On the 4th of February I woke up early and went to check the temperature – its -32 degrees! Anyway I have decided to drive south to Lemi to twitch a rare winter-bird a Short-eared Owl! I have some problems with my car but anyway I keep on going. Luckily a Hazel Hen flies over the road soon.
In Joutseno I see a Great Grey Shrike and in Lappeenranta I pick up Pekka Punnonen and Jari Kiljunen and after seeing a Fieldfare in the city we continue towards Lemi. With Rantanen brothers we search for the owl in absolutely cold weather but even though a couple of twitchers have seen in the morning we can’t find it. After about 45 minutes I decide to go to check the place where it had been seen in the morning and there I flush it! The owl flies to the garden nearby and we all managed to get even some photographs of this stunning bird! Batteries and fingers froze too quickly so soon we continue towards Taipalsaari.
In Taipalsaari we try to find a Grey Partridge for more than an hour without luck. We do find footprints and droppings but the bird is hiding either in a dence spruce-fence or under snow in the middle of the fields.
Next we continue to twitch a Jack Snipe that Paavo Rantanen has just found. The bird is wintering in a ditch in the middle of the forest in Lappeenranta. We don’t disturb this amazing bird more than is needed to see it and then continue to Tirilä where we find a Hawfinch after some searching.
On the way back home I still try to find a couple of different Hawk Owls without luck. In Vuoksi River I still see a couple of Cormorants before I continue to Parikkala. It has been a nice but extremely cold winter day!
In the ebd of January it started to get colder. Still on the 20th day the weather was ok for birding and I visited Simpele where I saw a dipper in River Kokkola and 2 Crested Tits in Korjontie. Also a male Goldeneye was seen on the river. In the afternoon we checked Särkisalmi with Hanna and the Little Grebe was still hiding under a fallen tree and a Goosander was still present. A Great Grey Shrike was also perched on the top of trees there.
On the 28th of January was a traditional Garden Watch (feeder watch). We saw 15 Great Tits, 1 Blue Tit, 20 Jackdaws, 2 Hooded Crows, 2 Ravens, 2 Magpies, 2 Tree Sparrows, and 4 Green Finches on our garden. during the day we went to photograph Siberian Jays but the birds weren’t found. A male Black Woodpecker was seen which was a year-tick. In Särkisalmi the open water area was getting smaller as it was -17 degrees already. But the Little Grebe was still sleeping there. I hope it can find something to eat and has places where to hide.
On the last days of January it really got freezing cold! This morning there was -27 degrees!
After several try I finally on the 11th of January saw a Little Grebe that Pauli Kantonen had found a couple of days earlier in Särkisalmi. There was also a flock of Siskins on the trees close to the small open water area.
On the 12th day I saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker in Kirkonkylä. It was perched on the top of a tree and didn’t move at all even though I watched it for several minutes. There was a Jay on the next tree and the woodpecker probably was trying to avoid conflicts with it.
On the 14th day we went shopping to Lappeenranta. On the way we saw first a Great Grey Shrike in Ruokolahti and of course we planned to stop along river Vuoksi. We were parking to Itä-Siitola where were a couple of birders already, Paavo Rantanen and Kauko Kauppinen. Suddenly they started to wave for us so we almost ran to them and they had just seen a Steller’s Eider landing to the river. The bird was moving fast with the water but soon it flew to the other side of the river close to a place where people are feeding wintering Mallards. We drove there and luckily I managed to get a couple of pictures of it before it again was drifticg too far.
In Lappeenranta while Hanna was shopping I went to see a Nuthatch to Pappilanniemi where also a flock of Waxwings was seen. I also visited a couple of other places but I didn’t see anything special
On the morning of 15th of January I birded with Pekka Punnonen, Jari Kiljunen and Petri Salakka in Parikkala. The Little Grebe was still present and showing well together with an Otter. Also a lonely Goosander was still there and a flock of 4 Gold Finches. Also a small flock of Common Crossbills flew over us.
We still continued to Melkoniemi forests to see Siberian Jays. 2 birds were found easily and they are always so nice birds to see!
Jukka Jantunen had come again from Canada to spend his winter-holiday to Imatra and he arranged the 7th Imatra city winter-bird counts. Imarta city area has been split to 9 parts from where a couple of birders are supposed to count every single land-bird. This year there were even too many birders participating so we had 2 extra areas, one in Imatra countryside and one in Ruokolahti.
With Hanna we counted birds in area F, Sienimäki-Linnansuo. We started at 9 a.m. in Neitsytniemi where the first bird was a White-backed Woodpecker! Also Bullfinches, a flock of Siskins, a Redpoll and a Goldfinch were found before the first tits started to wake up. In Vuoksi river we saw Goldeneyes, Goosanders and a Cormorant but they weren’t included to land-birds.
Soon we continued to Itä-Siitola where were lots of Mallards and a Smew but we concentrated counting Jackdaws and Rock Pigeons etc. Then we left the river Vuoksi and the rest of the day we were walking along the roads between the houses. In our area there were 5 bigger areas with houses and we really had to hurry to walk all the roads in them. We also drove some longer roads and counted all birds along them.
The weather was very good in the beginning but during the day it started to snow and birds disappeared. Anyway we continued until 2:30 p.m. when it started to get too dark.
During the day we saw 2 Black Grouses, 9 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, a White-backed Woodpecker, a Fieldfare, 303 Great Tits, 114 Blue Tits, a Willow Tit, 7 Jays, 50 Magpies and Jackdaws, 30 Hooded Crows, 136 Tree Sparrows, 0 House Sparrows, 32 Siskins, 6 Redpolls, a Goldfinch, 49 Bullfinches and 93 Yellowhammers.
In 9 traditional areas altogether 10331 birds were counted, it is about 800 less than the average in years 2006-2012. Great Tit was clearly the most common, 2832 (average 2557) Also 1120 Blue Tits (919) was the second biggest number ever counted. Only 8 Coal Tits were found. Green Finches are in troubles, only 996 birds were counted (av. 1987). Also Rock Dove, 217 (327) is getting down. Again we had almost no berries so no berry-eaters – only 16 Waxwings, 10 Blackbirds, 9 Fieldfares and 147 Redpolls but Siskin was more common than ever with 299 birds. Yellowhammers were in countryside because of the warm winter and only 833 were counted. 91 House Sparrows (av.165), normal number 995 Tree Sparrows, only 6 Chaffinches and no Brambling or Haw Finch at all. 99 Jays was a new record and the best birds were a Two-barred Crossbill, a Nuthatch, 3 White-backed Woodpeckers, 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers, a Pygmy Owl and a Great Grey Owl in Imatra countryside.
We had a great evening again. Jukka’s pictures from Canada were amazing once again! I think we are getting old or something because we were the last ones that left home and it was not even 11 p.m. Thanks again Jukka and also Konza!
On the 30th of December I drove to Kirkkonummi. On the way I tried to find a Great Grey Owl in Lappeenranta Joutseno Kuurmanpohja but it was raining pretty hard so the owl was somewhere hiding. So I continued to my parents where I was already early in the evening.
On the last day of the year 2011 I started early and drove to Tammisaari where I left my car and continued with my good friend Kalle Larsson. We had still some 15 kilometres to drive when we got a message that our target bird number one, a Hume’s Leaf Warbler had been found again. It had already been a couple of days in Tallholmarna and soon we were there too. There were already more than 20 twitchers so the bird was easy to find with help of them. The warbler was very active and feeding under the bushes all the time. Soon another warbler, a Chiffchaff was found too – it was crazy to see two Phyllosc-warblers in the middle of the winter!
Actually winter wasn’t actually the word to subscribe the view in Hanko, but now it was a couple of minus degrees anyway. Sea was completely open and there was almost no snow at all. So soon we continued to check what birds there were on the sea.
Common Eiders were swimming close to the shore (I had never seen one in December), some Velvet Scoters and Red-breasted Mergansers, Black-headed Gulls and soon I found the next target bird when a Little Gull was flying far behind one spit. Luckily soon another bird was found and also other birders managed to se this very rare mid-winter bird. And soon also an adult bird was flying over us.
Next we continued to Långören where we hammered bushes and flushed a Skylark and a Meadow Pipit. Both birds had been found on the previous day. We of course hoped that they would stay for the next day too when there would be lots of birders on their traditional 1st of January twitch!
Kalle was in a hurry to back home so we drove back to Tammisaari where I took my car and continued to Karjaa Lappträsk. There had been a Shoveler but all I found were 35 Mallards, 3 Tufted Ducks, 112 Canada Geese, 200 Mute Swans and 40 Whooper Swans. Also a Common Buzzard, a Great Grey Shrike and 10 Long-tailed Tits were seen.
I still continued to Espoo Laajalahti where I was the last hour of day-light. 5 Wigeons, 59 Coots and 15 Smews were seen. It was already dark and the first fireworks were flashing on the sky when I drove back to Kirkkonummi. There I went to sleep before the year changed.
On the 1st of January 2012 I woke up at 6 a.m. and a half an hour later I was driving towards Tammisaari again. Just before Karjaa I surprisingly saw the first bird when a Tengmalm’s Owl flew over the road.
In Tammisaari I waited for some time before Kalle and Marko Kaukinen arrived and I left my car again and we continued to Hanko. We drove straight to Långören where we met our old friends (my Kuusamo bird-race team) Vesa Jouhki, Andreas Linden and Jaakko Aarniala plus Gustaw Nordenswan. We waited for some time to get some light and then started to check the bushes. The second year tick was Mute Swan – they were easy to see from the sea as they are so bright white. But then the third species was a good surprise – a Redwing was calling from the sky. And soon a Pygmy Owl was found from a tree next to us! What a nice start!
From the bushes we heard a Robin calling but a Skylark and a Meadow Pipit were missing. We had to wait for much more light before a Meadow Pipit finally was found. They seemed to be spending the night somewhere else. Then we got a message that a Hume’s Leaf Warbler had been found again and other birders left immediately. We still waited for some time if the Skylark would be found and saw Siskins, Waxwings, Common Eiders, Tufted Ducks but soon we also decided to continue to Tallholmarna.
The Hume’s Leaf Warbler was easy to find again as there were maybe 50 birders already! I continued immediately to watch the sea as it was now pretty cols (-5 degrees) and some snow on the ground – I had a feeling that there could be anything migrating.
The visibility wasn’t good and there were fewer birds than on the previous morning. Canada Geese and Whooper Swans were migrating but almost nothing else. Long-tailed Ducks and Goldeneyes were also seen but most of them were too far on the sea. A Velvet Scoter and some Red-breasted Mergansers and on bird that probably was a Black Guillemot were seen but the last bird was swimming too far. Also 3 migrating divers were seen too far to identify. We got a message that a Little Gull had been seen in another place so we got some hope that they were still around. Then someone shouted that a Chiffchaff had been found so we almost ran to see another amazing first of January tick!
Most of the birders left after they had seen the Chiffchaff. A skylark had been found in Långören now so also Kalle who hadn’t seen this species before on the first of January left there. I was watching to the sea alone now and saw again one more diver which was close enough to identify as a Red-throated Diver. Meanwhile the birders that were still chasing the chiffchaff saw a Little Gull over the mainland but I didn’t get any information about that.
With Marko we were waiting for Kalle to come back from Långören where he had managed to twitch the Skylark when we got a message that there was a Little Gull now in some harbour. Unfortunately Kalle had some troubles with car so once he arrived it was too late again – the Little Gull had disappeared.
We still stayed for a half an hour in Tallholmarna and saw another Red-throated Diver but no Little Gulls. Then we decided that it was already so late that we had to continue towards west.
We had been riving 12 kilometres from Hanko when we got a message that there was a Little Gull flying around in Stormärsen. So we decided to make one more try. We drove straight there but the bird had already gone 10 minutes earlier. Luckily we found it after 5 minutes again and got this amazing 1st of January tick too. And we were soon on the road again.
In Tammisaari I took my car and followed Kalle and Marko to Salo where I left my car again (but now it was on my way back home). In Meriniitty we saw a Pheasant but no Wood Pigeon. Soon we continued towards Turku and saw a Great Grey Shrike in Kaarina Tuorla. We had already passed the bird when we realized that in that place there had been a “homeyeri” Great Grey Shrike! We decided to check the bird again when we come back from Turku but of course it wasn’t there anymore.
In Turku Laukkavuori we twitched a Hoopoe easily. There were also lots of birders. The bird was feeding on a green grass. Amazing! After a couple of pictures we continued again.
We had heard that neither a Greylag Goose nor a Hen Harrier had been seen during the whole day so we continued to Kaarina Piikkiö Viukkala greenhouses where we easily found 5 White Wagtails. On the way I saw a buzzard or harrier from the car window but when we stopped it had disappeared. Then we got a message that a Merlin had been seen in Paimio Paimionlahti and drove there but the bird had already disappeared a while ago. But soon I found it chasing a flock of Yellowhammers. Another good tick!
We still drove to Paimio Pitkäporras to try to see Wood Pigeons and Stock Doves but it was already getting too dark. What could we still do – of course try owls! We drove to Salo Vuohensaari where after some whistling and waiting a Tawny Owl started to call back to us!
Once we got back to my car we still continued with Vesa, Andreas, Jaakko and Gustaw to Hyvinkää Kytäjä where we tried to hear Ural or Tengmalm’s Owls for more than an hour but without luck. It was already late when I finally started my long way back home. The only bird I still saw was the second Tengmalm’s Owl of the day! Usually it is very rare to see Tengmalm’s Owls and now it had been the first and the last bird of the day!
Finally I was back at home just after midnight. It had been amazing change of the year. I had got 9 new first of January ticks but also 9 month ticks altogether!
