustolanlampi and a Pochard in Kaislanen. On Sunday I twitched a Nuthatch in Pappilanniemi.
Then it really started to get quiet. It was dark, rainy and boring. I did do birding on my lunch-hours but saw only same birds as earlier. On the 16th of November I still saw a Great Crested Grebe in Oravaniemi and on the 17th day now only 6 Barnacle Geese in Kangaskylä. The next new bird for the November race was a Long-tailed Duck in Siikalahti on the 20th day.
In the end of the week I was studying in Tampere but on Friday after the last lectures I started to drive towards Pori. I was there in time and met Petteri Mäkelä and Markus Lampinen and a big group of young birders in a shop in Länsi-Pori. Most of these youngsters I knew only by name before but it was good to meet Sebastian Andejeff, Ossi Tahvonen, Aleksi Mikola, Tomas Swahn, Teppo Lehtola, Valtteri Salonen, Niklas Paulaniemi and Lassi Kangasmäki.
Everyone else except me and Petteri were going to stay in Säppi island for at least 10 days so there were lots of shopping to do! But somehow we managed to squeeze everything in 3 cars with all the people. And we just made it in time and were in Kuuminainen harbor before 6:30 p.m. when our boat was leaving.
After 30 minutes sea-journey we were in Säppi and carried all our stuff to the old lighthouse-keepers cottage. It was already getting dark but we managed to see some birds too, the best one was a Three-toed Woodpecker that flew over us.
The evening was nice. We put up the mist-nets to the garden and played some owl-tapes, but only heard a Tengmalm’s Owl. After all we went to sleep pretty early as everyone hoped to do some good birding next morning.
On the 10th of October we woke up at 6 a.m. and soon the cottage was full of people doing their breakfast. But pretty soon we were walking towards the shore for morning seawatchng. Markus and Valtteri were going to put up the rest of the mist-nets and do the ringing.
The weather was almost too good so there weren’t many birds migrating. A Shoveler was flying around with Mallards and a Scaup was only better migrating bird. After a couple of hours we decided to start walking around the island. We found some Jack Snipes, a Three-toed Woodpecker, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a Redstart, some Chiffchaffs, 6 Gold Finches, 14 Parrot Crossbills, 4 Snow Buntings and an adult Peregrine that landed to Hanhisto. On the mist-nets Markus ringed more than 100 birds but most of them were common tits, good number of Treecreepers were also ringed.
In the evening we played some owls again and managed to catch one Tengmalm’s Owl. Anyway the evening was quite easy after hard birding without bigger prices.
On the 11th of October a Pygmy Owl was calling on the backyard but it didn’t hit the mist-nets. After quickly breakfast we were all except Teppo who was doing ringing walking for the Kräveli and morning-seawatch.
There were more birds moving and divers and scoters with some Long-tailed Ducks, Red-necked Grebes and even Black Guillemots and Razorbills were seen. A Greenshank was flushed from the shore and a Grey Plover was heard. Petteri also found an owl migrating and after a long wait it came close enough so we could identify it as a Short-eared Owl.
While the seawatch Teppo called to Petteri and told that he had heard and seen an Olive-backed Pipit! We thought it would land to Hanhisto meadows and even the younger birders were keen to go there immediately, we had to do the morning-seawatch first. It was a good decision as after 10 minutes we heard clearly an Olive-backed pipit calling and found the bird turning around above us and fly towards south again. While we were still celebrating, I saw a big diver landing in front of us and when I got it to my scope I identified it as a Great Northern Diver! So it was already the 2nd lifer for many of us and a real self-found tick to me! The diver was fishing and also swimming together with a Cormorant for some time and then left towards west, but seemed to land again behind Prakala. Soon Teppo called us that he head seen and also recorded the pipit so it was time to celebrate some more!
Of course there were twitchers coming to the island as the year-tick listers were still missing both of these species. After our seawatch we walked around the island again but couldn’t find the diver nor the pipit. Again we flushed several Jack Snipes, saw the same Redstart, found a Blackcap and Parrot Crossbills but then it was time for me and Petteri to go packing. At 3 p.m. came the boat and we said goodbye to the rest of the group and left towards Kuuminainen.
Just before 4 p.m. I started a long drive towards home where I was finally after 10 p.m. It had been really nice weekend in Säppi!
After a weekend in Säppi, it started to be really autumn in Parikkala. On the 12th of October I counted more than 300 Whooper Swans, 120 Wigons, 90 Mallards and some other common ducks but saw also a Gadwall in Siikalahti. The Gadwall was present also on the 14th day when also 2 Bewick’s Swans were still seen.
On the 17th of October I did October count around Siikalahti. Altogether I saw more than 300 Whooper Swans, 616 Barnacle Geese, 70 Wigeons, 111 Mallards, a Pintail, a Hazel Grouse, 3 Black Grouses, 13 Great Crested Grebes, 7 Black-headed Gulls, 20 Rock Doves, a Wood Pigeon, 2 Great Grey Shrikes, 9 Long-tailed Tits and so on. In the afternoon I still twitched a Slavonian Grebe and a Red-necked Grebe in Vartianlahti and on the way there saw a Nutcracker in Muttelinmäki.
On the 18th of October we drove to Helsinki and left to Icelandfor a week!
It was again that time of the year that we were going to Hailuoto to participate the bird-race. We were this time Janne, ”Jassi” Kiljunen ”Potu” Suojarinne and Miska Loippo from east, Antti Vierimaa and Antti Peuna from Oulu-area and Pirkka from Kemijärvi.
On the way with Jassi we twitched the Mandarin Duck in Savonlinna. Then we picked up Potu and Miska in Juva and then drove a long way to Kempele, where we visited a shop and soon continued to the ferry.
It was a bit after 8 p.m. when we got to out cottage in Hailuoto Santonen where Peuna and Vierimaa were already. Pirkka came an hour alter and then we were eating a lot of pizza, having sauna, having lots of fun and planning a little bit the race.
On Saturday the 3rd of October we woke up at 5:15 a.m. and pretty soon we were driving towards Riisinnokka. Our team was me, Pirkka, Potu and Miska. We saw 3 Woodcocks and lots of thrushes on the way even though it was still very dark. Soon we saw a flashlight flashing on the road in front of us and it was our second team. They had found an active Pygmy Owl and they knew it was a new species for most of is in Hailuoto, so they kindly showed it to us too. It was calling and flying very close to us when we whistled a little. But it was still 30 minutes to the beginning of the race. Unfortunately it disappeared after 15 minutes so we continued towards Riisi.
The race
At 7 a.m. we started with lots of thrushes and got even Blackbirds and a Song Thrush that usually have been difficult species for us. Also Goldcrests, a Treecreeper, Common Crossbills, Bull Finches, lots of Great Spotted Woodpeckers, first White-tailed Eagles, a Sparrowhawk and even a singing Wren were found.
We still saw a couple of Swallows before Rautaletto and there we found a Chiffchaff, some Dunnocks, a Coal Tit, another Wren, Mistle Thrushes, Waxwings and a White Wagtail but unfortunately only 2 of us saw a Woodcock and 2 Snipes.
In Riisinnokka one team was already leaving but our second team was still there. Soon we saw Mute Swans, 2 Black Grouses, even 11 White-tailed Eagles, ducks, gulls, a Cormorant, Common Scoters, a Velvet Scoter, a Merlin, Long-tailed Tits and so on, but no waders at all! After some time I found 2 waders flying far over the sea and immediately another bird looked interesting. They landed and it was easy to tell that another bird was a Dunlin but even though we were looking them for a long time we weren’t sure if the second bird was a dark and big Dunlin or a Purple Sandpiper. We also saw a flock of 5 divers that we weren’t sure which ones they were, so it was pretty frustrating. Luckily we soon heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and found a flock of 5 Red-throated Divers.
We continued back along the forest and visited the shore a couple of times and found 2 Shovelers, some Scaups and a Long-tailed duck. Then close to the parking place I found a big wader flying towards us from the sea. It immediately looked like a godwit but it was a huge surprise that it was a Black-tailed Godwit! They should migrate in July! After it had showed itself pretty well it landed behind Isomatala-island. But this was something that we really needed after several missed birds and some identification problems.
On the way to Kirkkosalmi, we found 2 Arctic Redpolls while trying to find a Woodcock. In Kirkkosalmi we saw only 2 Coots, another Shoveler, Jackdaws and only good birds -2 Nutcrackers. In Järventakusta we saw 5 migrating Black-throated Divers, a Great Grey Shrike but no geese at all.
Then we continued to the eastern side of the island. On the way we got House Sparrow and Tree Sparrow easily and in Potinhamina we saw that there were teams in Pökönnokka, so after we had found a Red-necked Grebe and a migrating flock of 19 dark geese, we continued to Huikku. There we saw a Goshawk and a Canada Goose and after that we drove to Pökönnokka.
In Pökkö we saw another Chiffchaff and then walked around the big meadow and finally saw a Skylark, a Snipe, a Ruff and a Snow Bunting.
In Ojakylänlahti we saw nothing new and also Ulkokarvo was a disappointment. On the road to Pöllä we saw finally a Jay but Pöllä and Kuivasäikkä had nothing new.
In Patelanselkä we saw nothing but in Marjaniemi we saw that our second team was there so we stopped a little bit different place than usually. It came a draw as we missed a long-stayer Eider that was in front of them but we saw a Golden Plover that they missed.
The last hour we spent in Keskiniemi and hoped for waders but even there were none! We had only 3 Skylarks there. We also heard a “tacking” bird that never showed itself – I hope it was nothing very rare like a Dusky Warbler…
The results were given in school. After all there were only 4 teams and we won with our 83 species. Our second team came 2nd with 81 and Juha Markkola and Tuomas Herva were 3rd with 79 species. Family Hohtola had taken the race pretty easy but still they had seen some species that other teams hadn’t seen. Altogether 100 species had been seen.
In the evening Pirkka left to Kemijärvi but the rest of us stayed in our cottage, ate pizza, drank a little, had sauna and had a good time!
Still a morning trip
On Sunday the 4th of October 4 of us left early to Riisinnokka again. It was pretty windy and almost no new birds were seen. 2 Golden Plovers, the same Marlin, a Red-throated Diver, the same Woodcocks on the way and one new Wren were something to mention. In Kirkkosalmi we saw the same Shoveler but in Järventakusta we now found 2 Greylag Geese with much more Whooper Swans.
In Marjaniemi we twitched that same Eider and it was a new Hailuoto-tick for me. Then on the way back we stopped in Potinhamina where we found the same Red-necked Grebe but also 2 Brent Geese.
Once we got back to our cottage, Jassi and Vierimaa had already cleaned everything. Antti left to twitch the Brent Geese and we packed everything and soon we all were in the harbor.
In Oulunsalo we said goodbye to Vierimaa and followed Peuna to Raahe rubbish tip where had been a big pipit. We hoped for a Blyth’s but didn’t find anything else than a Pheasant, 35 Gold Finches and some Meadow Pipits so on.
Then it was time to say goodbye to Peuna and start driving towards south-east. It was a long drive and only surprise was the flash-of a speed-camera a kilometer before Juva! Potu was driving so we hope we get only a warning…
I was finally at home a little bit after 10 p.m. but once again it had been a really good weekend with very good friends!
On Friday the 25th of September I visited Siikalahti a couple of times. There were some my friends too and together we saw 3 Bewick’s Swans, 200 Brent Geese, an Osprey, a Peregrine, 2 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Nutcracker and altogether 10 White-tailed Eagles! In the afternoon we went to Saari with “Jassi” Kiljunen and saw a Merlin, 10 Golden Plovers, 14 Lapwings and 2 Great Grey Shrikes in Akanvaara Tetrisuo, a Grey Heron in Pohjanranta and 10000 Barnacle Geese and 100 grey geese in Jyrkilä. There were also 100 swans which 6 of them were Bewick’s Swans.
On Saturday I did birding only in the morning without any special observations. In the afternoon we drove to Savonlinna and twitched a Mandarin Duck and then continued to Mikkeli to my grandmother’s funeral. She was the probably the biggest reason, why me and my brother started to watch birds in early 80’s.
On Sunday the 27th of September we woke up and drove to Siikalahti already at 6:30 a.m. Soon there were also Harri Partanen, Jassi and Merja Laari, but it was so foggy that we started to walk around. We had planned to try to see as many species as possible during the day in Siikalahti.
Right away we saw a White-backed Woodpecker and heard a Water Rail. From Raikantie we found a Wren, a Crested Tit and a Black Grouse. At 9 a.m. we were back at the dam-road and now Pekka Punnonen had arrived too.
Finally the fog cleared and we saw a Bluethroat, a Marsh Harrier, thousand of Barnacle Geese flying around, but not real migration. Only Woodpigeons were really moving and we counted 590 birds. Then Merja found a Bittern standing on the reeds and soon we saw it catching a fish and then hiding back to the reeds.
During the day we saw a Honey Buzzard, 3 White-tailed Eagles, a Hen Harrier, an Osprey, 2 Goshawks, 14 Sparrowhawks and a Merlin. 382 Cranes were migrating and 220 still just flying around.
In the afternoon it came quiet but we still saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a Gold Finch and a Lesser Whitethroat. At 4:30 p.m. everyone else had seen enough but I moved to the main bird-tower. There I counted 77 Bean Geese, 14 White-fronted Geese, found a Pintail, 11 Shovelers, a Long-tailed Duck, a Smew, 11 Scaups and 42 Tufted Ducks with about a thousand Mallards and Wigeons. Then I suddenly heard a high call close to the tower and saw briefly a compact bird flying to one reed-bed. I didn’t see any colors but I knew it had been a Common Kingfisher! I put the news out and soon I heard it again and then saw it landing to a willow pretty close to the tower. But I couldn’t find my camera and when I finally found it and managed to start scoping, I just got a few seconds video of the bird before it caught a bird and flew behind the reeds with it.
I stayed in the tower until 6:30 p.m. and once I realized that I had been in Siikalahti for 12 hours already, I left back to home. There I counted that we had seen altogether 83 species during the day in Siikalahti.
On the 23rd of September I had been birding only on my lunch-hour and seen almost nothing, so I was having nice nap after my work. When I woke up I had got a message that there was a Hoopoe in Rautjärvi Änkilä. I had planned to go to visit a gas-station in Russia anyway and Änkilä was on the way so I left immediately.
The Hoopoe had been seen about an hour before I arrived to Änkilä and I had got some instructions to the right garden, but they were pretty badly wrong. I had told to drive 1 kilometer from one house, but it was close to 3 kilometers before I finally found a garden that looked right. And already from the moving car I saw a Hoopoe standing on the short grass in the middle of the garden. I got out from the car, put up the scope and took some digiscoping pictures and videos, but soon another car was passing by and the bird flushed to the forest behind the buildings. Anyway I had got good pictures, so I left towards Imatra and Svetogorsk.
But this wasn’t the whole story yet! On the next day, on the 24th of September, I went to Siikalahti bird-tower on my lunch-hour. I had planned to scan all the masses of ducks and Barnacle Geese and managed to find 2 Pochards, a Scaup and a Long-tailed Duck. Also a Marsh Harrier, a Common Buzzard and a Goshawk were seen. I was of course scanning the sky too with my binos and once I was doing that, I saw briefly a thrush or woodpecker-like bird disappearing behind Läähättäjä-island. I was thinking of a Grey-headed Woodpecker but waited it to come from the other side of the island and finally found it with my scope and it was a Hoopoe! I followed it flying across the bay and then landing to a field to Aittavaara. It was already so far that I decided to put the news out with my phone and once I had done that I couldn’t find the bird again, but it wasn’t a surprise the distance was so big.
So I walked to the parking place and drove Aittavaara and walked to check the field but I couldn’t find the bird anymore. But I was in too bad hurry to go back to work, so I really couldn’t check the field well enough. Anyway I had got the first self-found tick for the year and also a new Siikalahti-tick!
