. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

In Christmas Day I did a winterbird count. It had been raining almost every day but luckily on the Christmas Eve it had been snowing a little bit so there was some snow on the ground to give some light. Mikko Ala-Kojola joined me to this hard walk around Siikalahti. We walked whole daylight, 6 hours and 18.2 kilometres. Unfotunately Lake Simpele had frozen a couple of days earlier so there were no birds anymore on the lake.

So the first kilometres we walked in Kangaskylä village and saw corvids, tits, 10 Rock Doves and sparrows. In Saharanta we saw also a flock of 33 Redpolls with an Arctic Redpoll. Then we continued over main road 6 towards Siikalahti.

Jays were common on the way to Siikalahti as always and there in dam-road we heard a couple of Whooper Swans. A farm on the eastern side of Siikalahti had Yellowhammers, corvids and Tree Sparrows, but otherwise the walk around Siikalahti was very birdless. 3 flocks of Black Grouses, a Grey-headed Woodpecker and a Great Grey Shrike were seen, but almost nothing else.

We crossed the main road six again and walked back to Kangaskylä where more tits, a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers were seen. Jackdaws were in a big flock because of a Goshawk was chasing them.

Totally we saw: 2 Whooper Swans, 18 Black Grouses, 10 Rock Doves, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 105 Great Tits, 28 Blue Tits, 5 Wllow Tits, a Great Grey Shrike, 10 Jays, 34 Magpies, 120 Jackdaws, 28 Hooded Crows, 7 House Sparrows, 14 Tree Sparrows, 33 Greenfinches, 33 Redpolls, an Arctic Redpoll, 3 Bullfinches and 30 Yellowhammers. So 22 species and 430 indiwiduals which is pretty normal number of birds in mid-winter here even though the weather hadn’t been normal.

J.A.

On the 6th of December I participated to a bird-race in Porvoo area. On the evening of 5yh day I drove to Lapinjärvi where we started early in the next morning with Juha Tuomaala. We didn’t find any owls so at 6:30 a.m. we continued to Porvoo where we picked up Ralf Rikberg and continued to rubbish tip to search for an Eagle Owl. Only bird we had was a much smaller owl, a Pygmy Owl which was calling a couple of times.

Next we continued to Emäsalo to see the sea. We got a couple of common species on the way but in Emäsalo we stayed for a couple of hours and saw 1000 Long-tailed Ducks, Common, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, Mute Swans, some 20 Cormorants, a Red-throated Diver and the a couple of very good species a Common Guillemot and 3 Little Gulls!

On the way back towards Porvoo we saw some common species like a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Black Woodpecker and also a nice surprice a Common Buzzard. Also a Smew was seen from the bridge. In Koddevik we saw Whooper Swans, Tufted Ducks, Siskins and something else common.

Next we continued to a forest where was a local bird-association’s bird-feeder. Coal, Crested, Willow and Long-tailed Tit and a Treecreeper were found easily. We also heard a flock of Canada Geese. In Bjurböleviken we saw 30 Coots and soon we saw a Blackbird on one feeder. Hawfinches weren’t found even though we really tried.

In Kiiala we saw a Goldfinch, a Jay and another Common Buzzard but nothing else. Other teams had seen more. Soon we saw our only flock of Waxwings.

We continued towards Loviisa and saw a Great Grey Shrike before continued to Isnäs where we saw more than 20 Black-headed Gulls and a couple of White-tailed Eagles.

It was already getting dark when we still tried to find a Grey-headed Woodpecker but had only another Blackbird and another Pygmy Owl. We still dove around Lapinjärvi Lindkoski fields but didnät see anything at all. After all we had seen 47 species and were 5th on a race where were 13 teams.

J.A.

Once we were back from Azores I was birding short trips almost every day. It had been very warm autumn and it still stayed warm fo a long time. On the last days of October I saw still several Great Crested Grebes and some Black-throated Divers and the first Goosanders started to get to flocks. In Siikalahti there were still a small flock of Barnacle Geese and a lonely Brent Goose which had a strange curvy bill. There were also plenty of Whooper Swans, some Mallards and Wigeons and 2 White-tailed Eagles. In Kangaskylä there was still a small flock of Starlings.

On the 1st of November started a Parikkala & Rautjärvi bird club’s November rally and I started it with a Pygmy Owl in Koitsanlahti. Otherwise on the first days there were still some big flocks of Fieldfares with some Redwings and I even saw some Pine Grosbeaks in one of the flocks. Some Smews were gathering to Tiviänlampi but not as many as usually. There were also a Tufted Duck and a Scaup. On the 4th day I visited Imatra Immalanjärvi where were some Common and Velvet Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks. In Rautjärvi Kopsala I saw a Common Buzzard. On the next day I saw a small flock of Brent Geese in Punkasalmi.

On the 6th of November I did a winter-bird count. It means 18.5 kilometres walk from our home around Siikalahti. I saw 4 new species for the route: a Bewick’s Swan, 11 Canada Geese, a Blackbird and a migrating Rough-legged Buzzard. Other good birds or numbers were 5 Wigeons, 30 Mallards, 55 Whooper Swans, a Goldeneye, 2 White-tailed Eagles, 34 Common and 5 Herring Gulls, 2 Fieldfares, 32 Long-tailed Tits, 112 Jackdaws, 2 Sparrowhawks, 7 Goldcrests and 2 Coal Tits. Altogether I saw 38 species which was a new record.

On the 7th day I went to Melkoniemi forest where I saw 4 Hazel Hens and a Capercaillie. In Tarvaspohja I saw a Black-headed Gull. On the 8th day I saw 2 Cormorants in Haikanniemi and on 9th a Waxwing in Kangaskylä. On the 10th of November I visited Melkoniemi again and managed to find 3 familiar Siberian Jays.

On the 11th of November I did the last trip for some time and saw a Red-necked Grebe in Joukionsalmi, an Arctic Redpoll in Tähtiniemi and a Dipper, a Three-toed Woodpecker and another Rough-legged Buzzard in Simpele. In Härskiinmutka I saw another Cormorant.

The winter didn’t come in November at all. Well, there was a couple of colder days but it was still mostly raining not snowing. On the 18th day a Black Scoter and a Great Grey Shrike were seen in Rautalahti, another Great Grey Shrike in Moskuunniemi, 4 Canada Geese in Kirkkolahti, a Great Crested Grebe and a Red-necked Grebe in Haikanniemi and a Teal in Simpele Kokkolanjoki.

On the 19th day I drove to Salo to BirdLife weekend. On the way I picked up Markus Keskitalo and we stopped in Espoo where we saw 50 Wigeons, 25 Gadwalls, 12 Teals, 6 Smews, a Coot and a White-tailed Eagle in Laajalajhti and a Stock Dove in Suomenoja.

The rest of the weekend was busy with lectures. It was nice to see Kalle Larsson with whom I stayed in Salo. On the way back on the 20th day we tried to twitch a late Spotted Flycatcher in Lauttasaari, but we couldn’t find it. In Koivusaari we saw a massive flock of 50 Grey Herons.

During the last days of November I still saw a Great Grey Shrike in Siikalahti, Goosanders, Whooper Swans, Common Gulls and a Herring Gull in Lake Simpele but nothing else there. In Kangaskylä a Nutcracker was once again in railway-station and the last and 67th species to my November list was a Grey-headed Woodpecker in the 27th day in Kirkonkylä. On the same day there was still a Wigeon in Kirkkolahti too.

J.A.

It was once again time to get to Hailuoto bird-race. Last year we had been on Foula with potu but anyway our team had managed to get two groups to participate to the race. But now we had managed to get also friday free so already on thursday on the 29th of September we left towards Oulu with “potu” Suojarinne and “jassi” Kiljunen. We drove almost straight to Kiiminki to Harry Nyström where we stayed at night. We had a great evening there but already early on the 30th day we left towards Hailuoto and managed to get to 8:30 ferry.

On Hailuoto we first checked Huikku ferry-coast where we saw 2 Mute Swans and a Great Grey Shrike before we continued to Pökönnokka. We walked through the whole area and found a Peregrine, 5 Spotted Redshanks, a Snipe, 2 Mute Swans, a Golden Plover, a Great Grey Shrike which was surprisingly common also later and a flock of 12 small waders which disappeared somehow. Next we checked one spruce-forest and found a Treecreeper and then Lahdenperä where also Harry arrived as he had taken care of all the pizza and other food for the weekend and had taken another ferry. On Lahdenperä we saw 2 Scaups and a White-tailed Eagle.

Then we continued to the village where we met also Antti Vierimaa who came on the next ferry after Harry. We decided to split to two groups and me and Harry continued to Keskiniemi area while the rest stayed around the village and started to check all the fields there. On the way we saw 2 very good species in Hailuoto, 6 Jackdaws and a Rook in a flock of more than 50 Hooded Crows. When we got to Keskiniemi (which means a long drive along very bad sandy roads) we walked to the dynes. And right away Harry saw a bird landing behind the dynes. We flushed it and it was a big pipit which was calling “zi-spriu” – a Richard’s Pipit! A Lifer to Harry and I haven’t seen too many either! We called to the rest of our group, but before they arrived, we saw the bird flying south with a Meadow Pipit. Then we also heard the normal call “spriu” a couple of times. From the beach we found some Ringed Plovers and Grey Plovers but nothing else.

We also checked the next places where we thought the pipit could have landed but also Mantyniemi and Virpiniemi were empty. So we continued to Marjaniemi but the wind which had been very strong whole day was getting too strong. So again we split to two groups and we went to check some more fields but couldn’t find anything very good. The other group found something better but nothing very good. So before it was getting dark we continued to our hut and started to warm up the sauna and eat huge pizzas and have fun! Soon also Antti Peuna and Mikko Ala-Kojola arrived so the whole team was there and we really had a good time!

On the 1st of October we woke up after 5 a.m. and soon after pizza breakfast we split to two teams me, potu and Mikko to potu’s car and Harry, both Anttis and jassi to Harry’s car. Both teams had decided to start from the same place Riisinnokka, the southernmost tip of the island which was of course good as it was a northern wind.

There were several other teams too so we decided not to go to the tip and started the race at 7 a.m. on the forests along the parking place and the tip. We walked slowly towards the tip and in 40 minutes we had a Woodcock, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, an Arctic Redpoll, Waxwings, 3 Snipes and so on. Bullfinches, Redpolls, Bramblings, Chaffinches and tits were moving all the time towards south. There were only 2 teams anymore when we reached the tip and from the sea we found a Red-throated Diver, Black-throated Divers, 3 Merlins, a Common Scoter, Mute Swans and from the next spit we found 2 Black Grouses and from the flocks of passerines we found a Coal Tit. From the sky we also found a flock of a Dunlin and 3 Grey Plovers. When we left Harry’s team still stayed on the pit.

On the way back to the car we checked the Coast of Isomatala Island and found a Spotted Redshank and 4 Greenshanks! And from the coast next to the parking place we found a Smew and from the meadow nearby we saw 2 more Woodcocks.

We stopped a couple of times before Kirkkosalmi and saw 2 more Coal Tits, heard a Treecreeper and then in Louekari saw a migrating young Pallid Harrier! Harry’s team was driving past us so we stopped them to see this rarity too. Also a Great Grey Shrike and a flock of 4 Cranes were seen.

In Kirkkosalmi we saw lots of birds like always. Shovelers, Gadwalls, Coots, a Ruff, a Swallow, a Blackbird, 2 Goshawks and a Sparrowhawk and the best a flock of 8 Bearded Reedling.

Next we continued towards east and before we had ticked Tree Sparrows we went to see the Scaups we had found on the previous day. Luckily one of the birds was till there on Lahdenperä. We had planned to go to Pökönnokka but we saw several teams walking there already as one team had found a Purple Sandpiper there. We didn’t want to go there as all the birds had probably been flushed already so we continued to Huikku ferry-coast. After we had seen some Cormorants we turned back and drove to Pökönnokka where we met Harry’s team again and heard that the Purple Sandpiper hadn’t been seen at all anymore.

Anyway we went to walk to the meadow as there had been several other species we needed on the previous day. We had to walk almost to the tip before we flushed a Skylark, a Snipe and a nice surprise a Jack Snipe. Also a tame Dunlin and a Ruff were seen before we saw only 4 Dunlins more. But then we saw a flock of 8 sandpipers flying and there the Purple Sandpiper was with 7 Dunlins. Also 2 Golden Plovers were found with 2 Grey Plovers so the walk had been much better than we had expected. Unfortunately the only raptor was a Goshawk. We of course put the news out that the Purple Sandpiper was back and Harry’s team came to twitch it as it was a lifer to jassi and Antti Peuna.

Next we drove to the fields close to the village and after the first White-tailed Eagle we continued to Ulkokarvo where only new bird was a Long-tailed Duck. We also stopped again in Kirkkosalmi but nothing new was found and in Järventakusta fields we saw only 5 more White-tailed Eagles.

In Pöllä we saw a migrating female Hen Harrier and in Sunikari we found a Red-necked Grebe. In Marjaniemi we heard a Snow Bunting and saw a Velvet Scoter and a Ringed Plover.

While we were driving towards Keskiniemi we got a message that Harry’s team had found a Black Guillemot in Marjaniemi, but we decided to keep on going towards Keskiniemi. There we flushed the Richard’s Pipit that had been found again in the morning together with Harry’s and another team, but the bird was seen only very briefly. Anyway our team saw it well enough – potu even got a lifer! Also 3 Snow Bunting and a Lapland Bunting were found. While Harry’s team still worked with the pipit as they still hadn’t seen it well, we saw 2 Br-tailed Godwits, a Knot and 2 migrating Purple Sandpipers. The Purple Sandpipers had landed next to one team and they saw that another of the birds had colour-ring – it had been ringed in Spitsbergen this summer!

We still had 17 minutes when we decided to drive to Marjaniemi to try to see the Black Guillemot. After some rally-driving we had 3 minutes left in Marjaniemi but we couldn’t find the bird. We still tried to find it after the rally but it was gone.

Only 30 minutes after the rally at 6:30 p.m. the results of the race were shouted in a school in the village. Soon it was clear that there were 3 teams that had seen a lot of bird – our team, Harry’s team and then Aappo Luukkonen, Juhani Karvonen and Sami Salonkoski. After all this “local” team won with 91 species, we were second with 88 and Harry, jassi and 2 Anttis 3rd with 86 species.

After the results were given we drove to the hut and had a great celebrations with sauna, pizza and drinks.

On the 2nd of October we woke up at 7 a.m. and after we had packed and cleaned the hut we left once again towards Keskiniemi. Some of us still hadn’t seen the Richard’s Pipit well enough to take a lifer as it hadn’t called either in the previous afternoon. So we walked through the meadows once more but there were only 3 Snow Buntings and a couple of other common birds. From the coast we found a Ringed Plover, 4 Grey Plovers, 4 Dunlins, a Merlin was migrating and 3 Cormorants and a flock of mainly Common Crossbills and at least one Two-barred Crossbill flew over us.

In Marjaniemi there was too hard wind, from south now. A Velvet Scoter was found again, but soon we were driving towards east. Of course we now saw a Jay crossing the road and also 2 Parrot Crossbill looking crossbills – on the race we hadn’t seen any crossbills at all!

In Pökönnokka we walked through the meadows again but the sea-level was very high so we really had walk on the sea to find 6 Snipes, 2 Jack Snipes and 4 Dunlins. Also 2 White-tailed Eagles, 12 Common Scoters and a flock of 9 Common Crossbills were seen. At 2 p.m. we were on the ferry towards Oulunsalo.

We said goodbyes to all our friends and with potu and jassi started a long drive. I was back at home after 9 p.m. What a great trip we had again had!

J.A.

On the 23rd of September I saw a flock of 220 Brent Geese already when I was driving to work. After the work I went to Siikalahti where i spent a couple of hours and saw 3100 migrating and 1000 local Barnacle Geese 425 Brent Geese, 400 Bean Geese, 75 White-fronted Geese, a flock of 29 Bewick’s Swans, a White-tailed Eagle, a Marsh Harrier, a Goshawk, a possible female Pallid Harrier, 2 Golden Plovers, 10 Swallows and heard a Water Rail. In Kangaskylä I saw a Nutcracker again.

On the 24th day we drove to Saari where geese were already migrating towards west very early. While we were hammering the field in Pohjasuo we counted 3000 migrating geese. From the muddy field we found 35 Snipes, 5 Jack’s, 3 Great Snipes, a Ringed Plover, 41 Golden Plovers and from the passerine flocks we found 10 Skylarks, a Red-throated Pipit, a Linnet, a Goldfinch and a flock of 62 Starlings – there were 8 species that we didn’t get in our rally last weekend!

In Jyrkilä fields we saw a flock of 6000 Barnacle Geese flying and there were 4000 more on te field and 2000 migrating. There were also 163 Whooper Swans which 3 of them had the neck-rings that we managed to read. In Suurenjärvenliete we saw some 500 Barnacle Geese with some 50 Bean Geese and a Peregrine.
Then we continued to count geese migration to Kuposenmäki where a family of Kontiokorpi already was. In a few hours we counted 13390 Barnacle Geese, 9412 unidentified geese, 1810 Brent Geese and 135 Bean Geese. A couple of young Pallid Harriers were seen migrating together and also 2 Tree Pipits, 25 Cranes, a Goshawk and so on were seen.

The migration was still continuing when we left. In Kanavalampi we saw a Great Grey Shrike and in Tarassiinlahti we saw an Osprey migrating and there was a flock of 5000 Barnacle Geese on the field and 1500 more migrating over us. In Akanpelto we saw a Rough-legged Buzzard and in Rautalahti we saw 3400 Barnacle Geese, 2 Brent Geese, 2 White-fronted Geese and 12 Bean Geese. In the evening we still heard several flocks of Barnacle Geese migrating over our house. What a day with geese we had!

On the next day we went to Saari with Harri Partanen but during the night almost all the geese had migrated. Also many other birds had continued south so the day was a big disappointment. In Jyrkilä we still found a flock of 2500 Barnacle Geese and in Pohjasuo we found still a Jack Snipe and 18 Snipes but no Great Snipes. A Bluethroat was a nice find anyway. We counted geese migration in Kuposenmäki for a couple of hours and saw 5000 migrating geese in far east, but the flocks were small and they were too far in Russia to identify – of course they were almost all Barnacle Geese. On the way back to Parikkala we still found 1000 local Barnacle Geese in Akanpelto and Rautalahti.

On the 26th day there was a flock of 2300 Barnacle Geese with 30 Bean Geese in Siikalahti. Most of the Bean Geese were Tundra Bean Geese as always here in east but there was also 4 Taiga Bean Geese. With Whooper Swans there was a Bewick’s Swan too. In the evening we tried to catch some owls again but only heard a Tengmalm’s and a Pygmy Owl.
On the next day the flock in Siikalahti had grown to 3800 Barnacle Geese. There were again also 70 Whooper Swans and 30 Bean Geese too.

J.A.

Last night did not produce any owl ringing even if there was at least two owls around. After mid night sky was lighted by unusually nice aurora borealis. There was time when allmost whole sky was glowing green. Time to time there was also rarer red shades. These pictures are first ones I have ever taken of Aurora borealis. I wish that I would have had wide lens for photographing these!