We have autumn tradition for ringing migrating Owls. Our ringing site is more pleasant than usually. You can spend time before it gets dark enough in lake side sauna where you can see Black-throated Divers swimming near shore teaching their young to fish. Mist-nets and cd-player are in garden between apple trees. Between net checking rounds it is possible to sleep well indoors. We usually make rounds in shifts so one can sleep well half of the night. We know that in other locations it would be possible to get more owls, but then we might have to stay in car overnight and we would need lots of batteries for the player.
There seems to be small owls migrating right now. First night we caught a Pygmy Owl almost right away. Pygmy Owls are most active just after dusk and before dawn. When it gets completely dark, its time to chance “song” to Tengmalm´s Owl. They like darkness. First night we heard at least one Tengmalm´s Owl but it didn’t fly to mist-net. During second night there were 3-4 Tengmalm´s around and two of them were caught by mistnet. After measuring and ringing we released these owls a bit further away where they landed to spruce staring angrily to us.
When I was sitting at work during the week there was a Long-billed Dowitcher staying in Pori, Western Finland. I started to think that if it stays there until the weekend I will go to twitch it, but unfortunately it disappeared in the end of the week. But then on Thursday evening a Daurian Shrike was found nearby in Nakkila so I didn’t really had to think twice… The bird was reported again on Friday so after work I left immediately. I picked up Sampsa Cairenius and Mikael Rytkönen at Lappeenranta and then we had a long way to drive.
Finally at 7 p.m. we were in Nakkila and saw the Daurian Shrike immediately. Then we walked 300 metres along a small field-road to where other twitchers were already photographing the bird. We also managed to get really good pictures when the bird flew to the bushes jus t10 metres from us. There were also amazing flocks of Ruffs, about 800 birds on the fields and a Peregrine Falcon was chasing them. Also 2 Hen Harriers and a Merlin were seen.
We photographed the shrike until late evening and then I called to my old friend Hannes Tiira and he promised that we could stay night on his summer cottage in Pori Preiviiki. After we had eaten in ABC we continued there to sleep. Once we woke up at night to listen at least a couple of Tawny Owls and an Eagle Owl calling.
On the 3rd of September we left birding early. We first drove to Kirrinsanta shores and pool where we saw several Caspian Terns, a couple of Dunlins and Little Stints and a Sanderling and so on. After a breakfast we continued to Yyteri where we walked for few hours and found 65 Dunlins, 29 Little Stints, 4 Knots, 5 Curlew Sandpiper, a Grey Plover, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 5 Shelducks, a Merlin, 4 Red-throated Pipits and so on.
Finally we walked back to parking place and started to drive towards east. We still visited Leistilänjärvi but the shrike either hadn’t been there at all or had been killed by a Sparrowhawk. After 10 p.m. I was finally in Parikkala, another successfull twitch behind.
On the 4th of September we visited Siikalahti shortly. There were still very few birds: just some smallish flocks of Wigeons, 46 Whooper Swans, 80 Coots, a Smew and a couple of calling Water Rails.
I wasn’t birding very much in the end of August. On the 14th day we found a Greenish Warbler in Rautjärvi Lahnanen and 17 Barnacle Geese were feeding in Joukionsalmi. On the next day a White-tailed Eagle was seen in Siikalahti.
On the 18th day after heavy rains 33 Golden Plovers, 20 Ruffs, 7 Ringed Plovers, 70 Yellow Wagtails and so on were feeding on a muddy field in Tetrisuo.
On the 19th of August I drove to Lappeenranta and on the way I saw a young Red-necked Phalarope in Joutseno Kotasaari. Then in the afternoon we left towards Kokkola where on the next day we had birders football tournament – 5 teams were competing which was the best in Finland. We came second after losing the final to Tringa (Helsinki area bird association).
During the weekend we were of course birding too in Kokkola. In Rummelö and Harrbådan we saw Dunlins, Little Stints, 8 Shelducks, a White-tailed Eagle, a Arctic Skua, 2 Caspian Terns and so on and on the 21st day we birded in Lohtaja and saw 2 Goshawks, 2 Hen Harriers, 2 Caspian Terns, a White-tailed Eagle, Dunlins, Little Stints, a Curlew Sandpiper and so on.
On the 22nd of August I twitched a Greater Spotted Eagle in Siikalahti. I managed to get some good videos of it soaring just over me. During the day I saw it again with several local birders.
“Potu” Suojarinne came to do birding with me on the next weekend so on the 27th day early morning we left to Siikalahti. 3 Smews, some Red-backed Shrikes, 3 Water Rails and so on were seen but in very warm southern wind there was almost no migration at all. So we decided to go to Saari. In Akanvaara Tetrisuo we found what we were looking for – 3 Red-throated Pipits. Then in Pohjanranta we found a Greater Spotted Eagle which was clearly a different bird than in Siikalahti during the week. Both birds were probably 2nd calendar year birds but still easy to separate. In Kanavalampi we still saw a young White-tailed Eagle but then the rest of the day was spent in our friends Kontiokorpi parties.
On Sunday we went again to Siikalahti where we saw some passerine migration, but nothing better. 2 White-tailed Eagles were soaring on the sky with many other local raptors like 6 Common Buzzards (actually they are all here Steppe Buzzards or then something between), 8 Ospreys, 5 Hobbies and so on.
In the end of July we were planning a trip to Kemiönsaari Morgonlandet, a small island in southern Finland. When we had only a week to our trip we got a message that the man who was supposed to get us there by boat wasn’t free so we had to change our plans and decided to go to the southernmost inhabited island of Finland to Utö. Kalle Larsson, a president of Finnish twitchers association was making planning the trip and also his friend Jani Laaksonen was invited to the trip.
On the 4th of August after my work day, we left toward south. In Lappeenranta Heimosilta we stopped to check how much a Siberian Stonechat had changed its plumage in 3 weeks.
Then we continued to Espoo Laajalahti where we tried to find Citrine Wagtails as a month-tick. There was again nice selection of waders: Ruffs, Little Ringed Plovers, Wood Sandpipers, Green Sandpipers, Greenshanks, a Dunlin, a Spotted Redshank and so on and finally after 30 minutes searching we found a female Citrine Wagtail and 1 or 2 young birds. Then we called to Kalle that we would continue to his place to Salo so he knew to wait for us to come.
After an hour driving we parked to Kalle’s garden and soon we were having a good meal with him and Jani. After sauna we still were talking a lot and went to sleep very late, maybe 1:30 a.m.
On the 5th of August Kalle and Jani had already left to Turku to work very early but we woke up only at 9 a.m. We checked Halikonlahti but didn’t see anything special before we also continued to Turku. There we ate with Kalle, did some shopping and at 3 p.m. we picked up Jani, did some more shopping and started our way towards Länsi-Turunmaa.
There was surprisingly little traffic on the costal road so we managed to get to Nauvo sooner than we had thought. Soon we drove to Pärnäinen harbour where our Eivor ferry left at 8:15 p.m.
The weater was perfect so we stayed up on the deck and watched the beautiful sea with hundreds of islands! Only some birds were seen like Eiders, a nest of Ospreys but we really enjoyed! At 8 p.m. we stopped briefly in Nötö and a half an hour later in Aspö.
The we got outer to the sea where were fewer islands and at 9:30 we stopped in Jurmo where is a ringing station. But we still had more than an hour to go to Utö. At 11 p.m. we finally made it to Utö and soon we’re carrying our luggage to a motel Fågell from where we had 2 rooms. Luckily the Fågell was only 100 metres from the harbour so soon we got to sleep.
On the 6th of August we woke up at 5 a.m. and a half an hour later we were out and walking to the lighthouse from were it was good to do some morning seawatching. We met birders Kari Kaunisto and Pipsa Lappalainen who had been on the same ferry there and soon also Jorma Tenovuo who lives most of the year in Utö came there to seawatch. Unfortunately there was almost nothing to see but a Black Guillemot, 16 Razorbills, some Arctic Skuas and almost all other birds too were species that we can’t see where we live. The weather was also nice even though the wind was pretty strong.
After a couple of hours seawatching we decided to make a short walk to the eastern meadows and shore to see if there were something better to find. Some common waders were found but soon we had to continue to the hotel where we had planned to have a proper breakfast. Then it started to rain very heavily so we had to stop under a couple of trees to wait. After the heaviest rain we continued to the hotel and saw an extremely wet Common Whitethroat on the way – it really didn’t look like a Common Whitethroat but unfortunately nothing else either.
After the breakfast it was still raining so we had time to see Jorma’s and Markus Varesvuo’s beautiful bird-pictures that were in the hotel hallway. Then we decided to go to sleep for an hour before we had to change our luggage to another place as there had been room for us for only this night in Fågell.
At midday we woke up and the rain had just stopped. We packed our luggage and right then Jorma called us and told that a Crested Lark that had been on the island for a week already had been relocated again. We decided to go to twitch it before carrying our luggage to the other place. Luckily the bird was found easily and after some photographing, we were able to continue with our moving to Helkala cottage which situated right next to the lighthouse.
After we had made nice Helkala cottage our home, we left to walk and get familiar with the island. With Hanna we walked around the southern and eastern shore but only birds we found were a couple of pairs of Slavonian Grebes, 4 families of Velvet Scoter, a family of Red-breasted Mergansers and a Cuckoo. Kestrels were hunting on the sky and Icterine Warblers were calling strangely on the bushes. Not many other passerines were found at all! But in a beautiful weather we found also several species of dragonflies and butterflies. At 4 p.m. we walked back to Helkala where Kalle and Jani were already preparing lunch.
In the evening Hanna and Kalle went to photograph waders from Kalle’s hide to the eastern cost. With Jani we decided to hammer the eastern meadow. No Great Snipes were found but a Grasshopper Warbler was a nice surprise. Then we decided to keep on seawatching as the weather was good for Sandwich Tern which I still haven’t seen in Finland. Only a couple of White-tailed Eagles and Whimbrels were seen.
At 8:30 we gathered to Jorma’s beautiful garden where we checked what everyone had seen during the day. Hanna and Kalle also came soon and they had been really lucky with wader-photographing. We really enjoyed the views from Jorma’s back-yard and were happy to be in Utö, it was so different than at home!
At night we still photographed some Bedstraw Hawk-Moths before went to sleep.
On the 7th of August we woke up at 5 a.m. again and soon walked to the lighthouse for seawatching. The wind was now weaker and soon it was very warm. Almost the same birds were seen than on the previous morning, just some more Razorbills and Common Guillemots.
After a proper breakfast on the hotel again Hanna and Kalle continued to hide and I and Jani climbed to the lighthouse. A couple of Rock Pipits were seen, which was a year-tick! Only other new passerines I saw in the island were a Robin, a Fieldfare, Wheatears, Greenfinches, Linnets, White Wagtails, a Yellow Wagtail, Sand and House Martins and Swallows ( + those I have mentioned already).
When Hanna and Kalle came back from the hide where they hadn’t been lucky, we still went to see the southernmost geological pothole in Finland and there we saw a Bar-tailed Godwit flying over us.
At 1 p.m. we ate rest of our food, packed everything and soon started to carry them to the harbour. We had seen 61 species in Utö – and we knew this really wasn’t the best time to visit the island but for sure we are coming back one day!
At 2:30 p.m. Eivor left back towards Pärnäinen. We stayed on the deck until Jurmo but then went in to rest; we had a long day to come. At 7:30 we were in Pärnäinen and as there were lots of other people getting away from the island, we had to wait for a ferry in Nauvo for some time. Once we got back to inland we still had 500 kilometres to drive back home.
We were in Parikkala finally at 2 a.m. and after some hours sleep it was awful to wake up and go to work. Anyway the weekend trip had been very refreshing! Even though not many good birds had been seen, we had managed to visit one of the most famous birding places in Finland and met several new birders that had became friends for us! Now it’s easier to wait for the next trips…
During the hottest July I wasn’t birding very much. Actually the only better bird-observation was made by accident while we were having cold beer with my floorball team-mates in local railway station restaurant’s beer garden: our goal-tender asked me: “What is that raptor over there?” and it was a Black Kite! The kite was soaring over us for some minutes. I think it was searching for food from the rails.
On the 27th of July I had been once again first running and then in gym and when I finally got back to my car I read the meassage from my phone that my friend Jarmo Pirhonen had found a Stone Curlew from Lappeenranta Joutseno Konnunsuo. Again a rare bird in Konnunsuo! I didn’t leave immediately but after some thinking I decided to go. I had seen only one Stone Curlew in Finland before and this bird seemed to be pretty close to the bird-tower so I hoped to get some pictures.
After an hour driving I was there in Konnunsuo and the bird was soon pointed me from the field. Unfortunately it was now pretty far so the pictures I took weren’t very good. Anyway it was nice to see a Stone Curlew walking actively on the open field. Pretty soon it walked to deeper and longer vegetation and disappeared. Of course there were more twitchers coming all the time so we waited desperately it to show up again. But surprisingly it wasn’t found before Karri Kuitunen saw it landing with a flock of Lapwings to another field about 1 km from us! So we drove there and now all managed to see it. Soon it was flushed by a rider and it left far south with Lapwings. It seemed to land somewhere maybe 1.5 kilometres from us but unfortunately it wasn’t found again.
On the 28th of July I woke up so that already at 5 a.m. I was watching migration in Härskiinmutka. But nothing was migrating over Lake Simpele so pretty soon I continued to Siikalahti, but it was absolutely quiet also there!
The best observation of the day was a “Catocala adultera” emperor moth that tryed to get inside our apartment first through the window when a Fieldfare that was chasing it hit to the window and died and then later it tried to get inside through the door but the mosquito net didn’t let us come. Unfortunately this beautiful moth never landed and disappeared soon.
On the 16th of July we went to Lappeenranta mainly for shopping and then to movies, but on the way we of course did some birding. We checked Joutseno Kotasaari pools which were a big disappointment as the bormally better pool was completely dry. On the first pool we saw 34 Wood Sandpipers, 5 Ruffs, a Little Ringed Plover and a Greenshank but no Stints or other calidris that we had hoped to find.
Next we drove to Lappeenranta Heimosilta where a Siberian Stonechat had been present already for several days. We met our old friend Ilkka Jarva on the way and once we found the right place we met also Jarmo Pirhonen there. And “jamppa” had a stonechat there already in front of him and soon we were all photographing this nice moulting male bird only from some 15 metres.
With Ilkka we still checked Askola pools while Hanna and her sister Elissa already went shopping, but only a Little Ringed Plover and a Common Sandpiper were found. So soon I also went shopping. The rest of the evening went in the movies.
On the 19th of July I visited Lappeenranta again, I had to go to a meeting there. On the way I visited the same places than a couple of days earlier, but Kotasaari was even emptier and Siberian Stonechat wasn’t found but in Askola there were a Common Sandpiper again but it had now different company – a Dunlin and my 250th year-tick a Little Stint.
Here is a video where you can see the same Siberian Stonechat in the 4th of August – the bird has been moulting actively.
