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.
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
Lesser Butterfly-orchid is one of our most common orchids. It grows in Birch mixed forests having good soil. Esker slopes with nutrients are common areas too. These plants were in this kind of place, growing among other grove plants.
Lesser Butterfly-orchid has strong scent during nights. They try to attract moths and hawk moths with this smell.
Earlier I have sawn only this plant without flowers. We found this location couple of years ago, but then it was late in summer and only big leafs were visible. Last year we attempted to visit site too late. This year timing was perfect and flowering was its best.
Lady’s-slipper orchid is big orchid species. These attracts wild bees that fall inside flower. There is only one way out and while bee is crawling out from hole in back of flower it is covered by pollen.
Lady’s-slipper orchid grow in calcareous soils that are rare in Finland. This orchid has been protected for years but still growing sites are kept as secrets. Wild plants do not grow well in gardens, but still there is people who will try to move these big orchids to their gardens.
In same forest there was also singing Red-breasted Flycather and Wren. We also found Tau emperor moth resting on twig. This fresh female was still drying its wings. Pine Hawk-moth was older having missing scales on its wings.
After the week tour with a British group I was in Tampere without any plans what to do next. I had still more than a week holiday left before a military refresher course. So I decided to drive towards Oulu anyway; it’s too long I’ve been there more than one day. There are many good birding places and of course many friends and also relatives to see. But I was too tired to drive straight until Oulu, so my first goal was to get to Jyväskylä where a Baikal Teal had been found.
Somehow I managed to drive until Jyväskylä Manunsaari where the Baikal Teal had been seen. It had been seen just 5 minutes before I got there but it had swum to a reed-bed on the other side of the lake. I met my old friend Antti Pesola there and he had also missed the bird by a couple of minutes. As he was in a hurry to go to twitch another lifer, a Red-rumped Swallow to Espoo, he decided to drive to the other side of the lake to see if the duck was visible there. I decided to follow him so after 12 kilometres drive we found the exact place. We started to scan the reed-bed and then a couple of Mallards flushed just in front of us, and 2 other Mallards and a Baikal Teal followed them even though they were more than 200 metres from us. All the ducks flew over us and disappeared behind the closest trees. We ran after them but couldn’t see then on the lake. Antti managed to see one Mallard climbing to an island far on the other side of the lake so we thought that the Baikal Teal was also there. And the bird was found again soon.
But I was too tired to do anything anymore. But it was just the same where I was going to rest, so I joined Antti and Matti Tuunanen and tried to sleep on back-seat of Antti’s car. I managed to sleep only a little but surprisingly soon we were in Espoo Laajalahti where we walked to Maari bird-tower. There were plenty of twitchers and in a couple of minutes we found a Red-rumped Swallow from the flock of Swallows, House Martins and Sand Martins. We also saw 16 Broad-billed Sandpipers, 2 Gadwalls, 2 Slavonian Grebes, 2 Temminck’s Stints and heard a Reed Warbler there. I also saw briefly a Wagtail that probably was a female Citrine Wagtail but the light was too bad to that direction. Soon we continued to the other side of the bay where in Elfvik we twitched a Bushchat Shrike. So it was the 3rd second for me in Finland during the day! A Corn Crake was calling and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was seen there too. Pretty soon we were on the way back to Jyväskylä again.
Again I tried to sleep on the way but I couldn’t. Before Jyväskylä we stopped in Joutsa Rusila fish-pools where we twitched a Mandarin Duck. Finally we were in Jyväskylä and I felt even more tired than when we had left. So I just drove my car to Manunsaari and went to sleep to the back-seat. I’d try to get pictures of Baikal Teal when I’d wake up.
On the 31st of May I woke up at 5 a.m. and met some Baikal Teal twitchers – the bird had been missing for more than 10 hours, last evening there had been 30 searchers and all the regular places had been checked. So I decided to drive to check the place where we had seen the bird on previous afternoon – it wasn’t one of the regular places I thought. I couldn’t find the bird from the reed-bed but I decided to check the regular places by scope as they were very well visible from this place – and there the bird was in its regular place, just under a jetty. Soon it started to swim and swam behind the island. I put the message out and decided to drive back to Manunsaari to get the pictures I wanted. Soon the bird was found again and I managed to get some pretty good shots before it again swam to the wrong side of the island.
Tauvo
I was happy to leave Jyväskylä and continued towards north. I had decided to drive to Siikajoki Tauvo bird-ringing-station. I had already called to a ringer Matti Tynjälä and he warmly welcomed me there.
I was already in Siikajoki when I got a message about a possible Steppe Eagle in Kalajoki. I decided to drive to Alhonmäki to see if it comes there. So I spent there 3 hours and saw a young Golden Eagle, a Honey Buzzard, a Goshawk, 2 Sparrowhawks and a Common Buzzard but nothing else. Then I continued to Tauvo where I carried my luggage to the station and went to sleep.
I woke up after a couple of hours and left to walk around the protected Ulkonokka spit. Once I reached the shore I saw a strange 3rd calendar year harrier flying straight away from me. It was just gray upper side and there were no clear black wing-tips on under side either. I was sure it was a Pallid or Montagu’s Harrier but I hoped to see it better later.
I walked around the spit for 3 hours and saw 6 Little Terns, 3 Shelducks, a Turn Stone, family of Greylag Geese, 10 Ringed Plovers, 2 Dunlins, 10 Temminck’s Stints, a Red-backed Shrike and so on. When I got back to the station Matti had put up the mist-nets and started to check them every hour. It was surprisingly quiet on the mist-nets so I went to sleep for a couple of hours again.
The 1st of June. And I slept too long – I woke up after 5 a.m. but luckily there hadn’t been any hurry with the birds on mist-nets and I hadn’t missed anything better. During the morning we caught a Blackbird, a Chiffchaff, a Common Rosefinch, a Yellowhammer, a Siskin, a Redpoll and some more common species. The best bird of the morning was a Sedge Warbler with a Croatian ring! Every hour I spent 15 minutes in a bird-tower and heard a Willow Grouse and a Bittern and saw a Three-toed Woodpecker, 7 Broad-billed Sandpiper and a migrating Hawk Owl! It was really migrating north-east high on the sky! I also saw the same harrier again and now identified it as a Pallid Harrier. It was very far but I managed to see it well enough.
After a good day-sleep I went again to Ulkonokka. Of course the harrier wasn’t seen there, but in Munahieta I found another rarity – a Little Bunting! Also a Water Rail that was calling in same place was a local rarity. Other birds were pretty much the same than day earlier: 3 Shelducks, 3 Arctic Skuas, 2 Red-necked Phalaropes, 2 Broad-billed Sandpipers, but then weather changed and a thick fog covered everything. So I walked back to the station and then it started to rain too.
On the 2nd of June I had managed to change my rhythm totally – now I was awake at night and sleeping the day. I was making all the mist-net rounds but because of the wet weather there weren’t many birds. Luckily in the morning the bushes started to get dry and the birds started to move. Some better birds we caught were a White Wagtail, 2 Common Rosefinches and a couple of Whinchats. During the day we caught 65 birds + 13 controls.
After a short sleep I went to Ulkonokka again. The water was very high so I had to take my wellingtons away a couple of times and wade. Anyway I managed to get my wellingtons wet. Best birds were 16 Broad-billed Sandpipers, 2 Turnstones, 2 Red-necked Phalaropes, 2 Arctic Skuas, 3 Shelducks, a Garganey, a White-tailed Eagle and a Water Rail. It really is a long walk – 7 kilometres – to go around the Ulkonokka spit.
In the evening I slept again and woke up when the mist-nets were up again. The best birds during the night were a Blackcap and a Snipe. I also climbed to the tower a couple of times but saw only 7 Broad-billed Sandpipers and a couple of Little Terns.
At morning Mikko and Liisa Ojanen arrived and after some chatting with them I decided to leave to Oulu. On the way I checked Vartti fields but the wind was so hard that there was nothing to see. I also stopped in Liminka Virkkula where we birded together with a guide Antti Vierimaa for a couple of hours and saw 3 White-tailed Eagles, but not a Sandwiched Tern that Antti had seen on the previous day. In the afternoon I drove to Oulu to my brother Riku.
Gull-billed Tern
On the 4th of June I didn’t really do birding but when I was still shopping in Oulu Antti called me that a Sandwiched Tern was back in Virkkula. So I drove there immediately and the bird was luckily still there when I got to the bird-tower. It had just flight to a bay where it wasn’t visible but after a couple of minutes we saw it. The bird was flying along the shore but then suddenly started to get higher and higher to the sky. It was extremely far, maybe 2.5 kilometres from us but when it got very fast back down I started to see some identification marks of it – and it really didn’t look like a Sandwiched Tern to me! Soon other twitchers came too and I told them that someone should drive soon to Puhkiavanperä bird-tower which was much closer to the bird than we were – as I thought the bird was the 3rd Gull-billed Tern for Finland! Soon a couple of birders left there and I also decided to follow them. They managed to get to the tower before me and the bird was a Gull-billed Tern! I had still 100 metres to the tower when I heard a familiar call just some metres from me – a Penduline Tit was calling 6 times but I couldn’t find the bird. I called to the twitchers about the tit and continued to tower. The Penduline Tit called 3 times more but the twitchers didn’t see it either, but the Gull-billed Tern was missing. Antti still saw it a couple of times from Virkkula but I never saw it again. Luckily on the next day twitchers managed to see it again!
Hailuoto
On the 5th of June we left to birding to Hailuoto with Antti. In Oulunsalo Riuttu we saw 2 male Gadwalls while waiting for the ferry. At 7:30 a.m. our ferry left and from the ferry we saw a Turnstone and 4 Cormorants. In Hailuoto Huikku we saw the first 2 Shelducks and later during the day we saw 29 Shelducks. We visited Potinlahti, Karvonlahti, Ulkokarvo, Patelanselkä, Kirkkosalmi but didn’t really find anything special: a couple of adult White-tailed Eagles, a Honey Buzzard, a Turnstone and 20 Gadwalls. At 2 p.m. we took a ferry back and checked Oulunsalo Akionlahti and Oulu Kiviniemi on the way back to Oulu but found nothing better.
On the 6th of June we tried to find a Gull-billed Tern in Liminka with “potu” Suojarinne, but without luck. We checked Puhkiavanperä, Sannanlahti and Karvonlahti while Antti was in Virkkula but didn’t find anything else than a couple of Red-backed Shrikes and a Caspian Tern, Potu still continued until next day but he wasn’t lucky – the bird wasn’t seen anymore.
Military refresher course
On the 7th of June my military refresh course started in Oulu Hiukkavaara. The weather was awful hot – more than 30 degrees and there were too many insects, but we had a great group so 4 days went pretty quickly. I eve managed to see some birds: Green Sandpipers, Parrot Crossbills, a Honey Buzzard, a Black Woodpecker and then I amazingly heard a Bee-eater! Unfortunately I couldn’t find it from the blue sky. Im must also say that a call of Cuckoo is never the same again. They were calling all the time!
Last days of holiday
On the 10th of June the course ended and after some shopping I decided to drive back to Parikkala so I could relax and do some easy birding in there too on my last free days. In the evening I went to listen to a River Warbler to Moskuunniemi and at night I did a short night-singer-trip and I heard Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Corn Crakes, Spotted Crakes and a Nightjar.
On the 11th of July we guided a familiar Ponc Feliu and his family. Hanna had already been birding with him but during the day we still had some species to find. First we drove to Punkaharju Laakkii where Hanna’s brother Miika had found a nest of Grey-headed Woodpecker a couple of days earlier. On the way to the nest we walked through a beautiful meadow and forest to a lake and we had a Red-backed Shrike, a Black-throated Diver, an Icterine Warbler, Wood Warblers, Bullfinches, a Marsh Warbler, a Blackcap, Treecreeper and so on. But on the nest we had to wait for an hour before a female Grey-headed Woodpecker came to feed the nestlings.
Later we still went to ring the Ural Owl nestlings that had been too small on our last visit. Unfortunately another of the smaller sisters had been eaten by the bigger ones.
On the last day of my holiday I went to count night-singers to Siikalahti. I found 8 Reed Warblers, 5 Spotted Crakes and 7 Water Rails but not any Little Crakes, Savi’s Warblers or other rarities I was hoping for. A Long-eared Owl was carrying a prey to its nestlings in Kaukola where also a River Warbler was singing. Also some Corn Crakes, many Blyth’s Reed Warblers and Thrush Nightingales and a Golden Oriole and a Nightjar were also heard. The rest of the day I just relaxed so I’d be able to get back work on the next day. I had been birding a lot on my 3.5 weeks holiday! I had seen 214 species in that time in Finland!
We met Gavin in Foula trip and we already discussed then that when he comes to Finland we will show his target birds for him. I had chance to go birding with Gavin and Sharon for 3 days. Firs we went to see Ural and Tengmalm´s Owls. After heavy dinner we were ready to go to sleep. Alarm clock wake us up before sunrise. We visited several birding sites good for night singers and after sun rice we searched birds that are most active during mornings. We heard and saw many Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Thrush nightingales, pair of White-backed Woodpeckers, Icterine warbler and many more common birds. Forest birding produced huge male Capercaillie, Hazel grouses and Red-breasted Flycatcher. Temperature rose up to 28°C and we were ready to sleep.
After sleeping several hours we woke up to continue our journey towards North-Karelia. On the way we stopped in Pohjanranta bird tower and our good field areas. Gavin was happy to see 3 Hen Harriers on their breeding field. We stopped also in good tall forest were Great Grey Owl female was laying besides its nestling. Temperature was very high and we were wondering what rarities this wind might bring.
In Värtsilä we made stop on Great Snipe lecking area. These birds did not show up in middle of afternoon, but we saw very nice and tame Ruff on same field. We arrived to Kitsi late in the evening in same time when cold front arrived with some rain showers. Our accommodation was in nice old rustic school building.
In morning Sharon continued sleeping white I and Gavin left to forest birding. We arrived Hemminvaara hill before sun rise. Three Toed Woodpeckers had started incubating and thus they were silent, but Greenish warbler, Red Flancked bluetail and several Red-breasted Flycatchers were singing nicely.
After our lunch time breakfast we decided to go walking in Patvinsuo National park. Crazy Willow Grouse did not show up even with shoe attrapp. There was lots of waders calling along the wooden trail and adder laying on trail. Back in Kitsi we had very good Elk stew as dinner and after we were ready to sleep.
Bog-Rosemary was flowering everywhere in Patvinsuo National park.
Next morning our target location was Autiovaara trail in very good old growth forest. Weather was not very good so we walked this trail almost twice. There was several Red-Breasted flycatchers, Bluetail, other forest birds and only couple of times drumming Three-toed Woodpecker.
After Autiovaara Gavin and Sharon left towards Martinselkonen, to see bears and Hawk Owls. I came back home from Joensuu.
