. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

In the end of January it was snowing very much. It wasn’t good for birding but it brought more light to the scenery. During the week I was only biking in the village on my lunch-hours. I saw the same 3 Starlings, Gold Finches that were already singing but also a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Yläkuja. Here and there I saw some Blackbirds, Fieldfares and Waxwings eating already almost black rowan berries. In Siikalahti I saw a flock of 16 Black Grouses and a Treecreeper and in Melkoniemi I saw quite a few Common Crossbills and a Grey-headed Woodpecker and in Särkisalmi a flock of 6 Long-tailed Tits.

On the last day of January I decided to ski my winter-bird count even though it was not the time yet. I had thought that I could do this every month this year – it could be interesting to walk this also in other time than in winter. In 17 kilometers round I saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 37 Waxwings, even 161 Fieldfares, 6 Blackbirds, a Goldcrest, 4 Long-tailed Tits, 10 Willow tits, 22 Blue Tits, 85 Great Tits, 2 Jays, 9 Magpiesm 40 Jackdaws, 13 Hooded Crows, 4 Ravens, 2 Starlings, 2 House Sparrows, 10 Tree Sparrows, 16 Green Finches, 15 Gold Finches, 9 Common Crossbills, 14 Bullfinches and a Yellowhammer.

Altogether I had seen 86 species in January, 55 of them in South Karelia and 41 in Parikkala.

February started with Starlings and a Hawfinch in Yläkuja and a family of Whooper Swans in Simpele Kokkolanjoki. In Imatra Vuoksi I saw 14 Cormorants and a Goshawk and in Lappeenranta Pappilanniemi a White-backed Woodpecker and a Treecreeper. On the 2nd day I saw a Rock Dove in Kangaskylä which I hadn’t seen for some time and a Gold Finch was singing on our back-yerd.

On the 4th of February a Goshawk was chasing Jackdaws and Hooded Crows in the village and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was very noisy in Siikalahti. 2 Haw Finches were much more quiet in the same place. On the 5th day I saw a Siskin and in Simpele I saw a Dipper and a Pygmy Owl in Kangaskoski. But next few days I saw only the same bird in the village.

On the 7th of February we left to do some shopping to Lappeenranta. But before that we stopped in Yläkuja and saw a Hawfinch again, In Rautjärvi Pirttinotko we saw a flock of 20 Pine Grosbeaks while driving and in Vuoksi we saw an adult and a young Herring Gull flying along the river and 18 Cormorants were perched on the ice. In Joutseno Haukilahti we managed to twitch a long-staying Mistle Thrush which I have now seen in every month in Finland – so it’s an ace now. In Lappeenranta Pappilanniemi we still saw a couple of Nuthatches (europaea) and in Toikansuo I still saw at least 7 Starlings and a Chaffinch.

Days started to get longer and it was nice that there was still light after my day at work. Also sun was shining so it really started to feel like spring might come one day. I saw and heard some Siskins that probably were already migrants. Woodpeckers started drumming but during the next days less and less Waxwings and thrushes were seen. I also visited both couples of Jays, other one by skiing and another one by car as the road was good until the place.

J.A.

On Saturday the 24th of January we woke up early and soon walked to the best feeder of the village to Garden Twitch. We stayed in the end of Yläkuja from the sunrise until about 40 minutes and counted all birds. We saw altogether 70 Waxwings, 2 Blackbirds, 165 Fieldfares (135 of them were migrating over us), a Coal Tit, 6 Blue Tits, 15 Great Tits, 3 Magpies, 15 Jackdaws, 2 Hooded Crows, 3 Starlings, 20 Tree Sparrows, 20 Green Finches, 25 Gold Finches, 10 Bull Finches, a Haw Finch and 14 Yellowhammers.

After the Garden Twitch I started to dive towards south and stopped in Kokkolanjoki to see a Dipper and in Vuoksi to see a Cormorant. Then I stopped in Lappeenranta Joutseno Haukilahti where I twitched a Mistle Thrush. During the day I had rink-bandy and bandy matches.

Next morning we left early towards Kymenlaakso with Pekka Punnonen. We twitched the Eagle Owl on the way again and then drove straight to Hamina Ruotsinkylä. there we walked around the streets and got familiar to the place and saw lots of Blackbirds, Fieldfares and Waxwings but not the Black-throated Thrush that had been there for a couple of days. More twitchers arrived and we spread around to search a bigger area. I saw 2 Pheasants, 2 Bramblings, a Mistle Thrush and a Song Thrush before someone finally found the Black-throated Thrush. It stayed in one garden so we managed to see it pretty well and even though I didn’t have my scope, I managed to see that it had some red on its tail – but I remembered that it is ok for the species. Only later I and other birders saw some pictures of the bird with spread tail and discussion started that it is probably a hybrid between Black-throated and Red-throated Thrush.

We continued to Kotka Laajakoski and there we managed to twitch a Marsh Tit that had stayed on a feeder from late autumn. It took only a couple of minutes and we were again driving towards Lappeenranta. We were in Lappeenranta at 1 p.m. and I went to see bandy match Finland-Kazakhstan which was before my own match.

J.A.

On the 10th of January we were counting Imatra again. It was the 10th time a group of birders gathered to count all wintering land-birds in Imatra. Every pair had one of the nine areas to count. With Hanna we had the only are where I hadn’t been before, Rautio-Huhtanen-Petsamo. It was a nice day and we walked the whole area and drove the rest of the forest roads and managed to see a Goshawk, 21 Rock Pigeons, a Black Woodpecker, 8 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 84 Waxwings, 21 Blackbirds, 84 Fieldfares, 109 Blue Tits, 265 Great Tits, 4 Coal Tits, 4 Nuthatches, a Jay, 69 Magpies, 166 Jackdaws, 49 Hooded Crows, a Raven, 93 Tree Sparrows, a Brambling, 228 Greenfinches, 10 Gold Finches, a Redpoll, 133 Bullfinches, 7 Common Crossblls and 97 Yellowhammers. But I must say that I had expected to see much more in this area which has usually been much better…

The results of the whole count in Imatra were: 43 species, 16859 birds: 2777 Great Tits, 2513 Fieldfares, 1905 Redpolls, 1432 Waxwings, 1190 Blue Tits, 1118 Yellowhammers, 1040 Tree Sparrows, 956 Bullfinches, 762 Redpolls, 706 Jackdaws, 674 Magpies 580 Hooded Crows, 242 Siskins, 231 Blackbirds, 163 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 115 Rock Doves, 111 House Sparrows, 67 Jays, 56 Haw Finches, 49 Goldcrests, 46 Coal Tits, 37 Pine Grosbeaks, 35 Gold Finches, 26 Long-tailed tits, 20 Willow Tits, 18 Treecreepers, 16 Chaffinches, 14 Common Crossbills, 12 Ravems, 7 Nuthatches, 6 Bramblings, 5 Black Woodpeckers, 5 Crested Tits, 4 Goshawks, 4 Sparrowhawks, 4 Great Grey Shrikes, 3 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, 3 White-backed Woodpeckers, 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers, 2 Arctic Redpolls, 1 Hazel Hen and 1 Starling. As you can see quite many differences were between our records and tho whole Imatra records. Rock Dove and House Sparrow have been declining most during these 10 years but many berry-eaters had now record numbers.

The evening was fun again and best pictures were seen from Australia by Jukka Jantunen.

During the week I was biking around Kangaskylä in Parikkala. I managed to find 25 Waxwings, some Blackbirds, 20 Fieldfares but in the end of the week there weren’t so many anymore, 2 Coal Tits, 3 Starling that were still alive, a Hawfinch, a Siskin and 15 Gold Finches. There were lots of Bullfinches in Parikkala too.

On Friday the 16th of January I drove south. On the way I saw a family of Whooper Swans in Simpele Kokkolanjoki and 2 Cormorants in Imatra Vuoksi. I was in Kirkkonummi with my parents where I stayed at night. Next morning I drove early to Hanko and I was in Tallholmarna before the sun rose. The weather was warm and there was no snow and the sea was completely open. Lots of Common Gulls were flying and Goldeneyes, Goosanders, some Mute Swans and a couple of flocks of Long-tailed ducks were seen right away. A Black-headed Gull was seen before Heikki Vasamies and Ina-Sabrina Tirri arrived and soon after that we saw a Black-throated Diver and 2 Red-breasted Mergansers. Then arrived Petteri Mäkelä, Tom Nordblad and Markus Lampinen and still 6 more Red-breasted Mergansers, a Red-throated diver, a Scaup, a Goshawk, 3 Starlings and a Robin were seen before we all continued to Vedagrundet.

Jörgen Palmgren had already seen a long-stayed Steller’s Eider when we got to Vedagrundet. but the bird was missing again. So we continued sea-watching and saw a Velvet Scoter, a Common Scoter, a Grey Heron, 4 White-tailed Eagles and so on before Petteri found the Steller’s Eider that was just in front of the closest islet.
Then it was time to drive to Tvärminne where we had Bongariliitto council meeting. Somehow we managed to do everything that was needed before the midnight which was good as we were able to go birding again the next morning. But anyway we went to sleep somewhere at 3 a.m.

So on Sunday we were birding with Heikki, Ina, Petteri, Tom and Markus again. We started in Svanvik but the water was so high that we couldn’t get into the tower at all. Luckily the swans were countable from the path too. We counted 47 Mute Swans and 27 Whooper Swans but the best bird was a Mistle Thrush that was feeding behind them on the ground. Then we continued to Högholmen and saw 3 Velvet Scoters, a Red-throated Diver, 8 Tufted Ducks and a White-tailed Eagle. The road to Vedagrundet was flooding so together with Heikki and Ina we continued to Hanko city. There we walked around and tried to find Wood Pigeons but didn’t find any. But we found a Nutcracker, 3 Chaffinches, a Brambling and saw a Common Buzzard and a White-tailed Eagle. Then we drove back to Tvärminne to eat.

In the afternoon I drove back home to Parikkala. I had planned to stop in Heinola on the way but somehow I took the wrong road and drove along the coastal road. So I missed the Shoveler again. But it wasn’t my biggest mistake. In the evening Heikki called me and said that my telescope was still in his car…

J.A.

Before the New Year it was time to plan the traditional “the First of the first” trip. This time it was difficult as there were 2 good option – in Oulu area there were a Black-throated Accentor and a Moorhen but then nothing else and in Western coast 2 Firecrests and some other good winter-species. We had to wait until the last afternoon to get information that Firecrests had survived the last cold days and once I contacted our old friend Kalle Larsson, it was clear that we’d got to western coast as we could stay the night in Kalle’s apartment. And it was easier also because of Hanna was working in Tampere Nature museum and I could pick her up from Riihimäki which was easily reachable by train.

So after my work I had still many things to do but after 5 p.m. I left to drive. At 9 p.m. I picked up Hanna and finally about at 11 p.m. we were in Salo. We celebrated New Year with Kalle and his 2 girls and finally got to bed about at 1 a.m.

On the first of January we woke up early and soon Marko Kaukinen picked us up and we started to drive towards Uusikaupunki. After 8 a.m. we were in the meeting place and before 9 there were about 100 birders! The Firecrests had been wound only recently and they were in a bad place for twitching so this was only second time they were twitched. Twitching has been organized by the finder Pekka Alho who is in Bongariliitto TVK as I am. It’s our job to organize situations like this. Pekka had made a big work and everything went smoothly. When the Firecrest had been seen waking up all twitchers were lead to a place where they usually come to feed. So soon there were 100 birders standing quiet next to a reedbed. And soon we heard the calls of the Firecrests and found 1 bird feeding on the snow inside the reedbed with a couple of Goldcrests. We were lucky to see this very mobile bird well right away so pretty soon we were ready to continue as the day is so short that we had to hurry. Other birds we had already seen were Hooded Crow, Yellowhammer, Fieldfare, Raven, Great Tit, Waxwing, White-tailed Eagle, Bullfinch, Green Finch, Jackdaw, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Blue Tit. While walking back to our car we saw some Great Black-backed Gulls, Herring Gulls, Goldeneyes, Mallards and Goosanders.

Next we drove to Pitkäluoto and were surprised to find out that a male Pochard was still there with some Mute Swans. Then we headed towards Naantali and saw a Jay on the way. I also noticed that a Hen Harrier had been seen on the way in Mynämäki Mietoistenlahti and we tried to find it. We scanned foggy fields for some time but managed to find a Merlin instead. In Nantali Luolala we met other twitchers but the bird was missing. After seeing Rock Pigeons, House Sparrows, Blackbirds and scanning many Yellowhammer we finally saw a Wood Lark briefly.

Then we heard that a Stock Dove had been seen in Askainen and decided to drive there. On the way we saw a Sparrowhawk in Mynämäki. The Stock Dove was not found but we could stay there only a couple of minutes as we heard that a Knot had been found again in Pori Yyteri. It was a crazy tick for the 1st of January so we decided to go twitching! It was a long drive and on the way we saw only a White-tailed Eagle. Once we got to Pori, we heard that the Knot had been missing already for some time. We asked information from local birders and headed to search it from beach near golf. It was already getting late and we weren’t happy to get only Common Gulls as a year-tick. But soon we heard that the Knot had been found again very close to us. So we run back to our car and then after some difficulties managed to find the right place and there the Knot was just in front of some lucky birders that had found it. It was great to end the daylight like this!

But our day wasn’t over. We had planned to drive a long way to twitch a Shoveler in Heinola. The bird was in a small pool with Mallards and there were so many lights around the pool that it was possible to see the birds during the whole night. But we had a problem as my car was in Salo and we counted that only way that I could get to work on the previous day was to drive to Salo first to pick my car too. It was again a long drive but when we got to Salo we heard that the Shoveler had been missing for a couple of hours. So Kalle and Marko decided not to go there if there is not new information coming.
But I had to start driving. I dropped Hanna to train in Riihimäki again and continued to Heinola where I was at 10 p.m. But the Shoveler wasn’t found even though Mallards were happy to get some bread. In Lappeenranta I stopped to see an Eagle Owl and I was finally at home before 2 1.m.

On the 2nd of January I had to wake up to go to work. On the lunch-hour I drove to Moskuunniemi where I saw Coal Tits and a Nuthatch easily and in Särkisalmi I heard a Chaffinch. Then I headed to Siikalahti where the first bird I saw was a male White-backed Woodpecker. Not many other birds were found but a Starling that was flying with a flock of Fieldfares was a surprise. After the shorter day at work I still walked around the village and saw 4 House Sparrows and 2 Starlings – so the wintering 3 Starlings were all still alive.

On the 3rd of January I we went birding with Hannas brother Miika. The roads were in bad shape in Melkoniemi forests but we managed to get to another Siberian Jay place and soon found a Crested Tit, a Goldcrest and 2 Siberian Jays, also a Capercaillie flushed from the trees next to us. In Särkisalmi we saw nothing new and in Moskuunniemi the same Nuthatch was seen easily. Then we headed towards Simpele and saw a Redpoll on the way. In Kokkolanjoki we found 10 Whooper Swans, a Mallard, a Goosander and a Dipper and in Lahnanen we saw some more Mallards and heard a Black Woodpecker. In Kangaskoski we heard a flock of Common Crossbills and the found a nice flock of 8 Haw Winches!

On the 4th of January we headed to Punkaharju Laukansaari with Miika and Hanna who was back at home. On the way we saw a flock of 12 Pine Grosbeaks but too briefly to get a lifer for Miika. It was colder and very windy but anyway we found a big flock of 40 Coal and 20 Willow Tits and soon 10 more Coal Tits. A White-backed Woodpecker was seen in flight and a Black Woodpecker was calling. The first flock of Two-barred Crossbills were found soon and soon another flock, altogether 20 birds. They were calling actively but disappeared too soon to take any photographs. Later we still saw plenty of Common Crossbills, a flock of Redpolls with an Arctic Redpoll and 2 Treecreepers. While driving back towards Parikkala we stopped to check a river in Putikko but found no Dippers, but a nice flock of 13 Piene Grosbeaks that were finally showing well. Then we still saw 3 Black Grouses before we were in Tarvaslampi where 2 Long-tailed Tits were found from the feeder.

On the 5th of January I was at work again and it was extremely cold out! Anyway the sun was shining so nicely that I decided to go to Siikalahti ny nike on my lunch-hour. I managed to find the Three-toed Woodpecker that I had found in winter-bird count and also an Arctic Redpoll that was in a flock of Redpolls.

On the 6th day I went to forests again with Pekka Punnonen. On the way we saw a Hazel Hen and soon we found out that the roads were in perfect shape now. So we had to walk only last hundreds of meters to the traditional Siberian Jay place. They were found soon and also a White-backed Woodpecker, a Three-toed Woodpecker and some forest-passerines again. We also went to see another couple of Siberian Jays and were happy to see them too. I hope these old birds are still are able to breed in spring.
At midday I headed towards Imatra but stopped in Kokkolanjoki on the way and saw 8 Whooper Swans and a Dipper again. In Vuoksi I saw 8 Cormorants, a male Smew and a Goshawk and of course many Mallards and Goldeneys and some Goosanders. In the afternoon I went to buy gasoline to Russia Svetogorsk again and managed to make it very fast, so I had a boring evening to wait for our rinkbandy game as the shops were closed in Epiphany.

On the 7th day I went to see a Dipper in Tyrjä. I also drove to Rautalahti where I saw footprints of a swan on ice and a Great Grey Shrike on the field nearby.

On the 8th day it started to feel like normal mid-winter. There were no more thrushes and actually absolutely nothing else either. Only bird I saw was a male White-backed Woodpecker in Siikalahti. On the next day I saw another White-backed Woodpecker, a Great Grey Shrike, a Blackbird and 10 Fieldfares.

J.A.

On the 26th of December I was time to do a winter-bird count again. Together with Hanna’s brother Miika we walked about 17 kilometers around Siikalahti again starting from our garden. We had to walk fast as the day is very short in this time of the year so it was once again a hard day, but again it was worthy. Altogether we saw 17 Rock Pigeons, 2 Black Woodpeckers, 3 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a White-backed Woodpecker, a Three-toed Woodpecker which was my first ever local bird in Siikalahti and of course a new winter-bird count tick, 31 Waxwings, 4 Blackbirds, 91 Fieldfares, 10 Goldcrests, 5 Long-tailed Tits, 5 Willow Tits, a Coal Tit, 32 Blue Tits, 107 Great Tits, a Treecreeper, 2 Great Grey Shrikes, 4 Jays, 16 Magpies, 30 Jackdaws, 9 Hooded Crows, 5 Ravens, 10 Tree Sparrows, 22 Green Finches, 141 Redpolls, 55 Bullfinches and 13 Yellowhammers. 26 species was a new record in mid-winter count.

On the 27th of December we went together with Hanna and her brother Miika and sister Elissa to Savonlinna Punkaharju Laukansari to walk to the forests that have many foreign trees. We found a flock of 20 Coal Tits, nice flock of 25 Two-barred Crossbills, 45 Common Crossbills, 2 Nutcrackers, 15 Long-tailed Tits, Treecreepers, Crested Tits, 75 Fieldfares, a Blackbird and 2 Black Woodpeckers. On the way back home we saw a male Capercaillie on the top of a pine in Laisennurkka and a flock of 250 Fieldfares in Moskuunniemi.

The last birds of the year I marked on the 28th day when on the way to Lappeenranta I stopped in Rautjärvi Simpele Kokkolanjoki where I saw a Dipper and in Imatra Vuoksi where I saw 3 Cormorants.

The year 2014 was really good but very rare birds wee missing in the whole country! I managed to see 267 species in Finland and 241 of them were self-found. In South-Karelia I saw 236 species and even 224 in Parikkala, which I think was the best number I got. In Siikalahti I saw 196 of them! 204 species were seen while eco-birding, all in Parikkala. I got only 7 new Western Palearctic ticks, all from Azores. The only Finnish-tick was a Red Kite I twitched in December and only self-found tick was a Lesser Grey Shrike. Let’s see what will the year 2015 bring?

J.A.

On the 15th of December there were still 200 Whooper Swans in Vartialahti and still also 30 Mallards, a Wigeon, a Scaup and Velvet Scoter. On the 17th day There were 150 swans and the Wigeon had disappeared but same Scaup and Velvet Scoter were still there. In Raikanniemi I saw 15 Canada Geese and in Tyrjä 9 Black Grouses and a Black Woodpecker. On the 18th day I saw 11 Canada Geese and a Goldeneye in Moskuunniemi and a Grey-headed Woodpecker near Siikalahti. On the 19th day I saw 12 Whooper Swans in Koitsanlahti with 19 Mallards. Also a Great Grey Shrike was seen nearby. In Joukio I saw a Blackbird and 2 Velvet Scoters and 112 migrating Fieldfares in Tähtiniemi. Black Grouses were seen in a couple of places and 3 Starlings in Kangaskylä.

On the 20th of December I decided to try how many species I can find in Parikkala in the darkest time of the year. I started in Särkisalmi where I saw the common tits, Tree Sparrows, Bullfinches, Yellowhammers and a Grey-headed Woodpecker. Then in Petala I saw the same Blackcap again, Waxwings and Fieldfares. Then I continued to forests where I found out that there was much more snow than I had expected. Surprisingly I didn’t get stuck and found Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a Treecreeper, a Redpoll, a Hazel Hen, Common Crossbills, Willow Tits, a flock of Pine Grosbeaks and a Jay but a Crested Tit was heard on the wrong side of the border of Savo.

I managed to get away too without getting stuck and saw Ravens. In Särkisalmi I saw a White-backed Woodpecker and 2 Rock Pigeons, but In Moskuunniemi I couldn’t find a Nuthatch. Only new species there was a Common Gull. In Kangaskylä I had Greenfinches but no Starlings or House Sparrows. In Raikanniemi I saw a Goldeneye. Vartialahti still had Whooper Swans, 15 Mallards, a Scaup and a Velvet Scoter and in Tyrjä I managed to see a Dipper easily, but nothing else – I had hoped to find at least some Black Grouses. Nuthatch wasn’t found on my second try either nor were the Starlings or House Sparrows. In Ristimäki I had a Hawfinch flying over me and it was already getting dark when I got to Tähtiniemi. Lake was empty but a Goshawk flew over me and was my 38th species of the day in Parikkala (a Crested Tit was 39th). I think it was a good result even though I didn’t see a House Sparrow, a Nuthatch, a Great Grey Shrike, a Black Grouse, a Chaffinch, a Starling or some other species that were still around.

On the 21st day we were birding in Imatra with Pekka Punnonen and Petri Salakka. In Immalanjärvi we saw 2 Black-throated Divers, 2 Long-tailed Ducks and 2 Scaups and in Vuoksi-river 7 Whooper Swans, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers and a Coot which I had never seen in winter in South Karelia before. Waxwings were numerous and Blackbirds were seen here and there. Also a Great Grey Shrike was seen. We still had 3 Starling in Lappeenranta Toikansuo with Pekka before I had to go to a bandy-match.

On the 22nd of December I still saw 71 Whooper Swans, 3 Canada Geese and a Golden eye in Vartialahti which was now freezing very fast. In Moskuunniemi I saw 6 local and 12 migrating Whooper Swans and in the village I saw a Starling again. On the 23rd day it was really getting cold and I went to see the last open waters in Haikanniemi and Tähtiniemi but I couldn’t find a single bird there anymore. In Ristimäki I saw a Blackbird and in Koitsanlahdenkangas I found a flock of 20 Pine Grosbeaks.

In the Christmas Eve we were visiting Hanna’s relatives and eating a lot! And the next day we were just eating a lot…

J.A.