. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

The week started windy and even thought the wind was from south the migration wasn’t going on strong during the days. It was raining also which of course wasn’t good. On Monday the 22nd of April I visited Siikalahti early in the morning and also on my lunch-hour but only a couple of White-fronted Geese was seen and a Great Bittern was heard. During the day I got pictures that had been taken earlier in Lappeenranta and the bird in the picture had been reported as a possible Ferruginous Duck.

Even though the pictures were bad, I was sure it was one and left to Lappeenranta after my work. Once I got to Kaislanen the light was awful but anyway the duck was easy to identify as a Ferruginous Duck. I wanted to see the bird better and decided to come back in the evening light.

So I visited Haapajärvi where I saw a Common Tern, 2 Gadwalls and heard a Redshank. In the evening I drove back to Kaislanen where the Ferrogious Duck was seen just a little bit better. A Chiffchaff was singing and a Grey Heron and a Great Crested Grebe were seen.

On the 23rd day I went to work at 9:30 a.m. so I could do some birding early in the morning. I walked first time this spring to the bird-tower but the bay there was still surprisingly frozen. A Common Sandpiper was standing no ice, a Gold Finch was migrating and 10 Common Pochards, a couple of Pintails, a male Smew and 3 Canada Geese were swimming on the open water areas. 150 Bean, 50 White-fronted and a Greylag Goose were seen in flight towards Tetrisuo. So I decided to go there too and managed to see all the geese better there. There were also 92 Whooper Swans, a Bewick’s Swan and 5 Canada Geese. I still checked Särkisalmi where I saw 8 Great Crested Grebes and a Black-throated Diver. After my work I tried to twitch a Hoopoe that Jari Kontiokorpi had seen in Lahdensuo fields but it had left South-East and hadn’t come back. It was raining but I was lucky to see a beautiful male Pallid Harrier that was migrating along the fields. It was my 150th year-tick.

On the 24th day I saw he same geese in Tetrisuo, there were now 200 Bean Geese and 4 Bewick’s Swans. Only new year-tick was Lapland Bunting that I saw 9 migrating birds.

J.A.

I had hoped spring to come after my trip to Åland. But it was still very cold and lots of snow in Parikkala. So on the 10th of April my visit to Siikalahti was pretty boring – only a White-backed Woodpecker, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and 8 Snow Buntings were seen. On the next day all I saw was a Common Buzzard.

On the 12th day it started to feel more like spring – finally! 10 Whooper Swans were fighting for their territories even though Siikalahti was of course still completely frozen. A Goshawk, 2 Common Buzzards, a Kestrel, 7 Lapwings and a Reed Bunting were seen and White-backed Woodpeckers were drumming. Then in the evening it started to rain and the rain continued and continued!

Finally on the 14th of April the rain stopped and in Siikalahti I saw 12 Common Buzzards, 4 Kestrels, 2 Cranes, even 120 Lapwings, 2 Skylarks, even 35 White Wagtails, 2 Chaffinches, 44 Snow Buntings, a Reed Bunting, 14 Waxwings, a Great Grey Shrike, 2 Long-tailed Tits and 34 Ravens. On the 15th day I finally saw first Wood Pigeons and some more Skylarks – it seemed that migrants were coming in totally wrong order! In Särkisalmi and Lemmikonsalmi I saw some Goldeneyes and Goosanders and a Canada Goose.

On the 16th of April I saw a White-tailed Eagle, 2 Cranes, 106 Lapwings, 2 Stock Doves, 54 Wood Pigeons, 2 Meadow Pipits, a Fieldfare, a Mistel Thrush, some Chaffinches, 2 Common Gulls and a Curlew. Also the first Marsh Harrier had arrived and a Merlin was seen and I finally saw my first Mallards of the year in Parikkala…
On the 17th day I saw an Osprey, a Golden Eagle, a Stock Dove, a Rough-legged Buzzard and a Green Sandpiper and in the afternoon I managed to twitch a couple of White Storks that were migrating over the bay.

On the 18th day the weather forecast was great so I decided to go birding already early in the morning before I had to go to work. In Särkisalmi I heard a Robin and a Chiffchaff and saw 2 Teals. In Siikalahti there were already lots of passerines migrating and first Redwings and Song Thrushes were seen, 2 Pintails were flying around and some Coots were swimming in a small open water area. And one more Stock Dove was seen again. On my lunch-hour I was again in Siikalahti and saw some Bean Geese and a Bewick’s Swan. And I was back again after my work. Other birders had seen a lot during the day, but luckily there was still something to come. I still saw a very early Hobby, a Northern Wheatear, a Grey Heron and the first Barn Swallow! Only some days earlier I had been waiting for the first Wood Pigeons and now I had seen a Swallow and a Hobby! And there were already 10 Marsh Harriers flying around the bay! Crazy!

On the 19th day I was again in birding before my work but even though the weather was great I saw only 2 Smews in Särkisalmi and 2 Wigeons, 3 Stock Doves and a Black Woodpecker in Siikalahti. In the afternoon I managed to twitch a Spotted Eagle that was migrating over the bay. When I saw it, it was already very far but I was told that it had been very pale and looked most like a hybrid between Greater and Lesser Spotted Eagle. Other birds I still saw were a Rough-legged Buzzard, 12 Bean Geese in the evening a Woodcock.

On the 20th day we were in Siikalahti from 5 a.m. to 3 p.m. The wind had unfortunately changed and it was not a southern wind anymore, the wind was from north-west. A Water Rail was calling next to the dam-road tower and when the sun started to rise thrushes and Chaffinches started to migrate. Later also Wood Pigeons were numerous but otherwise the day wasn’t very good. During the day we saw 34 Bean Geese, a Greylag Goose, 3 Canada Geese, 6 Wigeons, 8 Teals, 2 Hen Harriers, a (too) distant Pallid Harrier female, 17 Sparrowhawks, 9 Common and 8 Rough-legged Buzzards, 6 Ospreys, 5 Kestrels, 20 Cranes, 175 Lapwings, 8 Snipes, 29 Curlews, a Greenshank, 10 Green Sandpipers, 265 Black-headed, 29 Common and 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 528 Wood Pigeons, only 10 Skylarks that were all going south like the only Barn Swallow too, 8 Meadow Pipits, 23 White Wagtails, 17 Waxwings, 2 Dunnocks, a Northern Wheatear, 776 Fieldfares, 232 small thrushes (Redwings and Song Thrushes), 13 Mistle Thrushes, a Great Grey Sjrike, 2 Rooks, 636 Chaffinches, and so on. So the day wasn’t very special after all but anyway 56 species had been seen!

On the 21st of April I was again in Siikalahti already at 7 a.m. It was even more quiet now and I stayed there only for 4 hours. 2 Pochards, a Tree Pipit, a Pheasant (wherever it was from) and then at 8:50 a.m. a nice Black Kite was seen. The kite migrated together with a Common Buzzard straight over the dam-road! also 66 Bean Geese with 2 White-fronted Geese, 2 Rough-legged Buzzards and a Merlin were seen. In the afternoon I visited Saari Pohjanranta but it was surprisingly empty.

J.A.

On the 5th of April after my day at work I drove to Lappeenranta where I picked up “potu” Suojarinne wh had drive there from Lappeenranta and then we continued to Helsinki-Vantaa airport where I picked up my brother Pirkka and continued towards Turku. It was a long drive but finally we were in Turku where we met Mikko Ala-kojola who had been on short holiday in Utö island and Antti Peuna who had came from Rovaniemi by train. After some shopping we continued to the harbour where huge Viking Grace left at 8:55 p.m.

After we had briefly looked at map of Åland and everyone agreed that I had made good plans for the next days bird-race, we went to eat very well. We spent at least 2 hours in the restaurant and the rest of the trip we were shopping and just trying to take it easy.

Finally we were in Åland at 1 a.m. and we still had a long way from Lumparland Långnäs to our motel. We all knew that out motel was Solheim which we knew was in Eckerö, on the opposite side of Åland. It was a long drive and when we finally got there, there was no motel at all! We checked our emails and found out that the motel should have been Solheim but not in Eckerö but in Maarianhamina! So we had to drive back for a half an hour and finally after 2 a.m. we got there. Luckily we got our rooms soon and managed to go to sleep.

After a couple of hours sleep, we woke up at 5 a.m. and some of us got some breakfast while some still tried to sleep any minutes more. At 5:30 we packed our car and left towards Eckerö again. We drove to Styrsingsudden, where we were on the beginning of the small road when the rally started at 6 a.m. We stopped several time along the road in the middle of good forests and heard several Blackbirds, a Black Grouse, a Wren, Yellowhammers and saw a small thrush (either Redwing or Songie) and a Parrot Crosbill. When we parked our car to the end of the road Hooded Crows and Great Tits had already awaken.

We walked to the shore which was the southernmost place in Åland main island. The sea was completely open and there were really plenty of birds! Goosanders, Goldeneyes, Long-tailed Ducks, Eiders and Mallards were common of course and some Common, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls were also seen right away. Black Guillemots were migrating and we also saw a Common Scoter, a couple of Tufted Ducks, Cormorants, some Red-breasted Mergansers and Black-headed Gulls. Mute and Whooper Swans were swimming on the bay and Jackdaws, Ravens, Chaffinches and a Snow Bunting were seen or heard from the sky. Some Shelducks flew over us and finally we saw some Razorbills too and White-tailed Eagles got up to the sky. Then it was time to move on.

On the parking place we had the first Blue Tits and aong the road we heard a drumming Black Woodpecker, a Coal and a Willow Tit and saw some Wood Pigeons. Along the Skeppsvik-road we found a Goldcrest, more Coal Tits and on the shore we heard a migrating Skylark and some Green Finches, but nothing else new. In Torp we found House and Tree Sparrows, saw a migrating Greylag Goose and a Starling. In Degersand we saw a Sparrowhawk, a flock of Siskins and heard another Black Gouse. Käringsundby had a really good feeder but there was nothing new feeding there. On Eckerö Storby village we saw 2 Rock Pigeons and from the shore we found 2 Great Crested Grebes and a Velvet Scoter couple. From the Eckerö fields we saw plenty of White-tailed Eagles but also a stunning Golden Eagle and first Common Buzzard of the day.

We continued to Hammarland and to Lillbolstad fields where we counted 225 Whooper Swans, 86 Greylag Geese, 5 Canada Geese, 2 Bean Geese and 11 Cranes. Other goo birds were a flock of 12 Stock Doves, 2 Rooks, a Fieldfare and a Lapwing. It had been a great stop!

We had no exact plans what to do before Maarianhamina so we decided to drive a short round through Finström and on the border we stopped in a good looking place and heard 3 Gold Finches and saw 2 Grey Herons. In Jomala Gökby we saw another Lapwing before we got to Maarianhamina. Fish-harbour was full of ducks and we found a flock of 39 Coots and a flock of 36 Scaups. 2 Grey Herons flew over us. In Svibyviken we didn’t see anything new so we continued to Jomala Gottby fields where were swans and geese and a Sparrowhawk but only new birds were a couple of Common Crossbills.

In Tallöga we saw nothing new so we continued to Hammarudda. We had an hour left se we decided to stay there until the end. Once we had climbed to the rock I got my scope up and the first birds I found were 3 Purple Sandpiper on the closest rock on the sea. But in next 30 minutes we didn’t find anything new so we walked to the other side of the rock to see if there was something on the eastern bay. There were lots of ducks and luckily also 11 Smews. We had only 3 minutes left when I found an Oystercatcher flying very far on the opposite shore but luckily we all managed to see it before it flew behind the islands. We had really done well!

The results were given after lunch on our motel. It was soon clear that a local team had done too well but we were on the silver competition. But after a long time we had shouted all our species but 3 teams still continued for some time. After all the winners got 78, second 74, third 70 and we were fourth with 68 species. Anyway 9 teams were left behind us. After the results we were extremely tired and went to sleep soon.

On the 7th of April we woke up early, at 5:15 a.m. again. At 7:30 we were in Styrsingsudden again and there were only 4 birders before us, but they had already seen more than 100 Black Guillemots, about 10 Razorbills and even a Common Guillemot which would have been a lifer for some of us – even a self-found tick to Pirkka. Anyway none of us had ever seen any auk migration, so we really hoped that the migration was still going on – and it was! Also Eiders and Long-tailed Ducks were migrating a lot, but we decided to count only auks. It didn’t take long when the first Common Guillemot was found and it was great! After some celebration Pirkka found his own bird and soon I found the next one. In 3.5 hours we saw 440 Black Guillemots, 160 Razorbills, 5 Common Guillemots 7 auks sp:s, 3 Velvet Scoters, 16 Common Scoters, 8 Shelducks, 3 Grey Herons, 6 Oystercatchers, a Lapwing and 10 Skylarks and so on.

At 11 a.m. we decided to go to see some new places. First we drove to Finström Bjärströmsträsket where we tried to find Bearded Reedlings that the winner team had seen there but we found only a Reed Bunting and a Bullfinch.

When every other team that was from the main Finland left to the harbour, we still had time for birding as we had taken Monday free. We continued to Jomala Gällaräng where we dipped Hawk Owl and Bewick’s Swan than had been seen on the race. Then we drove to Lemland where was saw some flocks of Lapwings and in Hellestorp 4 Pheasants and a Mistle Thrush. On the southernmost tip we climbed to Herröskatan bird-tower but the wind was very strong now so it was really cold up there! We saw about 800 Eiders but nothing ese really. In Granboda we still saw a flock of 55 Skylarks before we continued to Lumparland.

We continued to Långnäs where our ferry had always arrived but it was the first time were were there at daylight. From the harbour we saw a flock of 770 Tufted Ducks with a Pochard couple, a Coot, 2 Great Crested Grebes, a Hen Harrier and a Lesser Black-backed Gull. In Klemetsby fields we saw a Sparrowhawk, 40 Skylarks, a Fieldfare, a Rook and 36 starlings.

It wasn’t too late when we were back in the central part of Åland so we continued to Jomala Gottby where we counted 150 Whooper Swans, 80 Greylag and 7 Bean Geese. Then we still continued to Hammarland Lillbolstad and counted 230 Whoopers, 150 Greylags, 10 Canada, 6 Bean Geese, 4 Cranes and 3 Fieldfares. In Maarianhamina Svibyviken we saw 2 male Pochards in a flock of Tufted Ducks, but then we drove to our motel to order sauna and our next morning breakfast. Then we drove to the city to have pizza and after that we had sauna and finally got to sleep at 11 p.m.

On the 8th of April we woke up early again and at 7:15 we were again in Strysingsudden. The weather had changed radically and it had been snowing all night! The wind was also strong but luckily we got some cover from the bushes. Anyway there were quite a few birds migrating again and in 3 hours and 15 minutes we saw 317 Black Guillemots, 86 Razorbills, 23 Common Scoters, 6 Velvet Scoters, 563 Long-tailed Ducks, 4 Bean Geese, 8 Lapwings, 3 Oystercatchers, a Great Crested Grebe and 11 Skylarks. One small passerine was migrating over the sea and it looked like a Meadow Pipit but luckily we found a Meadow Pipit also from the shore and got another year-tick. The best 5 minutes started at 9:30 a.m. when we first found an adult male Peregrine from the sea and soon after that we saw another Common Guillemot again. Whole morning there was a nice flock of Snow Buntings in front of us and there were at least 90 birds in the best time. Other birds we saw were a Shelduck, 2 Canada Geese and a Jay that we saw while we were already driving away.

In Hammarland Hammarfallen we still didn’t see a Dipper and at 12 o´clock we drove to our motel. On the shore some of us saw a Smew while some of us saw 2 Haw Finches flying over. A Robin was seen on the feeder. Then we packed our car and went to se Svibyviken (4 Pochards now) and fish-harbour (31 Scaups) before driving to the harbour.

At 2:25 our ferry left and we cllimbed to the sun-deck. We saw some Shelducks, Oystercatchers, 9 Smews, a Ringed Plover and lots of White-tailed Eagles (we had seen maybe 150 White-tailed Eagles during the trip) before we went to eat extremely well again. After eating we still climbed to the deck and saw lots of Eiders and a huge flock of about 4000 Tufted Ducks but then the sea started to be frozen and we went to relax inside. I even managed to sleep a little but before Turku we still saw a Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Teal and finally at 7:50 p.m. we were in Turku.

Soon we said goodbye to Mikko and Antti and started a long drive. We dropped Pirkka to a hotel in Vantaa and then I dropped “potu” to Lappeenranta. Finally at 2 a.m. I was at home in Parikkala. Potu was in Mikkeli a little bit later and Mikko and Antti in Oulu after 4 a.m. Next morning Pirkka took a flight to Rovaniemi and then still drove to Kemijärvi and Antti took a bus to Kuusamo. We all had to go to work already on Thuesday, so we were really tired later! But anyway we had enjoyed our amazing weekend in Åland and for sure we all are now able to wait for the spring to come to us too one day…

J.A.

Winter continued even though it should have been spring already! It was still almost -20 degrees at nights but luckily sun was shining during the days. The wind was first only northern but finally it turned east and even south-east. But there was still too much snow for almost any migrants.

On the 23rd of March I visited Lappeenranta and heard a Gold Finch singing and twitched 5 Teals that had been overwintering there. In Joutseno I saw a Great Grey Shrike. On the 24th day we tried to see migrating eagles in Tyrjä. The weather was perfect but we didn’t see anything. 3 Herring Gulls had arrived to the border-lake. In Siikalahti we heard a couple of drumming White-backed Woodpeckers and some calls of distant Whooper Swan, a Great Grey Shrike was seen there too. On the 25th day I heard another White-backed Woodpecker and in Kaukola fields I saw a flock of 6 Snow Buntings.

On the 26th I visited Lappeenranta again. I already knew it but in a hospital they told me that the surgery where I had been in December hadn’t succeed. My hearing has got even worse than before the surgery – F**K! Only bird I saw before I had to rush back to work was a Treecreeper in Pappilanniemi – a Nuthatch wasn’t seen. On the 27th I saw a White-backed Woodpecker and on the 28th I heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. A Gold Finch was singing in Kannas and at night we went to listen to owls to Tyrjä but even though the weather was perfect, we didn’t hear a single owl.

On the 29th day we were again in Tyrjä and finally we saw something! First we heard a Nuthatch which soon migrated over us towards north. And in a couple of hours we saw also 2 migrating White-tailed Eagle adults and a Goshawk.

Wilderness rally

On the 30th of March we had a wilderness rally again. We got an area in the south-eastern Ruokolahti and Rautjärvi where are a couple of good birding places. Mikko Ala-Kojola was our third team-member. We started at 3 a.m. but the first owl, an Eagle Owl was heard on the wrong area where we were by accident. After an hour we heard a strange call which was either an Ural or a Great Grey Owl and soon after that we heard a distant Ural Owl from Russia. When we got to Kuokkalampi it was already getting lighter. We saw a couple of Hazel Hens and heard one more but when we planned to start listening to Pygmy Owls it was suprisingly already morning and woodpeckers started drumming! And there were Great Spotted Woodpeckers everywhere! During the day was heard or saw 90 of them! We also heard or saw 5 Black Woodpeckers and 3 Grey-headed Woodpeckers. But we didn’t find any White-backed Woodpeckers which was the main bird in this race.

Later we found 3 Gold Finches, a Coal Tit and only 10 Black Grouses, 11 Jays, 11 Common Crossbills and very few Bulllfinches, tits and only 2 Goldcrests. These all were species that we should have seen as points were given from every individual.

At 10:30 a.m. we were in Purnujärvi where we tried to see migrating raptors for a couple of hours. Luckily we managed to see a Golden Eagle and 3 White-tailed Eagles, a Sparrow hawk, 3 Goshawks and a Common Buzzard. 7 Snow Buntings landed next to us to the road. Then the wind got stronger and we decided to go to check some corners of our area that we hadn’t been yet. But forests were absolutely quiet. At 4 p.m. the time was gone and we drove to eat. The results were given in Junkkarikämppä and it wasn’t a surprise that we lost. Everyone else had got much more passerines and grouses – some even quite a few owls! Anyway only 49 species had been seen altogether so it really wasn’t spring yet!

On the 31st day I drove to Tyrjä again where in 3 hours I saw a Golden Eagle and 4 White-tailed Eagles and 4 Goshawks. 55 Ravens were flying in one flock. On the way back home I saw a flock of 3 Snow Buntings and in the afternoon we saw 2 Whooper Swans in Särkisalmi. At night we drove to North-Karelia where amazing numbers of owls had been heard at previous nights. It was again very cold so it wasn’t a surprise that we didn’t hear too many owls. We heard a Great Grey Owl once, 2 Tengmalm’s Owls and a Tawny Owl and Hanna heard too distant Eagle and Ural Owls. But I had hoped to record Hawk or Great Grey Owls…

On the 1st of April after 2 hours sleeping I drove to Joutseno and when I turned to Pätilä 2 Stock Doves flushed from the road. A Corn Bunting was still there but it was really difficult now as it was moving a lot. There were only 35 Yellowhammers so I think the Corn Bunting won’t be there for long anymore. But I got my April-tick. I also saw a Wood Pigeon and heard a Snow Bunting. Then I drove to Konnunsuo where I saw another Stock Dove and soon a flock of 3 Snow Buntings. Then I still tried to find Hawfinches in Imatra Linnansuo but without luck and visited Vuoksi harbour where I saw only 2 Cormorants. Then I had to drive back to home and get some sleep!

J.A.

At weekend from 15th to 17th of March we were in Ähtäri. Hanna is making all paintings and info-texts to the zoo so we met some people there and planned what else than paintings should be done and which paintings should be done before the opening of the new main building where would be Hanna’s expedition too.

On the way to Ähtäri we stopped to see a Hawk Owl in Pieksämäki Inkilänkylä and it was found very easily. There were plenty of voles on the field and we saw the owl catching 2 voles in 5 minutes.

After a long drive to west we finally where in Ähtäri where we had a huge hut for us where we had sauna before we went to sleep.

On Saturday morning it was freezing cold (-27 degrees) but luckily it soon got warmer and sun was shining from the blue sky. We met the zoo people and walked around the zoo and checked what should be done to many building around the park. Of course we saw many animals too. At 11 o’clock we met some journalists next to a Wolverine fencing. At 12 o’clock we continued to the Bear cage where Bears got out for the first time after their long winter sleep.

In the afternoon we were walking around the park with Hanna and in the evening we met the intendant of the zoo again and went to eat and discuss about what to do for the zoo in the future. Later we just relaxed in our huge hut and had sauna before going to sleep.

On Sunday it was cold again and Wolves were howling in the zoo. After a good breakfast in the hotel we went to Zoo again and walked and photographed animals for an hour. It was good to be in the zoo before it was opened for the visitors – many animals were very active.

During the day we visited a huge Tuuri shopping center before started a long drive back to home. On the way we stopped in Äänekoski Piilolanniemi where we tried to see an overwintering Great Crested Grebe but it was hiding too well. We did see the first Common Buzzard for Center Finland this year. Then we managed to meet my brother Riku and his family in Varkaus as they were driving from Mikkeli to Oulu.

It was about 8 p.m. when we noticed that there were very beautiful northern lights on the sky! We stopped to photograph them in Punkaharju but Hanna didn’t have a good lens with her. So we drove home and picked up a tripod and the lens and continued to Siikalahti to photograph more northern lights. Before 10 p.m. the sky faded and we drove to home.

On the 21st of March in the evening at 8 p.m. Hanna decided to go out to the shore to see if she could find Comet PanSTARRS from the western sky. She found it and called me to see it too. This comet is so far it was almost impossible to find with bare eyes but with a scope it was nice. Hanna took pictures with her camera and I tried to digiscope it too.

J.A.

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