. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

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.

Brown Bear growling

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.

J.A.

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.

J.A.

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.

J.A.

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!

Scops Owl 1
Scops Owl 2
Scops Owl 3

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.

On way back from Scops Owl twitch we stopped on good orchid area to see if flower season has started. Best season is clearly still a head. Only Lesser Butterfly-orchids were in full bloom.

There were lots of Broad-leaved Helleborine (Epipactis helleborine) stems. None of them had open flowers yet. After week or two should be good time to come again. In this area there are also totally chlorotic plants. This year there seemed to be fewer than before. I managed to find ten stems or stem groups. Many of them were very small and probable they wont flower at all. Few larger ones had buds. Hopefully there will be flowers this year. If summer is dry mushroom mycorrhiza cant feed plant enough and orchid won’t grow.

White Adder’s Mouth (Malaxis monophyllos) does not have good year. There has been forest cuts in its growing area. This time I managed to find only one plant and few leafs that might belong to this species. This growing site is not normal for this species. Usually it should grow in bogs, but here it grows in moist spot on rocky area.

In same spot there was several Frog Orchids (Coeloglossum viridae). I had missed this species before in this location.

First Heath Spotted Orchids had flowers too. Angular Solomon’s-seals do grow in rocky places.


European Common Twayblade is common in this area. Stems were big already and first flowers open. One of most visible pant in the area is Round-leaved Wintergreen that was in full bloom. There was several other Wintergreen species too.

During the trip we also visited forest of Northern Wolfsbane. This plant is very rare in Finland and there is only few spots were it grows. It grows up to two meters high. Most of plants had only buds, but luckily there were couple of stems that had open flowers.

Long-waited lifer

I needed some rest after a tough holiday so I didn’t do much birding. On the 18th of June we went to shopping to Savonlinna and on the way we went to photograph Lady’s-slipper Orchids in Kerimäki. In the evening I visited Siikalahti bird-tower but only better birds were a couple of Golden Orioles and an Icterine Warbler.

On the 19th of June we did an early morning trip to Kirjavala and Tyrjä area but couldn’t find anything else than 13 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, 2 Icterine Warblers and 3 Corn Crakes. In the evening we visited Siikalahti again and saw a male Gadwall and some migrating Wood Sandpipers, Ruffs and Greenshanks – and they were going towards south already.

On the 20th of June it had been raining whole day in Parikkala so I wasn’t birding at all. But then at 11:30 p.m. I received a message that there was a male Pacific Golden Plover with a female Golden Plover sp in Lappeenranta Joutseno Konnunsuo. I left immediately! On the half-way I started to call to the birders I expected to be there already and got info that the bird wasn’t visible from the bird-tower anymore but from Myllärinen road. After an hour driving I was there but could found only cars. Luckily Karri Kuitunen, who had been going over a huge ditch when he was going to identify the plover, came soon and told me that I had to walk 500m along to the place where the bird and twitchers were. And luckily the plovers were still there visible even though it was already getting very dark. Also a thick fog was covering the fields and soon it was too thick to see the birds anymore. I could see the birds for 10 minutes and I really had a feeling that the female was also a Pacific Golden Plover. Anyway I wanted to be sure so I decided to stay in the car for some hours and see if the birds were still there when the sun started to shine. Anyway it meant only a couple of hours wait. Of course there were some birders that had come too late so I didn’t have to wait alone.
More and more thwitchers started to arrive and finally after a couple of hours wait it started to get lighter but the fog was still too thick to see anything, but still we decided to walk back to the place where the bird had seen last.

Finally the fog started to get weaker and soon the birds were found! The male was again easy to identify but now when the birds were much further the female still stayed unidentifiable. So after some time we decided to get just a little bit closer to get some pictures and video of the female. We walked less than 100m when the birds were still maybe 400m from us. I decided to get some video already as it was now getting lighter all the time.

The birds were still feeding but then they stopped and surprisingly jumped to the air and left directly towards south-east. And when the birds were flying it was easy to tell that they both were Pacific Golden Plovers!

When we walked back to other twitchers we heard that a Montagu’s Harrier that had been on the fields for a couple of days had been flying towards the plovers and that was maybe why they had left. And I hadn’t seen a Montagu’s Harrier – not for years! So when the other twitchers started to leave I still stayed there until I finally saw a Montagu’s Harrier too. It was already 6 a.m. when I left towards Parikkala where I had to be at work at 7:30 a.m. On the way I still stopped a couple of times in Rautjärvi Simpele Kokkola-river but couldn’t find anything better.

But anyway I had finally got a Pacific Golden Plover as a WP-tick! There had been lots of them in Finland in 1996 but I was then in army so I missed it then

J.A.