. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On the 1st of March it was a little bit colder again, about 0 degrees, so I didn’t expect to see any new migrants. Anyway I did a short visit to Siikalahti where I found out that there was a tiny open water area where 2 Whooper Swans were already swimming. Also 2 Long-tailed Tits and a flock of 9 noisy Ravens were seen.

Next day I did a short field-trip and saw a familiar Whooper Swan family in Lahdensuo, a Hawk Owl that I had seen only once in autumn in Kullinsuo and a Great Grey Shrike in Moskuunniemi. Later I still saw a Starling in our own garden and heard Herring Gulls from the lake. They had arrived to get some fish from the ice-fishers. At night I did a owl-trip to Tyrjä and heard a Long-eared Owl, 3 Ural Owls and a Tengmalm’s Owl.

On the 4th day I did a winter-bird count. It was a tough 18 kilometers walk to a patient like me, but I took it very easy. And luckily there was almost no snow at all, so it was easier to walk than ever. I saw altogether 2 Whooper Swans, 2 Black Grouses, 3 Herring Gulls, 2 Hawk Owls, 2 Rock Pigeons, 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers (and again no other woodpeckers), a Goldcrest, 33 Blue Tits, 179 Great Tits, 2 Crested Tits, 4 Long-tailed Tits, a Treecreeper, a Great Grey Shrike, 11 Jays, 23 Magpies, 37 Jackdaws, 21 Hooded Crows, a Starling, 4 House Sparrows, 17 Tree Sparrows, 34 Green Finches, 8 Bull Finches and 2 Yellowhammers.

Next a couple of days weren’t that good. I didn’t see any new migrants except an adult White-tailed Eagle that probably was a breeder nearby behind the border. On the same 6th day I saw also 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers and a couple of Common Crossbills in Siikalahti. Otherwise I saw only same swan, Starling and so on.

On the 9th of March we were some hours in Siikalahti and saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a White-backed Woodpecker, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a Black Woodpecker, a Starling, a Great Grey Shrike, a female Goshawk, altogether 45 Whooper Swans, 2 White-tailed Eagles, 4 migrating Common Buzzards and 4 Lapwings and 3 Stock Doves that were heading towards south.

Then the weather cooled a bit but still some birds were coming and on the 10th day I saw 3 Lapwings, on the 11th day 11 Lapwings and a couple of Goldeneyes.

On the 13th day the weather was really good again, but the wind too western. Anyway 22 Lapwings, 4 Skylarks and a younger Golden Eagle were seen. The best observation was maybe a Brimstone butterfly. Then on the 14th day the wind was north-western but still 4 Lapwings and a White-tailed Eagle were seen. And then on the 15th day the weather turned really bad, it was snowing and windy.

So the next 5 days were pretty boring: Only a White-tailed Eagle, last Lapwings for several days, Whooper Swans, Mallards, only 1 Common Buzzard, a Sparrowhawk, some Blackbirds on feeders and the same noisy Grey-headed Woodpecker. But then finally the spring came…

J.A.

On the 21st of February I had been resting more than 24 hours after an inner-ear surgery. So I was ready to do some easy birding. I drove to Kirkkonummi Saltfjärden where I saw a Hawk Owl and the first real migrant – a Stock Dove. It was quite chilly so I continued soon to Sunds bird-tower but there I saw only frozen sea, the only open water was too far. I still had a couple of hours before olympic ice-hockey quarter-final Finland-Russia so I decided to go to Helsinki Viikki to twitch a Hen Harrier. Once I got there I soon found out that there were some birders on the other side of the field watching to a reed-bed. I walked there carefully and soon heard that the bird had landed to the reeds an hour earlier. After 30 minutes it finally flew again and I got a nice February-tick. Actually it was a new species to my list of birds that I have seen every month in Finland “ace”. Soon I was back at my parents enjoying a great ice-hockey match.

On the 22nd day I drove to Hanko where I found out that there was so foggy that I couldn’t see the sea at all from Högholmen. But soon I got a message that a Kittiwake had been seen from Gåsörsbukten, so I drove there. And finally the fog cleared and after 30 minutes I saw the Kittiwake flying towards south. Also Herring, Common and Great Black-backed Gulls, Mallards, Goosanders, Goldeneyes, Mute Swans and a couple of Cormorants were seen.

I continued to western harbour where I saw a couple of Black-headed Gulls, another “ace”. In Tallholmarna I saw 350 Long-tailed Ducks, 9 Red-breasted Mergansers and 2 White-tailed Eagles. Then I decided to drive back to Kirkkonummi to take easy.

On the 23rd day I mostly just relaxed. I saw a Sparrowhawk through the window and in 2 short visits to Saltfjärden I saw the same Hawk Owl, 2 Canada Geese and a White-tailed Eagle and in a couple of other places nearby I saw a family of Whooper Swans and a Common Buzzard.

Next day the forecast was good so I decided to go to Hanko again. On the way I saw a Great Grey Shrike and a migrating Wood Pigeon. I drove straight to Varisniemi where a sea-watched for a couple of hours. Siskins were singing and I saw 3 Velvet Scoters, 2 Common Scoters, a White-tailed Eagle, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, 3 Wood Pieons and 4 female Scaups.

Then I continued to a rubbish tip where I saw 3 Skylarks, my 100th “ace”. In Täktom I saw 4 more Skylarks and then I decided to drive to Siuntio Myrans to twitch a Lapwing which was another February-tick. Luckily 1 Lapwing was still there and I also saw 2 Fieldfares.

On the 25th of February I went to Espoo Ämmässuo rubbish tip where I watched through the fences at least 4000 Herring Gulls soaring high up in the air and they never landed. So it was impossible to find anything better. In Saltfjärden I saw 3 Starlings, 2 Stock Doves, a Whooper Swan and the same Hawk Owl. Late in the evening I did a short owl-trip and heard a Tawny Owl in Junkars.

On the 26th day I visited Saltfjärden again and saw 3 Whooper Swans, 5 Stock Doves, 4 Wood Pigeons, 2 Skylarks and 3 Lapwings. Then in the afternoon I started driving to South Karelia. In Helsinki Maununneva I stopped for a second and twitched a Haw Finch. In Porvoo I saw a Common Buzzard and In the evening I twitched an Eagle Owl in Lappeenranta.

Next morning I had a meeting with a doctor, but soon I was in Joutseno Konnunsuo where I saw 2 Hawk Owls, a long-stayer Rough-legged Buzzard and a Great Grey Shrike. In Imatra Vuoksi I saw a Cormorant and in Simpele Kokkolanjoki a Dipper. In the evening we did an owl-trip with Hanna and heard a Ural Owl in Kolmikannankangas.

On the 28th of February we were a couple of hours in Siikalahti and managed to see a Rook and a Stock Dove which are amazing records in Parikkala in February. We also saw 2 Whooper Swans, a Great Grey Shrike, a Sparrowhawk, 2 White-backed Woodpeckers and a Grey-headed Woodpecker. At night we did a longer owl trip with Hanna and Harri Partanen and heard a Long-eared Owl, a Tengmalm’s Owl and 2 Eagle Owls in Malkoniemi forests.

J.A.

After the beginning of January it was really boring birding in Parikkala area. Only nice birds around were Hawk Owls and Great Grey Shrikes – finally there were mice and voles around.

On the 7th of January I saw my 4th Hawk Owl of the year in Argusjärvi, in Kirkonkylä feeders I saw a couple of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, a Treecreeper and a flock of Long-tailed Tits. On the 9th day I saw a Hawk Owl in Joukio and Lake Simpele was again mostly open and there were a couple of flocks of Goosanders, some Whooper Swans and a couple of Herring Gulls.

A Whooper Swan was also still in Joukio and now the forecasts promised much colder weather so I took a lot of food for this bird and hoped that it could move somewhere safe. But still on the 10th day it was there like one family on the Glossy Ibis fields too. But during the afternoon the field froze and the family moved to Kokkolanjoki.

On the 11th day I twitched a couple of Rock Doves in Satumäki. I hope these only Rock Doves in Parikkala would manage to breed soon.

On the 14th day it had been almost -30 degrees and Joukio was completely frozen, but the Whooper Swan was still there on the ice. So I called firemen to rescue it and later in the afternoon it was already on its way to Pyhtää bird-house.

On the 16th day I was playing rink-bandy in Imatra and late in the evening I went to check how Mallards were surviving on the river Vuoksi in keskusliikenneasema. Surprisingly there were also a flock of 60 Goldeneyes with them. Abd one week later when it was even colder there were even 160 Goldeneyes and a male Smew with the Mallards.

On the 25th day it was finally warmer again but I had to start early in the morning driving towards Kouvola where we had a meeting weekend with twitcher’s organization Bongariliitto decicion-makers. On the way I stopped in Kokkolanjoki where O saw a family of Whooper Swans and 2 Dippers, In Vuoksi I saw 2 Cormorants and in Lappeenranta I twitched 2 Europaean Nuthatches in Pappilanniemi and a Rook in Asemakylä. The weekend was very good and on Sunday I drove back home.

On the 29th day I saw the same Whooper Swans in Kokkolanjoki but there was also a male Goosander. And in Imatra keskusliikenneasema I saw a Canada Goose that had been missing for some time.

On the 1st of February we visited Siberian Jay forests with Hanna. Siberian Jays were missing but we saw a Black Grouse, 2 Goldcrests, a Crested Tit and a Treecreeper and heard a Goshawk calling. On the next day I had a tournament in Savonlinna where I saw a Goshawk.

The same Hawk Owls were still around but they were really difficult to see. On the 7th day I saw a flock of 5 Long-tailed Tits in Mustiinpohja and in the evening I ran around Siikalahti and saw my first Bullfinches of the year in Parikkala, a Great Grey Shrike, a flock of 28 Black Grouses and a Grey-headed Woodpecker. On the 9th day i biked around Siikalahti and saw a Black Woodpecker.

On the 10th day I saw a White-backed Woodpecker in Siikalahti and a Hawk Owl in Tiviä first time this year and in Kolmikanta I saw a Great Grey Shrike. On the 13th day I saw a shrike in Joukio and an owl in Koitsanlahdenkangas – it was already my 7th Hawk Owl in Parikkala this year, but they were all familiar birds from the beginning of winter.

In mid February it was very warm again and the same Whooper Swan family was again seen in Joukio that was partly open, but only other birds I saw were the same Hawk Owls.

On the 19th of February I got a phone-call that I could have already the 3rd inner-ear surgery in last 14 months. But as my right ear was deaf now I really wanted to go even though the schedule was extremely tight! So after all I had the surgery on the next morning and so I will be on sick-leave for the next 2 weeks. But I will take it very easy as I really wan’t to get my ear work.

J.A.

On the 2nd of January I was at work but I spent my lunch-hour in a forest. There was no snow at all so even the smallest roads were in pretty good shape so I managed to visit Siberian Jay forests in an hour. On the way I saw a Hazel Hen and 4 Siberian Jays were found easily. On the way back I still saw some Tree Sparrows, a family of 4 Whooper Swans, the first Fieldfare since October and a Jay.

On the 3rd day I spent my lunch-hour visiting Pistoniemi Hawk Owl, Joukionsalmi Whooper Swan and Simpele Kokkolanjoki Dippers. As I have shorter day on Fridays, I still went birding after work. In Kangaskylä I saw a Rock Pigeon which I hadn’t seen at all in 2013 in Parikkala! In Siikalahti I saw a flock of 3 Black Grouses, a White-backed Woodpecker and a Willow Tit and in Tetrisuo I saw a Hawk Owl and a Goldcrest.

On the 4th day we had Imatra winte-bird counts again. The whole city of Imatra was walked by 9 teams that had different areas to check. We were counting in Tuulikallio-Karhukallio-Korvenkanta area which was really bad area! We saw 52 Rock Doves, 6 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a Goldcrest, 2 Willow Tits, 74 Blue Tits, 287 Great Tits, a Treecreeper, 8 Jays, 48 Magpies, 32 Jackdaws, 45 Hooded Crows, 73 Tree Sparrows, 170 Green Finches, 17 Bull Finches and 9 Yellowhammers. So absolutely not a single better bird was seen! Waterbirds were not counted, but we saw Mallards, Goldeneyes, Goosanders, a Canada Goose and more than 10 Cormorants. Before the results were given we went to twitch a Great White Egret that was again in Kupari.

It was not a surprise that we had least species and birds. Altogether teams had seen even 42 species + those waterbirds – 10945 birds. The most interesting numbers were 3899 Great Tits, 1311 Blue Tits, 1708 Green Finches, 985 Tree Sparrows, 158 Jays and 41 Treecreepers. ALso Long-tailed Tit and Goldcrest were more numerous than ever. 128 Rock Doves and 90 House Sparrows were less than ever before and they are really not doing well nowadays. Only 1 Fieldfare was seen and no Waxwings at all, but 16 Blackbirds were seen. Only 84 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 107 Redpolls, 23 Siskins, 136 Bull Finches and 5 Common Crossbills were counted. Olso Yellowhammers were still on the open fields and only 412 were counted.
4 Herring Gulls, 2 Hawk Owls, a Pygmy Owl, 4 Sparrowhawks, not a single Goshawk, 2 Black Woodpeckers, 3 White-backed Woodpeckers, a Grey-headed, a Three-toed and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker were seen. 7 Nuthatch was also a good number. Other better birds were 2 Haw Finches, 7 Chaffinches, a Brambling, a Goldfinch and 5 Arctic Redpolls.

The rest of the evening after the results had been given was nice as there were lots of friends together.

On the 5th of January I woke up late but then went to check Lake Simpele that was still open from Härskiinmutka and saw 4 Whooper Swans and 24 Goosanders. Then I decided to continue to forests again where I saw 3 Siberian Jays, a Three-toed Woodpecker, a Crested Tit and 2 male Capercaillies.

On the 6th of January I saw some House Sparrows with a flock of 15 Tree Sparrows in our own garden. In the afternoon I went to run around Siikalahti and saw a flock of 14 Redpolls and a single Arctic Redpoll. On the next day I spent my lunch-hour in Kirkonkylä where I found 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, 6 Long-tailed Tits and a Treecreeper on one good feeder. A Hawk Owl was still present in Argusjärvi. On the 8th day I saw only Hawk Owl in Argusjärvi and same Whooper Swan in Joukionsalmi.

J.A.

When the year changed we had been sleeping for hours already. At 3:15 a.m. we woke up and a half an hour later I saw the first bird of the year when I opened our door – a Jackdaw had been sleeping under the roof. Soon we started driving towards south. At 7 a.m. we picked up Markus Keskitalo in Porvoo and soon continued driving.

At 8:30 a.m. we parked to Kirkkonummi Porkkala and soon were walking along a muddy and slippery path towards the sea. Just before Pampskatan rock we hearda Treecreeper and a Goldcrest. On the rock we met may other early first of January tickers that were already watching towards the dark sea. The sun hadn’t rose yet so there was still almost nothing to see. Some Common Gulls and a couple of Herring Gulls were seen but nothing else. After half an hour seawatching there hadn’t been anything new but then the first Kittiwake arrived! That was the bird everyone had been waiting for! And after some time (when the craziest tickers had already left towards their next targets) the second bird arrived. Soon these birds were flying on the shore with some Common Gulls so Hanna went to take some pictures. When Hanna came back we still hadn’t seen almost anything on the sea, just 4 Goldeneyes, a Long-tailed duck and a couple of Ravens. So we decided to leave too.

While we were walking back to our car we saw flocks of 8 Waxwings and 6 Long-tailed Tits and heard the first Great Tit of the year.

When we were driving along the curvy road we saw 2 Black Woodpeckers chasing each others over the road. In Sunds we saw a Hawk Owl perched on the wire and there we also saw the first Blue Tit and I heard a Coal Tit singing. In Månviken we saw a flock of Rock Pigeons and in Friggesby a Great Grey Shrike and the first Magpies. Then on the next field we found a rare mammal-tick – a big male Fallow Deer! In Saltfjärden we saw a big flock of Hooded Crows, some flocks of Yellowhammers and a flock of 6 Starlings.

Soon we were heading towards Vitträsk and on the way we saw a Common Buzzard and Greenfinches in Masala. In Vitträsk we soon found a flock of Goosanders with 2 Great Crested Grebes, some Whooper Swans and another flock of Goosanders with 4 Smews, a Blackbird was heard. But the bird we were mostly searching was missing, but soon we heard it was on the next bay. We drove there and there was a Red-necked Grebe swimming alone in the middle of the bay. In a flock of Herring Gulls there were also some Great Black-backed Gulls too.

Soon we continued to search a Hen Harrier that had been seen on the previous day but we saw only another Black Woodpecker on the way. Then we went to Espoo Finno to twitch a Wren but it wasn’t found either. Then we continued to Helsinki Lauttasaari where we missed 2 Wigeons that had left the place where they had been 30 minutes earlier. But we saw 200 Goldeneyes, 100 Long-tailed Ducks, some Mute Swans, a Sparrowhawk, a small flock of Siskins and 2 Common Eiders. After some seawatching we continued to another part of Lauttasaari where we managed to find a flock of 5 Wood Pigeons perched on one roof. After we had seen the first House Sparrows of the year we continued towards Arabianranta.

In Arabianranta we walked a long way but finally found a lonely Barnacle Goose that was still surviving there. Then we walked a long way to the another side of the bay where we twitched 2 Common Teals. And after one more long walk we were back in our car. We still had planned to twitch a Wigeon but it was so far that we decided to start driving towards home. After all we should have gone to twitch the Wigeon as we soon heard that it had still been there…

We dropped Markus to Porvoo and after a long drive we still stopped in Imatra where we checked a place where a Great White Egret had been seen in the afternoon but of course we didn’t see it – it was sleeping somewhere. But we still saw a Canada Goose in keskusliikenneasema before continued to Parikkala. We still tried to twitch one of our own Ural Owls but couldn’t find it. After a long day we were finally at home at 9 p.m. Anyway we had seen 42 species whis 2 of them had been new month-ticks and 5 first of January ticks for me!

J.A.

The weather in December was very warm. In the end of the month almost all snow had melted and part of the Lake Simpele was open. So in Christmas the view was like in October – it was really dark!

There were lots of Hawk Owls in Parikkala and during the month I went to see some of them almost every day. I tried to keep count how many there were as some of them were in very small area. Also some Great Grey Shrikes were hunting numerous voles and shrews on the same fields.

On a couple of visits to Imatra I saw a Canada Goose and a leucistic white Mallard on Vuoksi. In Parikkala Joukio there was an adult Whooper Swan wintering. It probably wasn’t ok but luckily the stream kept the place open even on the colder days.

I visited Melkoniemi Siberian Jays a couple of times and saw the 4 birds on every visit. On the best visit I saw also Black Grouses, 2 Hazel Hens and a Capercaillie too.

On Christmas eve we visited Hanna’s relatives and saw a Nuthatch and a Treecreeper on Hanna’s grandmother’s feeder in Särkisalmi.

On a Christmas day we did a winter-bird count with Mikko Ala-Kojola. There was no snow at all and it was raining a little bit but anyway we managed to see a normal number of birds. But we didn’t see any woodpeckers, Bullfinches or House Sparrows – but they all had been rare this winter. We saw altogether 13 Great, 42 Blue, 10 Willow, 1 Coal, 1 Crested and 4 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Treecreepers, 22 Tree Sparrows, 20 Green Finches, 17 Redpolls, 88 Yellowhammers, 33 Magpies, 2 Ravens, 34 Hooded Crows, 4 Jays, 21 Black Grouses, 1 Hazel Hen and 2 Hawk Owls.

On the Boxing day we tried to ring that Nuthatch in Särkisalmi, but we caught only too many tits. There were too many birds for one ringer and one mist-netter. Later we still went to twitch a Hawk Owl with Hanna’s sister and brother. The weather was bad again so we visited 8 owl-places without seeing a single owl. But when the rain stopped we checked started another round and finally found an owl in Joukio. We also saw a male White-backed Woodpecker and a Great Grey Shrike in Siikalahti, 3 Gold Finches in Tetrisuo, a family of 6 Whooper Swans in Lahdenkylä fields and a flock of 6 Goosanders in Pistonniemi – so it really felt like in March!

On the next day Paavo Rantanen found a Great White Egret in Imatra Vuoksi. I had to go to twitch it as it was a year-tick – I had never seen one in winter either. Luckily the bird stayed there along the river and I managed to see it well even though it was far on the other side of the river and there wasn’t much light. Anyway it was my year-tick number 275 – this had been my best year-tick year ever.

On the 29th day I went to check the open parts of Lake Simpele but I didn’t find any ducks. 3 Herring Gulls had arrived and also 2 families of Whooper Swans were in Koitsanlahti. I also saw 3 Hawk Owls on the way.

J.A.