. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

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!

On the 13th of September I saw the first migrating flocks of Barnacle Geese, a White-tailed Eagle, the first Goshawk of the year in Parikkala (strange!), a Wren and a Lapland Bunting in Siikalahti. On the next day I saw a Nutcracker in Kangaskylä and the rest of the week I was in Hämeenlinna getting some education.

On Saturday 17th of September we had a traditional bird-race in former councils Saari and Uukuniemi that nowadays are included to Parikkala. We woke up before 5 a.m. and at 6 o’clock we started in Akanvaara Tetrisuo where we had almost nothing else on the foggy fields than Black Grouses and a Hen Harrier. In Pohjanranta we had a Marsh Harrier but the wet bushes were almost empty. After 1.5 hours we continued towards Tarassiinlahti. On the way we stopped in Kuposenmäki where a Rough-legged Buzzard and a Grey Heron were the best birds. When we parked to Tarassiinlahti we saw a Goshawk and 2 Nutcrackers and our third team member Jani Varis had started there (in this rally it was ok to split to 2 groups if only one car was used) and seen a flock of Brent Geese and a Bluethroat.

In Jyrkilä we counted 500 Cranes and 750 Barnacle Geese. There was also a strange white-headed hybrid goose which probably was a hybrid between a Barnacle and a Ross’ Goose. We walked quite a lot on the fields and managed to find a good bird when a Great Snipe flushed right under my feet. Next we continued again to Tetrisuo where many common pipits, Lapland Buntings, Skylarks and a flock of Golden Plovers were found. In Pohjansuo we found another Great Snipe, much more of the same common passerines and also 25 Snipes but nothing better either.

Next we continued to Uukuniemi Lammintaus where we saw a Canada Goose, 3 Hobbies, a Woodcock and saw and heard a strange “e-ly” Chiffchaff that seems to be common this autumn. We dropped Jani to watch raptors to Kumpu view-tower and continued to Niukkala and Papinniemi. The round took almost 2 hours but only some Red-necked Grebes, a flock of Long-tailed Tits, a Merlin and a couple of other common species were found.

In the last 2 hours we still visited Akonpohja where another Grey Heron, the 5th and 6th Hen Harrier of the day and some Coots were found. Our last place was Kanavalampi where 163 Teals (our only ones), a Great Grey Shrike and a Hazel Hen were added to our list. With 78 species we came 4th in the race.

In the evening I had an floorball match but after that I drove to Saari Mikkolanniemi where all the other birders were spending the evening. It was lots of fun once again!

On the 18th of September I walked around the fields in Siikalahti but didnt find any Great Snipes. In the afternoon I saw 18 Bean Geese with a single Pink-footed Goose. Also a White-backed Woodpecker, a Merlin, a Hobby and an Osprey were seen. On the 19th day I saw a Three-toed Woodpecker, a Black Woodpecker, 2 Goshawks, 2 “e-ly” Chiffchaffs and a Sedge Warbler. In Likolampi I saw again a Nuthatch and late in the evening an Eagle Owl carrying its prey in the same place while I was jogging.

On the 20th of September I saw about 1000 Barnacle Geese, 90 Bean Geese, 2 Red-throated Divers, a Merlin and 2 very late Little Ringed Plovers. The first Great Grey Shrike had also arrived to Siikalahti. On the 21st day I got a message that there was a Great Grey Owl in Tiviä. I managed to twitch it briefly but I had to hurry back to work and the bird was not seen later so I didn’t get any pictures. In the afternoon I saw a White-tailed Eagle, a Peregrine, a Hen Harrier, a Marsh Harrier and a Nutcracker.

On the 22nd day there were thousands of geese migrating but the rain stopped the migration in the afternoon. Anyway I saw some 3000 Barnacle Geese, 135 Brent, 300 Bean and 30 White-fronted Geese during my lunch-hour. A Peregrine was still in Siikalahti where also a flock of 30 Velvet Scoters were seen migrating. When it was raining I went to check all the closest fields but I found only one small flock of geese there. A couple of flocks of Golden Plovers and 150 Whooper Swans were seen.

J.A.

The first half of September wasn’t very good, only better birds were a young Grey Plover in Kukonkanta and several Nuthatches in Likolampi. We also started to catch migrating owls and on the first night we caught a Pygmy Owl and on the second night Hanna caught 2 Tengmalm’s Owls.

On the 5th of September the first Sandhill Crane for Finland was seen migrating with a flock of 27 Cranes along the southern coast. Not many birders saw it and even less saw it well, but after all it flew to the sea and towards Estonia. Luckily the bird was found next evening some 30 kilometres from Tallinn and many WP-twitchers went to twitch it. The bird stayed there for a couple of next days too so I started to plan to go to twitch it too.

So on saturday morning at 3 a.m. I started to drive towards Helsinki. In Joutseno I picked up Sampsa Cairenius and in Tallink terminal we met Kalle Larsson and Janne Kilpimaa. At 8:30 our ferry left towards Estonia. From the ferry we saw a Black Guillemot, a Red Knot, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits and a couple of Little Gulls. But already before we were in Tallinn we sterted to worry because of there was no news about the Sandhill Crane. It had always came to same field after 9 a.m. and when we were in Tallinn, it was already 11 a.m. Anyway we drove through Tallinn to Saue Kiia fields where we met other twitchers. There were only some 43 Common Cranes on the field. Soon we found a soaring Lesser Spotted Eagle and also a Black Kite. But there wasn’t enough Cranes, so we decided to leave to check all the other fields nearby. We found only some flocks but soon there started to be bigger flocks on the sky. These Cranes were coming from Finlnad and they were migrating. So we started to think that Sandhill Crane had probaby moves to somewhere else too but where – to western coast where tens of thousands of Cranes gather or to Hungary?

Anyway we continued to Haapsalu laht where we saw more than 1500 Cranes on the fields and coming to sleep to marhes, but the Sandhill Crane wasn’t found. In the evening we had to quit and we drove back to Tallinn and our ferry left at 9 p.m. It was very late when I finally was back at home.

J.A.