. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On the 1st of October I went to Siikalahti before the work. A Marsh Harrier was still soaring above the reeds but nothing else was seen even though I stayed there until 9:30 a.m. A Chiffchaff was still singing and some flocks of Barnacle were still present.

On the 2nd day I went to twitch a Pallas Leaf Warbler to Luumäki, Nuoppola. I was there late as I had about 130 kilometers driving after my work, so it wasn’t a surprise that the bird was not found. I did find some tits and Goldcrests and a Treecreeper but no “phyllosc” warblers at all.

On the 3rd of October I went twitching again, but this time about 130 kilometers towards north to Joensuu Höylas. A Dusky Warbler had been there already for 2 days so I really had to go to try to get it as a WP-tick. Once I got there it had been heard just minutes earlier and after a couple of minutes waiting I heard it too! Then after 30 minutes it called longer series of calls and after that I saw a brown warbler in flight for a second. Then after some wait we still heard it a couple of times and once I saw a brown warbler chasing a Chiffchaff for a second but then it wasn’t heard anymore, because of it was getting late. Anyway I was happy to tick it. It was my WP-tick number 675 and also my new year-tick record in Finland – 269.

On the 4th day I visited Siikalahti on my lunch-hour and I managed to see an older Golden Eagle. Next morning we did a short trip to Saari but saw only 8 Golden Plovers, 4 Skylarks, a Grey Heron, a Great Grey Shrike and some 1400 Barnacle Geese.

On the 6th of October we participated to a Bird-place competition in Siikalahti. Together with Hanna and “Potu” Suojarinne we went to Siikalahti early – at 6:30 a.m. Soon we walked to the northern end of bay to Raikanniemi and back to the dam-road, which took more than an hour. Once we got there “Jassi” Kiljunen and Harri Partanen had been walking on the other side of the bay and altogether we had seen already 45 species. Best ones had been a Coal Tit, Goldcrests, a Dunnock, a Shoveler, a Hazel Hen, a Merlin and a Grey-headed Woodpecker. Soon also Matti Lötjönen and Veijo Vilska arrived and later also family Kontiokorpi – Jari stayed with us until the late afternoon, but some others had to go home earlier.

After mid-day Long-tailed Ducks started to migrate and in 3 hours we saw 5002 of them. Other better observations were 1000 Barnacle Geese, 5 White-fronted Geese, 11 Black-throated and 3 Red-throated Divers, a Common Buzzards, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Smew, 2 Water Rails, a Stock Dove, a Black Woodpecker, 18 Waxwings and so on. Then at 3:55 p.m. we heard strange calling from the bushes right next to us. I realized almost right away that it was a Radde’s Warbler! There was a flock of tits that were also calling actively (actually the first moving flock of the day) and it was with them. I started pishing and all the tits came closer and visible but they also stopped calling as did the warbler too. And of course we couldn’t see it! I ran to get my player and tape-lured Radde’s when all of us could say that the call had been exactly the same as on the tape, but the flock was already gone! We had heard it calling very actively for about a minute, both calls and series of calls – and it is one of the easiest calls to identify!

The rest of the evening we mostly tried to find the warbler but it was gone with the tits. This is how these birds go inland in autumn – fast towards west – and usually they doesn’t call at all. At 5 p.m. we still walked to the bird-tower and counted 200 Whooper Swans and saw a Scaup but nothing else new. Altogether we had got 66 species in Siikalahti during the day.

J.A.

The autumn really started at 23rd of September! It was raining and windy, but the wind was now from north! So it was arctica time! Geese were on the move but unfortunately big clouds were jammed over Parikkala and South-Karelia, so most of the birds went around the clouds. Good numbers of geese were counted in Mid-Finland and even in Western Finland, which is not normal. I was still a little bit sick, so I didn’t want to go out to see pretty bad migration in bad weather, so I saw only some thousands of geese on my lunch-hours. On the 24th of September, after my work-day, I went to Siikalahti and saw a 2nd c-y Golden Eagle and about 3500 local Barnacle Geese. Then it started to rain, so I decided to drive to Saari to check if there were lots of geese on the fields.

It was surprisingly quiet in Saari, only some hundreds of Barnacle Geese were seen before in Jyrkilä I found about 2500 and in Tarassiinlahti 7500 of them. Some flocks of Tundra Bean Geese were seen but only a couple of White-fronted Geese. Swans were all Whooper Swans so there are still lots of birds to come…

On the 25th of September it was raining whole day – it was even snowing a little! I checked the fields around Siikalahti during my lunch-hour, but I found only one flock of about 1000 Barnacle Geese. In the evening I got an sms that family Kontiokorpi had found a Bar-headed Goose in Kinnarniemi field. I left there immediately and saw a Nutcracked flying over the road on the way. I managed to find the flock easily and the Bar-headed Goose before I stopped. It was getting dark already. The goose was very close to the main road so I didn’t dare to get out of the car at all. I watched it by binoculars through a wet car-window, but then a truck and a bus came and scared the whole big flock to the sky. The flock flew to the Lake Simpele but too far, so even though I still saw the flock, I couldn’t find the Bar-headed Goose anymore.

On the next morning I went to check the same field and managed to find the flock with the Bar-headed Goose from the other side of the field. I managed to drive behind some trees to digiscope it. They didn’t care about me at all and even walked closer but then a car came and flushed the flock again. They landed again to the other side of the field but for me it was time to go to work.

On my lunch-hour I went to see the geese again as the weather was a little bit better. Bar-headed Goose was sleeping on a small Barnacle Goose flock. Barnacles were moving to the other side of the field to a bigger flock and after some waiting also Bar-headed Goose woke up and soon it left to a bigger flock.

On the 27th of September there was again some geese migration but the mid-day was pretty quiet anyway. We went to check the fields nearby with Jari Kiljunen but found nothing better, but we saw a nice flock of geese with 39 Bewick’s Swans. We thought the migration could get better so I went back to Siikalahti and saw much more geese, 1200 grey geese, 2500 Barnacle Geese and 42 Bewick’s Swans. I also saw 110 Cranes, 5000 local Barnacle geese, a Ruff, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a very late Marsh Harrier and even later Honey Buzzard.

On the 28th of September I was watching migration in Punkaharju Punkasalmi, but all geese were migrating very far on both sides of the Lake Saimaa. I saw about 4000 geese altogether in 4 hours. Other birds were 50 Black-throated and 5 Red-throated Divers, a Long-tailed duck, a Cormorant and 2 young White-tailed Eagles. Once I was back in Parikkala I drove to Siikalahti and while I was parking Jouko Rantanen called me that he had seen the Bar-headed Goose flying around Saari Vaaranmäki tower and then started to head towards Siikalahti with a big flock of Barnacle Geese. I ran to the tower and immediately found 2 big flocks of geese coming towards me. The first flock had only Barnacle Geese but on the first flock I managed to see the same Bar-headed Goose migrating towards south! On Tetrisuo fields I still saw a Redstart.

In the evening we tried to catch owls again but we heard only a Tengmalm’s Owl once. But the geese were really migrating! During the evening and night we could hear flocks of geese all the time! There must have been hundreds of thousands of them! The most of the calls we heard were White-fronted Geese but also Barnacle and Bean geese flocks were numerous.

On the 29th of September we were in Siikalahti in cold weather. In a couple of hours we saw 3500 migrating Barnacle Geese and a hybrid between Barnacle and Canada Goose. Other birds were the same Marsh Harrier, a Black Woodpecker, a Chiffchaff, 3 Great Grey Shrikes and 7 Long-tailed Tits. On the way home I saw 2 Nutcrackers in Kangaskylä. In the afternoon I went to Saari where I still saw about 15000 Barnacle Geese. Other birds were a Hazel Hen, a Capercaillie, 2 Long-tailed Tits, 2 Hen Harriers, a Bewick’s Swan, a Golden Plover and a Jack Snipe.

J.A.

The autumn started to come quickly and so the birds that really make autumn here in Eastern Finland, geese started to arrive. On the 17th of September I saw 3 Taiga Bean Geese in Siikalahti and on the next day 2 Canada Geese in Sammallampi fields and a flock of 200 Brent Geese migrating over Lahdensuo fields. From the fields I found only 5 Snipes and a Red-throated Pipit. On the 19th day I saw already 400 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti and on Lake Simpele I saw another small flock and also 157 Great Crested Grebes with a Red-necked and a Slavonian Grebe.

On the 20th of September I was a little bit sick but in the afternoon I made a trip to Saari where I saw a couple of thousands of Barnacle Geese, 57 Tundra Bean Geese, 6 White-fronted Geese and a Greylag Goose. Other observations were a Black Grouse, a Hazel Hen, 3 Hen Harriers, a Honey Buzzard, 3 Rough-legged Buzzards, an Osprey, 13 Golden Plovers, a Jack Snipe and a Dunlin.

On the 21st day I counted 186 Great Crested Grebes and Red-backed and Slavonian Grebes were still there. During the day I participated to Joutseno half-marathon. I was still a little bit sick so I took it pretty easy. I heard a Two-barred Crossbill while running. It took an hour and 53 minutes. After that I went to Konnunsuo where I saw altogether more than 10000 Barnacle Geese. Other geese were 70 Tundra Bean, 30 White-fronted, 2 Greylag and a Brent Goose. I also twitched a Red-breasted Goose that unfortunately had a tiny ring on it’s right leg. It was really difficult to see the ring but unfortunately it seemed to be an escape. Other birds there were 3 Hen Harriers and a Marsh Harrier, 2 Rough-legged buzzards, a Merlin, a Goshawk and a Grey Plover.

On the 22nd day I saw 3000 Barnacle Geese, a White-tailed Eagle, 5 Rough-legged Buzzards, 6 Common Buzzards, a Goshawk and a Honey Buzzard in Siikalahti but then the migration stopped. Other birds there were a White-backed Woodpecker, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a Great Grey Shrike. In the evening I got a message that Karri Kuitunen had found an Isabelline Wheatear in Ruokolahti. I left to twitch it as it was only 75 kilometers away. Once I got there the bird was on the scopes. The bird ran closer and closer and after all I managed to get some pretty good pictures of it. This bird was my year-tick number 268 which is equal with my record ever. Let’s see when I can break my record and what will be the species?

J.A.

After a weekend trip to Tauvo I was at work on Monday when I got a phone-call that there was a Little Bustard in Imatra. The birders had some problems with the land-owner but after all they told me to put the news out to beeper. I had to be at work until 3:30 p.m. and after that I had a massage. So I would have been free to go twitching after that but I had somehow managed to lost my car-keys and the second key wasn’t somehow working – I could open the doors but the lock and the first key had probably worn so much that this key just didn’t work. Luckily I got a message from a Dutch birder Boy Possen who is living in Punkaharju where he asked if there really was a Little Bustard in Imatra. I told that yes there was – can I get a ride…

So after the massage we were driving towards Imatra. Once we parked our car to Saunasuo we got the news that the bird had just moved a kilometer further to a long field. So soon with the finder Jorma Liesma and Boy we moved closer to the bird along one road while the rest of twitchers stayed on the place where they could see the whole field.

A Hen Harrier was flying around the fields but it didn’t flush the bustard. So after the bird had been missing for 2 hours, I started to plan a walk to the field. Soon I sent a message that after 30 minutes at 6:30 p.m. we would walk to the field and try to flush the bird. This was the way to make sure that everyone that was still on their way to Imatra could call me to wait if they couldn’t get there in time. Because of I didn’t get any calls at 6:30 we, 8 birders, were in our positions on the field and started to walk towards the place where the bird had been seen to land.

After some hundreds of meters walk the Little Bustard finally flushed and it flew a couple of rounds on the sky and then dropped down to a green field about 1 kilometer from us. Luckily everyone managed to see the bird well, we probably much better than the rest that were watching from the road.

We had a long walk back to our cars but soon we were checking the field where we had seen the bird landing. Then arrived the only twitcher that came too late. Unfortunately he hadn’t called – we could have waited this 15 minutes, but not more as it started to get dark. Soon the fog surrounded the fields and we decided to drive back to Parikkala.

So after all the day had ended well! The car-keys weren’t found but I the second key started to work after all. And I had got a really good South-Karelia tick!

J.A.

On Friday on the 13th of September I got an idea to go to Siikajoki Tauvo. My brother was going there to a ringing station and I really had nothing better to do. So a couple of hours later after I had finished my work-day I started driving 520 kilometers to north-west.

It was a long drive but at 8 p.m. I finally turned to a small road towards Tauvo. I visited a harbour but I didn’t see anything there. So soon I turned to Tauvolantie. In Tauvola I saw a Hawk Owl perched on an electric pole and of course I took some pictures. Soon I was walking with my gear towards the station.

In the station I met Mikko Ojanen who had came there to ring and his wife Liisa and a Belgian birder Sander Buylants that had came to Oulu University 2 weeks earlier. He hadn’t seen a Hawk Owl in wild, they had just caught one early in the morning so we decided to try if the bird was still in Tauvola. We weren’t lucky so soon we were back in the station where a Tengmalm’s Owl tape was already playing.

We started to catch Tengmalm’s Owls soon and when Pirkka and his children arrived they could right away see some owls. We played the tape until midnight and managed to catch 7 Tengmalm’s Owls. Then it was time to go to sleep – we had an early wake coming.

On the 14th day we woke up after 6 and found still a couple of Tengmalm’s Owls from the mist-nets. Then we climbed to the bird-tower to watch the scenery to Ulkonokka. At 6:30 we started to check every single bird as on the same day there was a Surnia bird-race in Siikajoki. We had decided to participate only from Tauvo. Soon we had some common birds like Yellowhammer, thrushes, Robin, Redpoll etc. on our list. Then Sander found a Hawk Owl perched on the top pf a pine-tree but soon the bird dropped down and straight to a mist-net. I hurried to get it away from the mist-net and I checked immediately that it was not ringed as it was a relief to Sander that it wasn’t the same bird that they had caught less than 24 hours earlier. He had talked about a 24 hours rule about the trapped birds. But the bird was new so finally Sander had got a pure lifer.

While I had been freeing the owl Pirkka and Sander had seen a crossbill flock where had been at least one Two-barred Crossbill calling.

Soon Mikko and others went to do the first round to the mist-nets and there were mostly just Robins. I also joined to the next round and there were now some Reed Buntings, tits, a Chiffchaff and then a nice surprise – a Yellow-browed Warbler!

We stayed on the tower with Sander almost whole morning and saw a Merlin, 2 Black Grouses, a Black-throated Diver, 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Marsh Harrier, a Sparrowhawk, about 200 Cranes, 4 Black Woodpeckers, still some Swallows, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a migrating Three-toed Woodpecker and heard a Hazel Hen calling. Jays were also on the move and we had an amazing flock of 78 Jays! Altogether we counted 98 Jays. at least 500 Fieldfares were seen and 45 Common, 5 Parrot, 5 Two-barred and 30 unidentified Crossbills.

Even the children were joining to the net-rounds and Veikka’s first round ever was great. He went of course first to the nets and we heard it even to the tower when he shouted that he had found a bird from the net – and he shouted that it was green! He had found the second Yellow-browed Warbler of the day!

When the fifth Black Woodpecker of the day was flying over the tower Mikko changed a Black Woodpecker tape to the player and soon we caught it! It’s amazingly powerful bird in hand!

At midday it started to get very quiet so we left to walk around Ulkonokka with Pirkka and Sander. It was very dry so I managed to survive with only walking boots. First we found only Ringed Plovers (altogether 33) but after a long walk we found also 25 Dunlins, 9 Sanderlings, 4 Little Stints, 3 Knots, 15 Ruffs, 17 Snipes, 10 Golden Plovers and a Grey Plover. Also a young Arctic Tern was seen.

After a sweaty hot round we relaxed a little bit but then climbed to the tower again. Mikko had changed a Redpoll tape to the player and caught 9 Redpolls and 2 young Arctic Redpolls. From the tower we saw a young Peregrine that tried to catch a young Black-headed Gull for more than 10 minutes but it didn’t manage. At 18:30 the bird-race ended and we counted that we had got 74 species.

In the evening we played first Pygmy Owl tape but soon changed Tengmalm’s Owl tape again. And before the midnight we had caught 13 more Tengmalm’s Owls.

On the 15th of September we woke up at 6:30 and soon climbed to the tower again. There were less birds now and the weather was also a little bit cooler. A Tengmalm’s Owl was found from the closest mist-net and the first round produced some thrushes. But later during the morning there were almost only Reed Buntings on the mist-nets. One of them was ringed in Italy! Only better mist-net birds during the morning were a Chiffchaff and a Lesser Whitethroat. We heard one Yellow-browed Warbler but didn’t manage to see it at all.

Pirkka was doing the ringing so we stayed in the tower together with Sander. The best birds we saw were 3 Mute Swans, a Three-toed Woodpecker, again all three crossbills and the best bird was a migrating Wood Lark which was maybe only the second ever in the station. Also 60 Jays were seen again.

At midday it was again very quiet so we packed most of our gear and then still decided to visit Ulkonokka very briefly. We walked to the place where most of the waders were and counted 20 Ringed Plovers, 40 Dunlins, 5 Sanderlings, 5 Little Stints, 12 Golden Plovers, 4 Grey Plovers and 4 Bar-tailed Godwits.

When we were back in the station Matti and Annikki Tynjälä had arrived. Matti was again going to stay there for a long period. Soon we had cleaned the building and packed everything and it was time to say goodbye to everyone. We walked to our cars where I said goodbye to Pirkka and his family and left towards Parikkala.

I was finally at home at 10:30 p.m. and I was absolutely tired. But anyway I had really had a great weekend – I had even got 3 new year-ticks!

J.A.

In the beginning of September the weather was still warm and calm. I checked Lake Simpele every day from Härskiinmutka and counted big numbers of Great Crested Grebes, the maximum was on the 2nd day with 145 birds. Then I saw also 4 Red-necked Grebes and a Slavonian Grebe. There were also quite a few gulls, a young Little Gull, 2 Grey Herons, 3 Canada Geese and a Barnacle Goose on those visits.

On the evening of the 2nd day we went to hammer some fields with Hanna and Harri Partanen. We started in Kullinsuo where we flushed 10 Snipes, 4 Skylarks, 35 Meadow Pipits and 3 Red-throated Pipits. In Kontiolampi we saw a flock of 115 Cranes and in Kolmikanta a young male Capercaillie was perched on the road. In Lahdensuo we saw a Black Grouse and a Hen Harrier and then we still walked in the middle of the fields where we finally flushed a young Great Snipe!

On the 3rd of September I saw a Nutcracker again in Kangaskylä and in Siikalahti I saw a Bluethroat and a White-backed Woodpecker. There weren’t many ducks even though normally when the hunting season starts Siikalahti gets full of them. Only some Tufted ducks, Pochards, a Red-necked Grebe and 2 young Slavonian Grebes were seen with some tens of Mallards, Wigeons and Coots. 6 Grey Herons were flying around.

On the 4th day evening we put up the mist-nets to Tarvaslampi and tried to catch migrating owls. Only a Pygmy Owl came to whistle back to our tape but never got caught.

On the next day I saw a Goshawk and heard a Water Rail in Siikalahti. In the evening I drove to Lappeenranta Joutseno Konnunsuo where I immediately found an interesting looking harrier. I identified it immediately as a female-plumaged Pallid Harrier but somehow it looked strange. It was something I had thought that a 2nd c-y female should look like but I couldn’t see any moulting. I saw the bird 3 times and also together with several other experienced birders and we just couldn’t see it well enough. After all the bird landed to the field so we hope someone would see it again on the next day. Anyway we did see also a young Pallid Harrier which was very easy to identify, 7 Hen Harriers, 5 Marsh Harriers, a Merlin, 2 Nutcrackers, 55 Stock Doves, Gold Finches, Linnets etc.

Then on the next day Totti Toiskallio managed to photograph our harrier and moulting could be seen. So I was sure it was a 2nd c-y Pallid but then a member of Finnish rarity-committee saw it had too long P6 and also the shape of that feather was wrong – he thought it was a hybrid. But then the final word was given by Dick Forsman who said the bird was indeed a Pallid Harrier. Very interesting case anyway!

On the 6th day I saw a Bluethroat and a White-backed Woodpecker again and on of the Slavonian Grebes was still in Siikalahti. The first Bramblings were found fronm the flocks of Chaffinches. It really started to feel like autumn. The next day we had Finnich cup inner-bandy tournament but on the 8th of September we went to hammer some fields with Hanna and Matti Lötjönen. We started in Saari Akanvaara Tetrisuo where we found a Hen Harrier, 35 Meadow Pipits, 2 Red-throated Pipits, 4 Lapland Buntings, a Rustic Bunting and so on. In Uukuniemi Suurenjärvenliete we saw 10 Ruffs, a Red-throated Pipit, a Yellow Wagtail, a Lapland Bunting and 2 Chiffchaffs. In Jyrkilä we counted 100 Cranes and in Tarassinlahti we saw 3 Grey Herons and in Kanavalampi we saw a White-tailed Eagle, Hen Harrier and 2 Golden Plovers. In the evening we tried to catch owls again but only a Tengmalm’s Owl was heard briefly.

On the 9th of September I went to hammer the fields in Kullinsuo and Lahdensuo again and saw 2 Hen Harriers, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, a Red-throated Pipit, a Whinchat, 5 Snipes and the 2nd Great Snipe of the autumn.

On the 10th and 11th day I was in Helsinki and I visited Espoo Laajalahti a couple of times. There were again amazing numbers of birds, especially in the evening when thousands of barnacle Geese were present. I saw a White-fronted Goose, some Bluethroats, 3 Dunlins, a Little Stint, a Curlew, a Goshawk and even 164 Gadwalls.

J.A.