. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On Friday the 12th of September I visited Siikalahti early and heard some Water Rails, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a White-backed Woodpecker and saw some Sedge Warblers a Chiffchaff and so on. In Härskiinmutka I still saw a young Common Tern.

After work we left towards Oulu and drove straight to Siikajoki Tauvo where we met Mikko Ala-Kojola and Antti Peuna. We walked to Tauvo bird-ringing-station and there we started to put up the mist-nets almost immediately. It was a huge work as everything wasn’t that organized and well planned as we had hoped so we had managed to put only half of the nets up when it came too dark to continue. So we started to play owls from and soon we had first Tengmalm’s Owl on the nets. The sky was full of pretty nice aurora-borealis, so Hanna went to photograph them to the tower. When my brother Pirkka arrived, we had already caught 6 owls and there were still more coming. We heard calls of owls from the sky all the time! Until midnight we had caught 11 Tengmalm’s Owls.

On the 13th of September we woke up at 5 a.m. Mikko and Antti left to Raahe bird-race but with Hanna we continued with the nets. There were still a couple of Tengmalm’s Owl on the nets so Pirkka stayed and ringed them but came soon to help us. It took still a couple of hours as there were a couple of nets missing, or too short or too long. First birds were already on the nets so Pirkka started ringing with Hanna while I was making the net-rounds. During the morning and day we caught 18 Willow Tits, 9 Great Tits, 5 Robins, 4 Reed Buntings, 4 Willow Warblers, 2 Blue Tits, 2 Crested Tits, 2 Dunnocks, a Song Thrush, a Treecreeper and a Yellowhammer. Other birds that I had seen or heard were 2 Willow Grouses, 2 Rustic/Little Buntings (only heard), 2 White-tailed Eagles and some migrating Crested Tits.

In the afternoon we closed the nets and planned to go to walk around the Ulkonokka-shore. Then Allan Hamari called that he was also coming to Tauvo to see us, so we waited him to join us. We walked a long way but all birds were in the furthest corner. Luckily we canned the sea too and Pirkka found a migrating skua. First we thought it was an Arctic but I wanted to watch it more carefully – and it was a Long-tailed Skua! It landed a couple of times but continued towards south. It was a very late adult bird.
Other birds we found were 8 Sanderlings, 7 Dunlins, 4 Little Stints, 19 Ruffs, a Shelduck, a Greylag Goose and so on. In Merikylänlahti we saw a too well hiding Meadow Pipit and the ugliest Skylark ever which also called totally wrong, but anyway it was just a Skylark.

Once we got back to the station, Mikko and Antti were already opening the nets and soon we were catching owls again. Until midnight we had caught 11 Tengmalm’s Owls again.

On the 14th of September we did the first net-round at 6 a.m. but the morning was windy and there wasn’t that many birds moving. During the morning and day we caught 20 Willow Tits, 13 Reed Buntings, 5 Robins, 3 Blue Tits, 2 Great Tits, 2 Dunnocks, 2 Siskins, 2 Chiffchaffs, 2 Song Thrushes, a Redwing, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a Coal Tit. Other birds seen were some flocks of Common and Parrot Crossbills, a Three-toed Woodpecker and some Crested Tits, a Hazel Hen was heard.

In the afternoon we took away the nets as there was nobody else coming to the station soon which is sad. It took a couple of hours again and then Mikko and Antti had to leave to Oulu. With Hanna, Pirkka and Allu we still made a short walk to Ulkonokka where we saw almost the same birds again. Then we said goodbye to Allu and left towards Raahe. There we tried to twitch a Citrine Wagtail that had been found on the race, but we couldn’t find it. There were still 100 Swallows with a Sand and House Martin and about 10 Gold Finches.

Finally we said goodbye to Pirkka and left to a long way back home. On the way we saw a couple of Capercaillies but nothing else. After all we were back home just before midnight.

J.A.

Jättimäinen auringonpurkaus osui maapalloon perjantaina 12.9. ja taivaalle levisivät hienot revontulet. Korkealla ollut kuu valaisi hieman sumuista Tauvon Ulkonokan taivasta harmillisesti. Revontulet muuttuivat hyvin nopeasti, enkä ehtinyt parhaisiin tilanteisiin mukaan.
Huge solar storm hit Earth friday 12.9. and northern sky was covered with aurora borealis. Unfortunately sky was slightly foggy and moon lighted fog layers. Auroras changed very fast and I often missed good moments.

H.A.

The beginning of September was still very warm. On the first days I checked the nearest fields during my lunch-hour and saw some Red-backed Shrikes and other summer-birds. On the 2nd day I finally saw some Red-throated Pipits and got a new year-tick. Soon they were found in every field. In the evening I saw a Ural Owl in Rautjärvi Vertasenkylä while I was driving away from Imatra where was the first rink-ball trainings of the season.

On the 4th of September I was again in Imatra, in Lammassaari with my colleagues and saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker. On the 5th day I visited Kullinsuo again on my lunch-hour and this time it was worthy! I found a pipit perched far on the cut field, but it looked good. It was chasing some insects and finally landed next to a Northern Wheatear and I could see that it was a big one! Anyway I wanted to see it better and walked to the field but then I lost the bird. I walked maybe 500 meters and finally flushed it and it called several times and I could easily identify it as a Richard’s Pipit! It was a new South-Karelia tick for me and only 4th record ever in Parikkala.

In the afternoon I biked to Kullinsuo with Matti Lötjönen and also Jari Kiljunen was there. “Jassi” had already heard the bird but after some searching we finally saw it again. We saw it in flight a couple of times but still didn’t manage to get any pictures. There were also some Red-throated Pipits.
Later we still visited Kontiolampi fields and Siikalahti and saw a White-tailed Eagle and the first Brambling of the autumn. In the evening I still saw a Woodcock.

On the 6th day I biked to Siikalahti already after 6 a.m. On the way I heard a Coal Tit in Muttelinmäki. Water Rails were still calling actively and along the dam-road I found still 12 Sedge Warblers, 2 Bluethroats, a Common Whitethroat, a Garden Warbler and so on. There was not much migration but a Nuthatch was nice to see again. Some Red-throated Pipits, Yellow Wagtails, 8 Bean Geese, a White-backed Woodpecker drumming, 2 Black Woodpeckers, a White-tailed Eagle and a Grey Heron on an electric wire were seen. In Tetrisuo I still saw 3 Lapland Buntings. In the afternoon I still went to Saari but only 52 Ruffs and were seen in Pohjanranta.

On the 7th of September the morning was foggy so we went to Siikalahti only at 9 a.m. A lonely Bean Goose was migrating and 8 more were still present. A White-tailed Eagle was seen again and a Hen Harrier was hunting on the fields. Water Rails were calling and a Ruff was flying over us with a Spotted Redshank. 6 Red-throated Pipits migrated, a Bluethroat was calling from the reeds and the weather was too good! In Kullinsuo we found only common pipits and a Lapland Bunting. In the afternoon I was jogging a long run and saw 4 Rock Doves, a Garden Warbler, a Yellow Wagtail and a Chiffchaff.

On the 8th day I went to Siikalahti on my lunch-hour and found almost immediately a Great Grey Shrike. I soon realized that it looked more interesting than usually as it had white forehead which continued above supercilium. Soon it flew a little bit and I could see huge white patches on its wings, white uppertail and rump and once it landed a little bit closer I still saw that it was quite pale grey. It was a “Homeyeri”! Soon it continued towards us and flew right over us and soon disappeared to south.
I also saw an Acro which disappeared too soon. On the next day I saw only a Chiffchaff and local raptors in Siikalahti and later in Härskiinmutka I saw 2 Common Terns.

On the 10th of September I visited Siikalahti early in the morning and found 2 Bluethroats. In Härskiinmutka I saw a flock of 10 Long-tailed Ducks. In the afternoon I visited Saari Pohjanranta where only a Grey Heron, a Ringed Plover and 82 Ruffs were seen. On the 11th day I saw 2 Gadwalls landing to Siikalahti, 7 Taiga Bean Geese and so on.

J.A.

On the 20th and 21st of August I saw only common local raptors like Common Buzzards, Honey Buzzards, Hobbies and Ospreys, also 2 Hen Harrier were seen in Lahdensuo.

On the 22nd day I had to wake up early as I just had a feeling of autumn beginning. I walked 100 meters from our house to the shore and started scanning the sky over the lake. After 10 minutes I heard a familiar call and found a flock of waders from the sky – there were 7 Grey Plovers with 6 Bar-tailed Godwits. I one hour I saw almost nothing else, just a flock of ducks, 4 Cormorants, 14 Golden Plovers and a Black Woodpecker.
In the afternoon I drove to Saari Pohjanranta and soon found a flock of 6 Arctic Skuas migrating on the sky. These 4 pale and 2 dark morph birds increased my Parikkala year-list to 215 species. Also 2 Lapwings, 2 Temminck Stints, 32 Ruffs and 4 Wood Sandpipers were seen. There were also lots of House Martins and a Merlin was chasing them. In Akanvaara Tetrisuo and Pohjansuo I saw only a couple of Cuckoos and a Black Woodpecker. In Jyrkilä I counted 330 Cranes and in Tarassiinlahti I saw 5 Grey Herons and 1 more was in Rautalahti on the way back home. I still saw 2 Nutcrackers in railway-station and a Little Ringed Plover in Saharanta.

On the 23rd day we went early by bike to Moskuunniemi with Harri Partanen. The weather was really cold but there was almost no migration. Only 14 Golden Plovers and 5 Cormorants were seen. After an hour and half I was too cold to continue so I biked back home. On the way I saw the same Little Ringed Plover with a Common Sandpiper and a Nutcracker.
On the 24th day we biked to Siikalahti and it really was a better morning! The best bird was a Turtle Dove that flew over us! Then soon after that we heard a Nuthatch calling and we managed to attract it visible and identify it as a european subspecies. Other goodies were a Peregrine, a Goshawk, 2 Taiga and 1 Tundra Bean Geese, 4 Water Rails, 150 Cranes, a Stock Dove, a Cuckoo, a Reed Warbler, a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a Golden Oriole, 2 Red-backed Shrikes and a Nutcracker. During the day I visited Saari Pohjanranta and Akanvaara Tetrisuo but saw only 4 Grey Herons, a Temminck Stint, a Merlin and 2 Curlews.

On the 26th day I visited Siikalahti bird-tower but it was surprisingly quiet even though hunting season had started and usually it brings more ducks to Siikalahti. 3 Smews were seen anyway. In Kullinsuo I heard a flock of Parrot Crossbills and in Lahdensuo I saw a Cuckoo. On the next day I checked the fields again and saw a Cuckoo, a Hen Harrier, a Merlin and 3 Ringed Plovers. On the next day I saw 2 Golden Plover, a Red-backed Shrike and a Hen Harrier on the fields and a Goshawk and a Nutcracker in Kangaskylä.

The last days of August I was in Tour de Helsinki cycling. We participated with Juha Honkanen and his 2 Swedish friends to team competition. So we drove pretty slowly until after 100 km I decided to go faster as I wanted to make my new record which I finally did.

J.A.

On the 11th of August I saw a Nutcracker again in Kangaskylä and on the next day I heard a Wren while I was jogging. On the 13th day I visited Kullinsuo where I heard a Quail and saw a Goshawk, in Lahdensuo I saw 2 Red-backed Shrikes and a Common Rosefinch. In the evening I was jogging again and around Siikalahti I heard a Red-breasted Flycatcher and saw 45 Cranes. On the 14th day I visited Saari Akanvaara Tetrisuo and Pohjanranta and also Rautalahti and saw 2 Hen Harriers, a Black Woodpecker, 5 Grey Herons, 6 Curlews, a Ruff, 10 Wood Sandpipers and 2 Red-backed Shrikes.

On the 15th of August I left towards Oulu. I picked up “Potu” Suojarinne in Juva and we drove whole afternoon until we finally got to Oulunsalo ferry. At 9 p.m. we were in Hailuoto and met Pirkka, Harry Nyström and Mikko Ala-kojola who had arrived earlier. They were watching a Black Tern in the harbor. We saw the bird pretty far and soon continued to Santonen to our cottage where also Jari Kiljunen and Jani Varis were already. We ate well, had fun, had sauna and once again forgot to plan the next day’s bird-race.

On the 16th of August we woke up already at 5 a.m. The race was starting only 7 a.m. but at 6 o’clock we left birding anyway. Harry, Jani and Jari were faster and left earlier. We drove to Patelanselkä but it wasn’t good place enough so we moved to Kirkkosalmi to begin the race. We had hoped to find a place where to see passerine migration but the sky was almost empty. Anyway we found quite a few Sedge Warblers, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Redpoll, 2 Grey Herons, lots of Gadwalls, some Spotted Redshanks, a couple of migrating Honey Buzzards and so on. Unfortunately only 2 of us saw a Blackbird which was the only one during the day.

We continued towards Riisinnokka and stopped on the way. Some good species like a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Common Crossbills, a Pied Flycatcher and a Hobby were seen. In Louekari we saw a flock of 5 Cuckoos and Cuckoo was really the bird of the day as we saw at least 10 more later. In Rautaletto the forest was completely empty but in Riisinnokka we of course got plenty of new species: a Peregrine, a White-tailed Eagle, a flock of Velvet Scoters, Dunlins, a Curlew Sandpiper, a Shelduck, an Osprey and a couple of Little Terns were good ones. While walking back to the parking place we got only a Treecreeper. While driving back towards Kirkkosalmi, we saw a family of Black Grouse, but Kirkkosalmi was surprisingly quiet and nothing better was seen.

In Järventakusta fields we saw Northern Wheatears and Whinchats, 2 Skylarks and a Garden Warbler. In Pöllä we found some common species but also a Red-backed Shrike and 3 Smews. In Kuivasäikkä we found a Little Ringed Plover in a flock of Ringed Plovers and a Broad-billed Sandpiper.

While we were driving through the village again, we saw a young Hen Harrier and in Koivukylä fields we found a Common Whitethroat and Jackdaws. Once we got to Marjaniemi Pirkka noticed that there was a man walking in the sea and carrying something white – a gull! I already said that if it is a Lesser Black-backed Gull, can we tick it? Then I watched what was really going on and realized that there was a man carrying an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull! It was Esa Aalto who had seen a badly hurt gull on the sea and soon he carried it to the shore and we could see that the gull had been shot! Unfortunately there was nothing to do and Esa had to kill the bird. But hopefully the shooter will be found and hopefully killing also common gulls can be stopped in Hailuoto. We also saw families of Velvet and Common Scoters. Then we drove a little bit along the northern coast but didn’t find any thrushes or new waders. We had seen only 3 thrushes – Fieldfares during the day!

In Ulkokarvo Petsamo we saw the second Peregrine and Osprey of the day but also the first Swifts. On the way back we saw a Stock Dove that left from the road. In Ojakylä we stopped when we saw a flock of Fieldfares with a single Mistle Thrush but still no small thrushes. Then we also saw a Goshawk. In Huikku there was a ferry and too many people so we didn’t see the Black Tern or any new waders.

Our last destination was Pökönnokka where were amazing number of mosquitoes! 2 Curlew Sandpipers, a Skylark, 7 Shelducks and finally also 2 Golden Plovers and a Whimbrel were seen. At 7 p.m. the race ended and we drove to hear the results.

It was soon clear that we weren’t on the top. The winners Petri Lampila, Harri Taavetti and Samuli Lehikoinen had seen 114 species, 2nd were Harry, Jari and Jani with 109 and we were 3rd with our 104 species. After us there were still several teams with more than 100 species! There were altogether 12 teams and even 145 species had been found!

We had sauna again and ate well and then Harry had once again a chili-show that didn’t end well as the World’s hottest chili was too hot even for Harry! Soon Harry’s team was sleeping while we still continued for some time before going to sleep.

On the 17th day we woke up at 7 and our team still left birding to Pökönnokka. Now we found 3 Red-necked Phalaropes, 4 Golden Plovers, a Broad-billed Sandpiper, 2 Merlins and a Pochard. Soon we conitnued to the ferry as we didn’t wasn’t to find ourselves from the long queues like there had been yesterday.

In Oulunsalo we said goodbye to Mikko and soon saw a Pheasant along the road. With Pirkka and Potu we drove to Oulu Oritkari where we managed to twitch 2 yellow-ringed Snow Geese that were with 80 Greylag Geese. We had to walk a long was to see them on the harbor. Then we visited my brother Riku before said goodbye to Pirkka and left to a long drive back home.

We stopped in Siilinjärvi Raasio and saw 3 Curlew Sandpiper, 1 Dunlin and 1 Little Stint. I dropped “Potu” to Juva and finally after 10 p.m. I was back at home.

On the next couple of days I was running a couple of long runs and saw a Spotted Redshank, 2 Black Grouses, a Woodcock and a Cuckoo. I also heard a female Pygmy Owl.

J.A.

On the 1st of August a couple of Nutcrackers were found in Kangaskylä as an expected year-tick. On the next day I saw 3 Grey Herons and a too big flock of 125 Hooded Crows. In the evening I got a message that a Purple Heron had been found in Virolahti. It was late but anyway I decided to go! I managed to get there when there was still a little bit light but the bird was gone. But everything that I found about the bird made me think if it had been a Purple Heron at all – usually they are not with Grey Herons and well visible. So it was not a surprise when I got a message that there were bad pictures about the bird where it looked an aberrant Grey Heron. On the way back we twitched a Lanceolated Warbler in Joutseno Kuurmanpohja, it was still singing very shortly.

Next days were quiet but on the 7th day I visited Siikalahti a couple of times and saw a Gadwall, a Smew, a Reed Warbler, a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a Black Woodpecker and so on.

On the 9th of August we left to Saari with Hanna. We drove straight to Akanvaara Tetrisuo and we had driven only 500 meters along the field-road when I noticed a pale bird on the top of a bush along the road. I stopped and looked at it with binoculars and it was a Lesser Grey Shrike – a new self-found tick for me! We watched the bird for about 15 minutes while it stayed on the top of same bush. Once it caught a bumble bee and ate it, but then it suddenly flew high to the sky and landed some hundreds of meters away to the other side of the road to a pea-field. We went to check the field but the bird was never found again eve though a couple of twitchers tried for several hours. We still saw some warblers there but the shrike was gone.

We checked the other places too in Saari and saw 2 Red-backed Shrikes in Pohjasuo, 4 Lapwings, 3 Ruffs and 2 Curlews in Pohjanranta, a Goshawk in Kanavalampi and 2 Grey Herons in Rautalahti.
In the evening I went to buy gas to Svetogorsk and on the was I checked that a Bar-headed Goose was still in Vuoksi. On the way back from Russia I saw a Black Redstart landing to a car that was in front of me!

On the 10th day I biked to Siikalahti early in the morning with Harri Partanen. During the morning we saw a Blyth’s Reed, a Great Reed and a Reed Warbler, an Icterine Warbler, a Thrush Nightingale and at least one Rustic Bunting. Golden Orioles were still active, 6 Temminck Stints, 204 Common Scoters in 2 flocks, a Velvet Scoter, a Spotted Redshank, 2 Water Rails, 2 Smews, a Bittern, 5 Grey Herons and a White-backed Woodpecker were also found.

J.A.