. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

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.

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.

- Hanna

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.

J.A.

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…

J.A.