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.
On the 8th of July we left towards Kuhmo with Hanna and her sister Elissa. The day was very hot but the air-conditioner in our car made the driving pleasant. So we didn’t stop at all on the way and in Kuhmo we just found a good place to put the tent up in Alanne and went to sleep.
On the 9th of July we woke up at 7 a.m. when it started to be too hot in the tent. I had heard a Three-toed Woodpecker, a Wryneck and some flocks of Common Crossbills during the morning. After a short walk in the forest, we continued toward Kuhmo centre. We still drove to Lentuankoski where we walked a little before went to the centre to do some shopping and eat before we continued east to Viiksimo.
At 3 p.m. we parked to Boreal Wildlife Centre. After an hour waiting and resting we left with a guide and 10 Swiss photographers to the hides. The Swiss had been there already a couple of nights so they went to the small hides and we got a big hide for us three.
It was extremely hot in the hide but luckily there were already some Ravens and gulls to photograph and after only an hour waiting the first 3 Brown Bears came to feed. And right after they had left back to the forest, a Black Kite came to soar above us. And again after 30 minutes another small bear came and again 30 minutes from that, a White-tailed Eagle came to perch to a top of a pine-tree behind the bog. So there was really a lot to see!
The temperature was rising so we had to drink a lot, but luckily when the evening got later the bears got bigger! The White-tailed Eagle landed a couple of times to the ground so we managed to get good pictures of it too. After a couple of middle-sized bear finally at 10:38 p.m. the first big bear came, and it stayed for more than an hour.
The night was still hot and surprisingly quiet. There was a bear visiting about every hour, but in the morning they were all gone. Only gulls and a couple of Ravens were eating the last pieces of meat. Unfortunately we weren’t lucky to see any Wolves that had been visiting the place during the week. But the nature is unpredictable; we weren’t in a zoo…. Maybe next time?
At 7 a.m. the guide came to pick us up and soon we were in the centre where we heard that Swiss had seen only some bears too.
Pretty soon we started a long way back home but we decided to drive the first 100km along the small roads and see some old forests in Elimyssalo. The roads were very bad but we saw some nice places and a male Capercaillie and a young Hazel Hen too.
We also drove along Lieksa road and stopped in Eno where we tried to find an Arctic Warbler without luck. Then we drove straight to Parikkala where we went to eat and then to sauna to Tarvaslampi. Finally in the afternoon we were at home and went straight to sleep.
After 14 hours sleep I had to go to work. In the evening of 11th of July we did a short field-trip to Saari. There had been several Pacific Golden Plover in Finland so we tried to find one too. But after all we didn’t find any good looking fields at all. Only birds we found were young Long-eared Owls, Corn Crakes and an Ortolan Bunting.
On the 4th of July I had been just resting after work. The last weekend had been so hard that I was still extremely tired. At 8:10 p.m. I go a message that there was a Pacific or American Golden Plover in Lappeenranta Joutseno Konnunsuo. I decided to leave immediately even though I had just 2 weeks ago got a Pacific Golden Plover as a lifer in the same place and this bird was thought to be also Pacific.
After an hour driving I was there in Konnunsuo and the bird was already been identified as a Pacific Golden Plover. There were already some twitcher in the bird-tower and I also saw the bird right away. The founders of the bird were a little bit closer on the field so I decided to go there too to get some pictures. The bird was still a bit too far, in 300 metres, but I managed to get some kind of pictures and videos of it.
After some watching the bird flew a little bit and showed its grey axillaries and even called. There were also 10 Golden Plovers and this bird was surprisingly easy to pick up from them. Soon the bird moved to a place where it was visible only from the tower so we moved there. There were now more twitchers in the tower and after an hour or so talking with them, I decided to continue to twitch a Quail as a year-tick.
I drove to Tuohimäki where after some 15 minutes waiting I heard a Quail calling. Then I started a way back home. I still stopped a couple of times in Parikkala where I heard several Corn Crakes, 6 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a Grasshopper Warbler and a Nightjar. I was back at home at 1 a.m.
On Friday evening after floorball training I started a long drive towards south. I had decided to go to try to see Sandwiched Tern which I’ve never seen in Finland. The species is almost never twitchable but still almost regular visitor in Southern coast – mainly in Hanko.
On the way I stopped in Lappeenranta in a place where had been a Lanceolated Warbler in a couple of night but last night I didn’t had any information and I still thought it was too early so I continued my way soon. The night seemed to get too dark to do any twitching in Helsinki so I decided to drive to Hämeenlinna Hauho again.
2nd of July I parked to Scops Owl place at 00:30. I had planned to record the owl but again there were too many twitchers. So I decided to wait just 30 minutes and keep on going. Luckily only after 10 minutes waiting the owl started to call pretty far on the other side of the field. I still waited for 20 minutes but it didn’t call again.
On the way to Hanko I stopped in Raasepori Oby where Jörgen Palmgren had just found a Lanceolated Warbler. There were no twitchers at all so I managed to get very good recordings and videos of the bird.
Finally I was in Hanko at 5 a.m. where I first stopped in Svanvik bird-tower. Only better tern was a Caspian Tern, also some waders and a White-tailed Eagle were seen. Soon I continued to Tallholmarna where I scanned to the sea for a couple of hours in a windy and surprisingly cold weather. Maybe the reason for the cold feeling was more that I hadn’t been sleeping enough? Anyway even though nothing else than a Common Scoter, an Arctic Skua and another Caspian Tern were seen I continued next to Långören which was empty and then to Vedagrundet.
When I got to Vedagrundet the weather had warmed up to more than 30 degrees! I did seawatching for several hours, but I also slept just enjoyed the sun for some time too. Nothing better was found anyway. In the evening I checked the same places again but couldn’t find anything better than an Icterine Warbler in Svanvik. So I gave up and decide to go twitching… I’d continued the Sandwich Tern project later again…
I drove to Espoo Laajalahti where a Great White Egret had been for some days. I couldn’t find the egret but heard a Citrine Wagtail a couple of times. Soon I decided to continue to Helsinki Hietaniemi cemetery where I immediately heard a European Serin singing. Then I continued to Kaivopuisto beach where I found a Brent Goose swimming with many nowadays so common Barnacle Geese. Then I still continued to Seurasaari where after some searching I first found the right pool and then soon a Mandarin Duck too. All these 3 species were new July ticks (We crazy Finns are collecting so many ticks!)
I still decided to get back to Laajalahti where a Great White Egret was now easily seen before I continued to my parents to sleep.
On the 3rd of July I woke up at 5:10 a.m. when I got a message that there was a couple of Ruddy Shelducks in Laajalahti. I first thought not to go but as I was awake already I decided to go. When I was climbing to the bird-tower the 4 birders that already were there shouted me that the birds were flying! I saw them very well but soon they disappeared behind the forest and continued east. They were never seen again… I still spent an hour in Laajalahti as there are so many birds – waders and ducks and so on. The Great White Egret was also seen briefly in flight. But soon I decided to drive back to sleep.
The rest of the day I was shopping and in the evening I drove back to Parikkala. On the way I stopped shortly in Lapinjärvi Lindkoski where I didn’t see a Turtle Dove and in Lappeenranta Askola where I saw only an Oystercatcher and a Redshank.
We have never been interested on traditional Finnish midsummer-partying so also this year we decided to go birding. Even though we got info that there had been found the first ever Scops Owl in Finland in Hämeenlinna we decided to go to North Karelia. The weather wasn’t promising for twitching the owl but it seemed to be better in north. So with Hanna’s brother Miika we left towards North Karelia on the 23rd of May in the evening.
First we stopped in Kesälahti where we knew a breeding place of a Great Grey Owl. Right away we heard the fledlings calling but we couldn’t find them from the deep forest. Luckily an adult bird came to alarm and we managed to see and photograph it very well. Unfortunately the weather was rainy so the pictures weren’t that good we wanted.
We continued to Tohmajärvi Värtsilä where we stopped in Savikko but couldn’t find any Great Snipes – the filed had been cut so the birds had probably moves somewhere else? A Marsh Warbler and a Grasshopper Warbler were heard in the other places nearby.
After some birding we drove to Keltasuo fields where we put up a tent and after watching a Long-eared Owl and Whimbrels we went to sleep.
On the 24th of May I woke up at 4 a.m. and checked the big field area. I managed to find a singing Booted Warbler and another bird that was probably a female. But I couldn’t hear the Quails that had been reported there earlier. At 5 a.m. I went back to sleep.
At 8 a.m. we woke up and went to see the Booted Warblers again. But we couldn’t find them, but luckily we found a more active singer not far from the place. This bird was singing very actively so it was easy to see. Other birds found were a couple of Wood Larks, a Greenshank and Green Sandpipers.
We continued next to Sääperi bird-tower where we tried to find a Steller’s Eider that had been there for a week but even though we tried pretty hard we couldn’t find it. Only better bird was a male Smew. Then we continued to check Jänisjoki before we continued to Peijonniemenlahti bird-tower. There we met Jari Helstola and together we saw a sub-adult White-tailed Eagle and surprisingly a male Scaup.
We still walked a couple of kilometres on a nature-trek in Piilovaara where we found the flowers we were looking for, Monkshoods. Only better birds in the forest were a Chiffchaff and a Blackcap.
We had planned to do birding in North-Karelia for 2 days but as it seemed the weather was now getting good in Southern Finland, we decided to go to Hämeenlinna Hauho right away. So when we were in Parikkala, we dropped Miika to Tarvaslampi and started a long way to twitch.
We had a long drive but finally at 9:30 p.m. we parked in Hämeenlinna Hauho behind a long line of cars – there were already tens of twitchers! And more and more were coming! We met many friends and soon understood that most of them had been there already on the previous night! The bird had been calling in a bad weather for only a minute from 00:05 a.m. and then it had been seen once by 6 twitchers very shortly! So many twitchers had missed it.
It started to get darker about at midnight but we only heard a couple of short whistles that were too far to tell what had been whistling. It was very quiet and most of the twitchers started to get nervous. But we knew the night was too light and the bird just waited the darkest hours.
Then after 1 a.m. some birders heard some whistling but we were just behind one building to hear it. Luckily soon we heard it clearly from the other side of the building at was for sure a Scops Owl! Then it suddenly stopped and people started to discuss what they had heard. I also got several different kind of recordings to listen that had been recorded from the other side of the building and somehow there was more Pygmy Owl like caller on those recordings! The tone was like Scops but the rhythm was like Pygmy! Strange! Luckily soon the bird started to call again and then we saw it flying straight towards us! It flew just over us and landed to the spruce-trees where it had been calling every night before birders had found it (the locals had thought it to be a Pygmy Owl). And soon it started to call properly and we could get good recordings of it!
After 20 minutes calling it stopped and soon we saw it flying again and disappearing to the other side of the field and it wasn’t seen or heard again during the night.
After some 30 minutes we decided to leave and we drove to Hollola where we parked to one forest, put up the tent and went to sleep.
On the 25th of June we woke up at 10 a.m. and decided to drive to Hamina where we tried to twitch a Tawny Pipit. A nest of Penduline Tits had 2 big nestlings now and the adults were feeding them continuously. Also Golden Oriols and Great Reed Warblers were heard and families of Northern Wheatear and Little Ringed Plover were found.
We still continued to Virolahti Lintulahti where we saw a White-tailed Eagle and Hanna heard a Moorhen. On the way to Parikkala we stopped in Ylämaa Väkevänjärvi, in Joutseno Konnunsuo where a Short-eared Owl was seen. Still we tried to listen to a couple of Quails but weren’t lucky. Finally we were at home at midnight.
