. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

The normal week started and I really needed to relax a little bit after a hard weekend. So on the 6th of May I saw only 50 Common Scoters and a Long-tailed Duck in Härskiinmutka. At night I did a quick round in Siikalahti and counted 10 Spotted Crakes, 5 Water Rails, heard a Garganey and some flocks of migrating Common Scoters.

On the 7th day I visited Siikalahti but only better thing I saw was that Sand Martins were coming back to their colony in Sounio. In the afternoon we went with Harri Partanen to check owl nest-boxes and had a really good trip even though only one breeding Tengmalm’s Owl was found. I of course ringed the bird. We saw also a Black Grouse, a couple of Hazel Hens, a male Capercaillie and heard a Cuckoo. On the 8th day I heard a Linnet in Siikalahti and in the evening we were watching ice-hockey and football with my friends. But after that I still went to Siikalahti and found a Savi’s Warbler!

Thursday was holiday so I was birding whole day. I somehow managed to wake up after only 4 hours sleeping and went to check Lake Simpele from a couple of points but saw nothing. Then in Liuharanta I found a big flock of geese where were already 155 Barnacle Geese with White-fronted and Bean Geese. I also heard a Thrush Nightingale and a Wryneck there. Then I continued to Siikalahti where Savi’s Warbler was still singing and I also saw a Smew and aheard another Thrush Nightingale and several Sedge Warblers before two buses full of people came there and I decided to go anywhere else.

I left to Saari again together with “Rolle” Mortensen and we checked every good place there but saw absolutely nothing! The floods were gone and so were the birds too. Only one bigger flock of geese and some flocks of Wood Sandpipers were seen in 4 hours tour.

When I got home I slept 1.5 hours and after that went to run with a couple of my friends. After that we left to check owl nest-boxes with Harri again. And again there were no owls but we saw something really amazing – a Willow Grouse! It was the first one in South Karelia for decades!!! It flushed next to our car and Harri saw it very well but I saw it only when it crossed the road and disappeared to the forest! We also saw a male Capercaillie lekking and a Roe Deer which I managed to digiscope well.
We were so happy that we checked many more nest-boxes than we had planned. We also heard a Siberian Jay calling on its territory but we never saw it. We were also very lucky not to get wet – always when we were driving it was raining but when we got out the rain stopped. It seems that my luck is just getting better! At night we still went to listen that Savi’s Warbler was still there.

And the next morning started well too. Jari Kontiokorpi called me that he had found 2 male Common Eiders. Of course I went to twich as an Eider was a South Karelia and of course also Parikkala tick for me! After my work I left to spend the weekend to Virolahti.

J.A.

On the 5th of May we slept long as the previous day had been so long. After 9 a.m. we left again to Saari with Pirkka and Allu. On the way we put one Ural Owl nest-box to a tree and then checked another nest-box where I had seen a female owl leaving earlier, but now there was nothing. Soon we were again in Kanavalampi and we tried to find a Marsh Sandpiper and of course also Cackling Goose, they had both been seen early in the morning there. There were several flocks of geese but the right one wasn’t with them. Only better bird we saw was a Black Woodpecker. We continued to Suurenjärvenliete where the floods had mostly dried. We met Jarmo Pirhonen there. There were still 500 geese and even 200 of them were White-fronted Geese. Most of the waders were gone too and the only better one was a Ringed Plover.

In Jyrkilä we saw only Black Grouses and soon we were again in Pohjanranta. Pirkka and Allu started to check a small flock of geese and I started to check waders. So it was again me who found the best bird. I saw a wader hiding behind some vegetation and said straight away that: “There is now a wader that has leg colour like a Terek Sandpiper. Soon the bird came visible and saw the black markings on its back and then it showed it – long up-curved bill! A Terek Sandpiper! It was my first self-found Terek Sandpiper outside Oulu-area. We put the news out and called to Jamppa who was there in a couple of minutes.

And again after a couple of minutes the Terek Sandpier flushed with 12 Wood Sandpipers and even though we saw 9 birds landing back behind some trees the Terek Sandpiper was never seen again.

We went still once more to check all the places where Cackling Goose had been seen but it had disappeared. On the way back to Parikkala we checked again the nest-box of our dearest Ural Owl but it must have passed away as there was still no sign of it. Then we still went to control the only breeding Ural Owl we have found this far and it was the same bird that had been breeding in the same nest-box 2 years ago.

It was already 5 p.m. when we were at home and Pirkka and Allu finally were ready to start their extremely long way back to north. But they had enjoyed their amazing weekend in Parikkala! Pirkka had got even 2 lifers and we had got really good Bird-tower competition too!

I was also very happy how amazing beginning of May had been. I had found myself a Cackling Goose, a Buff-bellies Sandpiper, a Lesser Spotted Eagle and a Terek Sandpiper. But I wasn’t full yet… In the evening I decided to go around the Lake Simpele by bike. I had only started when it started to rain and when I got to the other side of the lake where the sand-road started water and sand was flying all the time straight to my face! When I was biking one steep uphill I saw a big brown animal walking to the road and my first thought was that it was the ugliest do I had ever seen – but then I realized it was a Wild Boar! I even shouted I was so happy! I had never seen Wild Boars before in Finland. So the animal turned back to the forest but when I had climbed up to the hill I still managed to see it and 2 smaller Wild Boars running into the forest. There must have been a mom, last year’s child and then clearly one small pig. I was so happy that the rest of the trip went easily even though I was completely wet and extremely dirty once I got back home!

J.A.

Alarms woke us up before 4 a.m. and a half an hour later we were driving towards Siikalahti with Hanna and Potu. Allu and Pirkka were already waiting for us in the information centre and soon we continued towards the bird-tower. On the way we saw a White-backed Woodpecker and hoped to see it again later in during the bird-tower competition.

On the tower we took our positions and soon the rest of our team: Matti Lötjönen, Ilpo Kuusisalo and Boy Possen arrived too. We had the biggest team ever. We of course started to search for good species for the start but when it was 5 a.m. we hadn’t found anything better. So we had to just start listing common species. Canada Goose, Common Tern and Whimbrel were only better ones that really mattered. The rest of the species were those that we could see whole day.

We really had to wait for the first good species! Finally a big flock of Swallows came to fly over the bay and we managed to find one Sand Martin that was with them. The next hours were pretty similar, we got plenty of common species and some of them were of course very important ones like Pied Flycatcher, Robin, Song Thrush, Tree Pipit, Siskin, Green Finch and so on. These species can really be difficult, usually some of them are missing completely. The visibility was amazing good so we managed to get House and Tree Sparrows easily too.

The first Rough-legged Buzzards were seen surprisingly early but only other raptors we saw were the common ones. Only common waders were seen too, Spotted Redshank, Ruff and Wood Sandpiper were already numerous but finally we saw a Green Sandpiper too. After we had checked many migrating Black-throated Divers we finally saw the first Red-throated Diver. Other better species we got were Smew, Pintail, Water Rail, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Cuckoo, Whinchat, Mistle Thrush and Lapland Bunting. Finally we saw a Jay too and surprisingly there were more coming – 7 Jays were like migrating towards west. A Great Grey Shrike came to perch almost next to the tower and it was a new species to our bird-tower competition list ever. Hanna walked a long way to the western side of the bay and tried to find some species for us so we could see them from the tower too but there was nothing new there.

After 9 a.m. a long empty period started. When Hanna came back, Allu decided to go to walk to the eastern side of the bay. The rest of us were watching to the sky but there was nothing new! Only Yellow Wagtails were migrating. Finally after an hour big flocks of geese started to come from Tetrisuo fields and but only one of us managed to see 2 Barnacle Geese landing to the bay but behind the islands! And in this competition at least 2 team members have to see the species! So the next half an hour some of us were waiting the geese to swim visible and the rest kept watching to the sky. Finally the Barnacle Geese came visible and Pirkka said unforgettable words: “Now it begins to go well again”.

At 11:30 a.m. I found a big raptor soaring over the islands and said right away that: “There is a good looking raptor coming, must be a spotted eagle!” The bird came straight towards us soaring and getting higher all the time. So soon it was easy to identify as the better one, Lesser Spotted Eagle! Soon it started to glide and flew over the dam road and went behind the trees. We had called to Allu who was still walking but he didn’t manage to see it but of course we called to the team that was on dam-road tower and they managed to see it well.

After some hand shaking and celebrating we continued watching to the sky and soon Boy found 2 White Storks that were soaring on the southern sky. We all found the birds soon and then managed to call to Allu so he could find these birds too and got this lifer which he had hopes to get. We also called to the another team again.

And only some minutes later Potu found a Black Kite coming towards us and again Allu and another team were called. And again Potu found a Goshawk and then 2 Hobbies and I found a Red-breasted Merganser migrating with 2 Goosanders and then I found a flock of 6 Rooks and Boy found a very distant male Redstart. We had really had an amazing hour!

The last 45 minutes we tried to find anything new but it was quiet again. The last 5 minutes we tried to find a Yellowhammer which was the easiest missing species. Finally on the last minute I found one flying towards a farm building and luckily Ilpo managed to see it just when it flew inside the building!

After all we had got 93 species which was our new record! We were the best team in Parikkala, but both Tarassiinlahti and Pohjansuo had got only 1 species less. We were also the best team inland together with Outokumpu Sysmäjärvi and Tohmajärvi Värtsilä Uusikylä. I must say that we didn’t see any White-backed Woodpeckers.

After we had eaten something we planned to keep on birding but the weather changed windy. So after we had seen the first Merlin of the day we decided to leave. We still heard a Bluethroat singing shortly near the information centre. Then we deceded to go twitching to Lappeenranta.

We drove to Kaislanen and tried for a couple of hours to see the Ferroginous Duck but without luck. Only better birds we saw were 3 Gadwalls and a Chiffchaff. On the way back to Parikkala we saw a male Capercaillie flying over the road. We still decided to drive to Saari where the Cackling Goose had been seen again but it had disappeared again. We saw only a Bewick’s Swan. It was very late when we finally went to sleep.

J.A.

On the 2nd of May, on my birthday, “Potu Suojarinne came to Parikkala in the evening and straight away we drove to twitch the “Richardson’s” Cackling Goose as a lifer for him. But it was already late and it started to rain so that was all we managed to do.
On the next morning we heard a Wryneck on our back-yard, but I had to go to work while Potu went to windy Siikalahti. It was really too windy there so I didn’t miss much.
At 1 p.m. I ended my work-day and soon after that we met with Potu and my brother Pirkka and his friend Allan Hamari at Särkisalmi. Pirkka and “Allu” had been driving the whole morning but anyway we left straight to Saari again. First we stopped in Rautalahti where Pirkka and Allu already got plenty of year-ticks. Then in Akanvaara Tetrisuo we saw a Rough-legged Buzzard and a Hobby and after Pohjasuo we drove to Pohjanranta bird-tower. We had heard that Cackling Goose was missing so we weren’t in a hurry so we decided to check every place very carefully. After we had seen a couple of male Ruffs I noticed a female Ruff kind of bird with Greenshanks. It was facing away but there was something wrong with this bird. Finally it turned it’s head and I realized it looked like a Buff-breasted Sandpiper! Then it turned more and I could see every detail – It was a Buff-breasted Sandpiper! The wind was still strong and the view wasn’t perfect but we all could see this mega rarity well before it flushed with all other waders and we could see the underwing pattern too. Luckily it landed back and even a little bit closer now. The wind also dropped down a little so I managed to get some kind of pictures and video too.

Soon came the first couple of twitchers – Harri and “Rolle” and soon more and more. After we had seen a male Garganey and a female Hen Harrier and got a count of all waders, we decided to keep on birding.

We continued to Suurenjärvenliete where I had hoped to find the Cackling Goose but even though there were lots of Tundra Bean and White-fronted Geese only other geese were 14 Barnacle Geese. But there were also lots of waders and the best ones were 3 Little Ringed Plovers and 2 Black-tailed Godwits. We also saw a female White-backed Woodpecker which was really good bird for Pirkka and Allu. We also checked all ducks very carefully too but then we continued through Jyrkilä fields where we saw only 11 Black Grouses to Tarassiinlahti where only a Willow Warbler was seen.

In Kanavalampi we saw an adult White-tailed Eagle which was maybe the reason there were no geese. Then we still drove to Pohjanranta where the month-tick twitchers were just arriving from Helsinki. The Buff-breasted Sandpiper was still there and the weather was calming down so it was really showing well. But we really needed to go to eat something so we drove to Särkisalmi to eat. It wasn’t a surprise that soon a Marsh Sandpiper had landed to Pohjanranta. We still saw a Common Scoter in Härskiinmutka but the rest of the evening we were watching ice-hockey WC and relaxing. On the next morning we would have to wake up early – it was bird-tower competition day!

J.A.

On the first of May we left birding to Saari. It seemed to be pretty basic trip with no surprises. I got some new year-ticks: some Wood Sandpipers, Golden Plovers were in 2 places, 1 Spotted Redshank, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 1 Whimbrel were seen. But only better numbers were 83 Greenshanks in Pohjanranta and a couple of hundreds of Tundra Bean and White-fronted Geese in Suurenjärvenliete where also many ducks, some common waders and 2 Hazel Hens were seen.

We were already on our last place in Honkakylä, Kanavalampi where a plane flushed a flock of geese from the back-fields. They flew straight towards us and I noticed a small Canada Goose on the flick – a Cackling Goose again! The flock landed in front of us and we could start studying the strange goose and realized that this time it was not a minima but a hutchinsii type. It seems that this race might be very potential tick in the future so after we had called Jarmo Pirhonen who we had just met and he had agreed with us that the bird looked like a hutchinsii – “Richardson’s” Cackling Goose, we drove home to put the pictures here to our blog.

There will be lots of twitchers as hutchinsii has never been accepted by Finnish rarity committee. It seems that I keep on finding these Cackling Geese as we had found one small Canada goose or Cackling Goose years ago (1998) in Lumijoki and already 1 minima together with Hanna and 1 minima alone.

J.A.

On the 25th of April a couple of Shovelers had arrived to Särkisalmi and in Siikalahti I saw 8 Smews, a White-tailed Eagle, 10 Rough-legged Buzzards, a Peregrine, a Black-tailed Godwit, a White-backed Woodpecker and a House Martin. In Tetrisuo there were some hundreds of Tundra Bean and White-fronted Geese and also 5 Bewick’s Swans, 2 Greylag Geese and 9 Canada Geese.

On the 26th day after my work I drove to Lappeenranta. It was really windy so In Konnunsuo I saw only a Linnet and in Kivisaari a couple of Swallows and a Redshank. I met Ilkka Jarva in Kaslanen where Ferroginous Duck was still present. There were also 2 Slavonian Grebes, 11 Barnacle Geese and a goose that looked like a hybrid between White-fronted and Bean Goose. We visited also Toikansuo but didn’t see anything there. At 5 p.m. I left together with Eksote hospital rink-bandy team to Jyväskylä to tournament. On Saturday we won the tournament and on the way back I saw a female Capercaillie in Suomenniemi.

On the 28th day I counted all the ducks in Siikalahti but there weren’t many! 3 Slavonian Grebes, 2 Red-necked Grebes and 17 Smews were the best birds. A Pied Flycatcher was heard and 1 or 2 Little Gulls were seen too. During the day we did a tour to Saari with Harri Partanen but there weren’t many bird there either. A Redshank and a Black-tailed Godwit was seen in Suurenjärvenliete and a Gadwall in Kanavalampi. In the evening I started to check owl-nestboxes and a Ural Owl was flushed from one of them but there was no eggs yet so I decided to continue after some more days.

The weather stayed windy so on the 29th day all I saw were a Willow Warbler and a Yellow Wagtail. On the 30th day a couple of Barnacle Geese had landed to Tetrisuo and a Common Tern was in Siikalahti. At night we visited Siikalahti where 2 Spotted Crakes were calling and a small flock of Common Scoters were heard from the sky.

J.A.