. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

The trip begins

On the 23rd of May I started my way to Tampere at 6:00 a.m. and I drove straight until Hervanta where I left my car to a garage and then took a taxi to Pirkkala airport. After some waiting the British group, that I was about to guide for the next 8 days around “Southern” Finland, came with their luggage and after they had got their rental Opel Astra, we were ready to go.
The group was Sean Minns, who had contacted Hanna and then gathered a group from BirdForum users, David Bruce, Dave Bywater and Robert Ulph. The age of the group was from 39 to 64 years.
The weather was very bad, windy and rainy, so we after some shopping we started to drive straight to Oulu.

On the way we didn’t really see many birds: of course some Whooper Swans, Cranes and Black-throated Divers and so on, but the first stop was made only when it was necessary. So we stopped in Kärsämäki just for a leak, but it was a good stop as there was a Hazel Hen singing on the closest trees. I used my mp3-player and soon the Hazel Hen flew over us and landed to a tree where we could see it pretty well! It was already getting late so we hadn’t got any serious plans for the day except to get to Liminka. So we decided to try to twitch a Whiskered Tern in Utajärvi Ahmasjärvi as it would have been a Finnish lifer for me. But unfortunately the bird had disappeared once we got there. Anyway we saw some birds like a flock of Bean Geese and of course many birders that had also came there too late. Soon we continued to Oulu.

In Oulu we drove to Terek Sandpiper places where we met my old friend Antti Vierimaa who gave us a key to old information centre of Liminkabay. Antti was working as a guide in Virkkula, so he helped us to get a roof over us as the weather was still very bad. After some waiting the Terek Sandpiper started to call and soon we found it perched on a small hill. What a good bird! This species is so rare nowadays that you never know when it is the last time you see it! Soon we continued to Liminka where we went straight to sleep to the floor of the information centre. Of course we all had good mattresses and sleeping bags as the group had wanted to camp during the trip and so keep the costs down.

On the 24th of May part of the group had awaken early and they had seen some good birds like a Peregrine, Short-eared Owls, Common Rosefinch, Bluethroat, Bean Goose and so on. Luckily most of the species were found again with the rest of us too. A couple of Barnacle Geese, Black-tailed Godwits, 4 White-tailed Eagles, a Garganey, 2 Smews and so on were also seen before we continued our way.

On the way to Oulunsalo we found the first singing Ortolan Bunting and in Letto we tried to find a Hawk Owl that had been seen on the previous morning. But the wind was still extremely strong so it wasn’t a surprise that only a Sparrowhawk and a Common Rosefinch were found. In midday we met Pentti Hukkanen in Oulu and we continued with him to Kiiminki to see owls! Pentti is an old friend of my parents so he is always happy to help me with the owls that he and his son Markku really love!
On the way we saw a male Hen Harrier and surprisingly already our first Reindeers! After some walk in a deep spruce-forest we found the nest that we were looking for – a stunning Great Grey Owl female was looking at us from the nest! It was one of the main target-species of the trip!

After some time Pentti asked me to use mp3-player if the male would come to visible too and I carefully played a couple of tunes of a Great Grey Owl, first nothing happened, but then we noticed a raptor flying right over us – a male Pallid Harrier had came to see the owl! Amazing! And this wasn’t yet enough; soon we noticed that a male Great Grey Owl was also perched just on one of the closest trees! So after some photographing we were happy to leave these owls and walked back to the cars.
Then we walked some hundreds of metres to another direction where we checked a hole in the tree where a Pygmy Owl was breeding, but it was impossible to see to the nest and the male wasn’t found – we only heard female calling from the nest. So we had to continue to another nest of Pygmy Owl.

On the way we saw a Pheasant and checked one old Eagle Owl nest which unfortunately was empty this year but soon we were walking in a forest again. Now we had a Pygmy Owl nest-box and there was a female with 5 nestlings and still 2 eggs.

Soon we said thanks and goodbyes to Pentti and continued towards Kuusamo. We had planned to visit Ahmasjärvi and Whiskered Tern again as it had been again in the lake whole day but unfortunately soon it disappeared again so (luckily) we could stay on the main road on keep on driving. We stopped shortly in Ylikiiminki Hirvisuo where only a female Hen Harrier was seen before continued to Taivalkoski Lampilehto where a ringer I didn’t know had reported a family of Hawk Owls on the previous day. It was a long way but luckily we managed to find the right place with help of a GPS I had. The weather was still very windy but soon we found the first adult Hawk Owl and soon also another one and after some waiting we started to hear calls of youngsters too.

So we photographed these amazing birds and while we were photographing youngsters the adults were carrying food for the other youngsters. We found 3 youngsters from the trees and one was still in the nest-hole high on the tree. What amazing birds! But it was already getting late so we had to continue towards Kuusamo.

Kuusamo

On the way we still saw an Elk and more Reindeers and in Kuusamo Ruka we found a couple of Willow Grouses along the road! It was already very late and it was again raining but still I decided that we should overnight in Valtavaara. On of us decided to sleep in a car but the rest of us climbed up to Valtavaara and camped there. Luckily it wasn’t raining too heavily so we managed to go to sleep dry. Even though the climbing was a little bit too hard, I was sure it was the right place to wake up next morning!

25th of May. The night was very wet but luckily it wasn’t raining at all when we woke up. And why we woke up – a Red-flanked Bluetail was singing just above our tent! Unfortunately the bird was very mobile and it stopped singing soon, so we didn’t manage to see it at all. With Sean and Dave we packed our tents soon while Rob decided to sleep a little bit more. David was up also when we were back in Konttainen parking place. He had managed to see Willow Grouses just in front of the car earlier. Soon we found a family of Siberian Jays and some Parrot Crossbills were heard too. I climbed back up to Valtavaara to help Rob with his packing. When we were again down Sean and Dave had seen a female Capercaillie and Dave and David had seen a Pygmy Owl! We still continued birding around the hills as the group had different interests and different styles of birding and we found a couple of more families of Siberian Jays, 3 Red-flanked Bluetails, but only David managed to see one female well, a Red-throated Diver flew over us and other birds were a Wren, a Chiffchaff, a Dunnock, Bullfinches, singing Hazel Hens and so on.

After some hours birding in Valtavaara and Konttainen we continued to Vuotunki bird-tower which is a good place for buntings and also many other birds. We found 23 Velvet Scoters which one of them looked amazingly just like a Steller’s Eider until it finally woke up and showed its wings! A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and an Osprey were seen and a Rustic Bunting heard “ticking” but then it started to rain very heavily, so we decided to continue towards Oulanka National Park.

On the way to Oulanka we saw a Dipper and in Oulanka we first walked to Kiutaköngäs rapid where a Grey Wagtail was heard once. Then we spent an hour in forest where we after some searching found beautiful Calypso Orchids. Sean saw a Ural Owl briefly but it wasn’t found again. A couple of Crested Tits were also heard before we continued back towards Kuusamo city.

In Ruka we saw a Waxwing perched on the top of a spruce and then we continued to a traditional area to search a nest-box of a Siberian Tit. We had met Pentti’s son Markku who was leading a Finnature group and he had his own Siberian Tit studies in Kuusamo so he could give us notes how to find the right nest-boxes and after some searching we finally found one where was a female Siberian Tit still incubating its eggs. We left the Siberian Tit soon and found a stunning Black Woodpecker while walking back to our car

In the evening we still checked Kuusamo rubbish tip where we found lots of Lesser Black-backed Gulls, 6 Heuglin’s Gulls, a Great Black-backed Gull, a Temminck’s Stint and a young White-tailed Eagle flew over us.

In Säynäjäperä we stopped to check a traditional Little Bunting place and surprisingly saw a Tengmalm’s Owl flying to one of the Smew nest-boxes with a prey – it was breeding there! Also a Marsh Harrier and some Red-necked Grebes were seen.

It was again very late when we were heading to our camping place to Iivaara. On the way we saw 2 male Black Grouses but finally we were in Iivaara parking place where we made a camp to the forest and started to sleep.

26th of May. Some of the group had again awaken earlier and already seen and heard a Rustic Bunting on the Rajalampi river but luckily the bird stayed active and we all managed to see it well.
Soon we started to walk towards Iivaara hill. The forests were surprisingly quiet, only several big flocks of Common Crossbills with some odd Parrot Crossbill were heard. I was the first one to reach the top of Iivaara while the rest were resting a little bit lower along the track. And almost the first birds I found were a male and a female Two-barred Crossbill!

I whistled and shouted and luckily Rob managed to hear me and ran to see the birds and while Rob stayed there I went to find the rest of the group. Luckily the birds stayed there long enough that we all managed to see them well.
Later we found also the fledlings of Two-barred Crossbills and these sleepy birds let us photograph themselves from just some metres. While we were photographing them we heard a Pine Grosbeak singing and soon we were photographing a young male singing on the top of a spruce! What a visit to Iivaara again!

While we were walking back down to our camp a heavy hail-storm hit us! All but Rob managed to get tents and other stuff to a car before getting absolutely wet and luckily Rob had very good quality equipments so getting them wet didn’t really matter.

North Karelia

Then we had another long drive in front of us. We started do drive towards North Karelia and Lieksa Kitsi. The weather was again very rainy so we didn’t really have any opportunity to do any birding on the way. We did stop to watch a funny Silent people -artwork and of course did some shopping for the next 2 days as we knew there were no shops where we’re going.

Finally we parked to Loma-Kitsi where we had rooms in an old school building. From the garden we found a male Red-backed Shrike and a couple of Common Rosefinches before we had a good Elk-soup, good Finnish sauna and went to sleep.

On the 27th of May we woke up before 6 a.m. again. Just outside the building we found a couple of Wood Warblers, a Hazel Hen and a Blyth’s Reed Warbler which unfortunately left to continue its migration. Soon we were on our way to our next target Hemminvaara.

When we had parked our car and were taking all our equipments out, we already heard the first Greenish Warbler singing. This bird we also managed to attract closer to get photographed. We walked in the forests for a couple of hours and found 2 more Greenish Warblers, one more Red-flanked Bluetail that we didn’t manage to see, a nice singing adult male Red-breasted Flycatcher, several Three-toed Woodpeckers, a Honey Buzzard, a Goshawk, Wood Warbler and much more. So we got several important target species again!

Our next place was long Teretti path which lead to a bird-tower into the middle of big bogs, but as we didn’t have enough time we decided to walk just as far as we had time. Waders were surprisingly quiet so we heard only some Wood Sandpipers and Whimbrels, but some of us saw briefly an eagle flying low in a haze and disappearing soon – it might have been a Greater Spotted Eagle – for sure not a White-tailed Eagle but an Aquila. We also 3 Willow Grouses which one of them was defending its territory very aggressively! It was really attacking to us!

Its main targets were Rob’s shoes so we all managed to get good pictures and videos and of course good laugh before we let this poor bird to its territory. But soon we had to turn back, before we had reached to bird-tower, as we had to hurry to Erä-Eero where we were supposed to be at 3 p.m.

Erä-Eero hide

We were just in time in Erä-Eero cottage where we met Eero and another guide. After some coffee and Karelian pies we got information about the hide and how to act there. Eero luckily remembered me and it was ok that we didn’t need any other guide than me. So soon we drove to the hide following Eero who still had to come to hide all the meat for large beasts.

Just after 5 p.m. Eero left and we stayed in photographers hide and started to wait something to happen. First we practised our camera-settings with Common and Herring Gulls and a pair of Great Spotted Woodpeckers that were feeding with meat just in front of us.

But already before 7 p.m. a Wolverine came slowly visible to another side of the lake. It stopped to the shore and watched and sniffed to the air but soon it continued to a tree that lead over the river towards us! It came slowly closer and closer and finally started to search for food from the places it had used to find the meat that Eero had hidden. It didn’t take long when it found some meat and carried it back to where it had come from. But surprisingly it stopped under a spruce and started to eat the meat and after some time it came to get another piece of meat. Now it had to come even closer so we managed to get very good quality pictures of it!

I had given very strict instruction how we should act in a hide but anyway we were maybe a little bit too noisy so Ravens never came to get their pieces of meat. Maybe that was the reason that Brown Bears didn’t come either. David maybe saw one Bear briefly but too far in the forest to make sure what it really was. We had to also wait for Wolverines for several hours before the first visit but finally at 11 p.m. a Wolverine came to get its meat. This Wolverine was much smaller than the first one but it was already too dark to get any pictures.

28th of May. At 1:00 a.m. another Wolverine came to search for food but after that it was very quiet for a long time. Every one of us slept for some time – some longer and me only a couple of hours. There was a good snoring in a hide so it wasn’t anymore possible to see any bears. But Wolverine came still once at 4:30 but after that I also went to sleep again. Sean had still seen a Wolverine once at 6 a.m. so altogether we had seen a Wolverine 6 times – we weren’t sure if there had been 2 or 3 animals.

The group had been sleeping so well that I decided to change the plans as I was maybe the only almost too tired to continue, so we drove to Autiovaara. We walked around this 3 kilometres long path and finally found a 2nd calendar year Red-flanked Bluetail that we managed to see well. We also found 3 Red-breasted Flycatchers, 2 Wrens, a Hazel Hen and so on.

After finishing a breakfast in a parking place, we had a long drive to Tohmajärvi Värtsilä Sääperi. It was raining again very heavily but when we reached Sääperi it stopped. So we continued straight to a Great Snipe place as I had got information that they had been lekking during the day too. We were just walking along the field-road when 3 Great Snipes flushed some 30 metres from us and flew just over us and continued to different directions. Right after this it started to rain again, which was probably a reason why the birds had left – they probably wanted to get somewhere under a willow to escape the heavy rain or something. We still heard a Thrush Nightingale and a Grasshopper Warbler singing but the heavy rain forced us back to the car. We had seen the Great Snipes much easier than I had expected and the heavy rain was causing that they weren’t coming back to lek very soon, so we decided to start driving towards Parikkala right away and save some time for the rest of the trip.

In Parikkala

Our group started to be extremely tired so I made a decision and called to Hanna that she’d ask a cottage for the next 2 nights we still had left. None of the group looked like that they’d like to be in a tent any more nights. So Hanna arranged a big cottage, or maybe more like a villa, from Loikonsaari. We managed to keep the costs down as we didn’t take any bed-clothes or towels. The villa was the biggest and best in whole Parikkala and it is the one where Russian politicians are staying when they visit Parikkala on their holidays. So it’d have been much more expensive than it now was, but we have good contacts to the owner.
On the way to Parikkala David wasn’t too tired yet as he found a perched Ural Owl while we were driving 100km/h. The bird stayed there long enough that we all managed to see it, but not enough to stay photographable.
We also stopped in Parikkala Saari Akanvaara Tetrisuo where we saw 29 Black Grouses, 2 Ortolan Buntings and 2 female Hen Harriers and in Pohjanranta bird-tower where we saw a flock of Barnacle Geese before we continued to Loikonsaari.
The owner Matti Kähkönen still showed us some things in a villa and then I left the group there and drove to home to sleep.

29th of May. We were back in Loikonsaari with Hanna at 6 a.m. and the group was already ready (which surprised me ! Soon we were on our way to Siikalahti, but on the way we stopped in Särkisalmi where we heard several Thrush Nightingales and Blyth’s Reed Warblers and a Marsh Warbler. In Siikalahti dam-road we heard a couple of Spotted Crakes and surprisingly we even saw one bird flying from a reedbed to another. Also a Bittern flew over us. A Canada Goose, Slavonian Grebes and Pochards were of course seen and Water Rails heard too.
Soon we continued towards Sammallampi which is always a good place to find the first Corn Crakes of the year and the first Corn Crake was heard in a couple of minutes. A Golden Oriole was also heard. Unfortunately we couldn’t see a Corn Crake so we continued towards Suurisuo where we found another one but it also came quiet when we tried mp3-player and even more quiet when we tried to flush it.

Next we continued to a nest of a White-backed Woodpecker that Hanna had found a day earlier. Big nestlings were begging food from a couple there! We also saw and heard a Grey-headed Woodpecker very briefly in same place.

Next we continued to a Tengmalm’s Owl nest-box from where we had already ringed 3 bigger nestlings but there had been still one more, too small nestling to ring. But now the sisters had eaten the smallest one so there was nothing to ring anymore. In Tyrjä we checked a Ural Owl nest-box where surprisingly was a female still incubating an egg! The nesting must have been destroyed for some reason as there had been 2 eggs a month earlier.

Then we all started to feel too tired to continue so we drove to Loikonsaari and arranged to meet there again at 4 p.m. I must say that during the morning we had heard 25 Blyth’s Reed Warblers and 7 Thrush Nightingales and of course we had managed to see some of them well.

After some sleeping at 4 p.m. we were birding again. We headed again to Siikalahti where we had an Ortolan Bunting singing in a parking place and a Wryneck next to an information centre. But it was surprisingly quiet in a bird-tower. So soon we continued to ring some more Ural Owl nestlings. Our old crazy Ural Owl mama was as aggressive as always but I managed to get the nestlings to the car where we ringed them easily. I also managed to get the nestlings back to the nest-box easily but when I was closing the roof of the nest-box the mom-owl hit to my soft fireman-helmet very hard. Luckily we both were uninjured, but at least the group believed me as I had told that the most dangerous animal in Finland is a Ural Owl – not a Brown Bear! At least Ural Owl is the only animal I am afraid of…

In Rautalahti we counted 80 Whooper Swans and saw the first Long-eared Owl of the trip and also for the year. On the next Ural Owl nest the mom-owl was very shy so we hardly saw it at all. 2 nestlings were ringed but 2 were still too small to ring.

We still continued to Punkaharju to one small lake where a Red-throated Diver was again breeding. We didn’t go close at all as the breeding seemed not to be in the island it usually is. So maybe the nest was on the shore? So we just enjoyed good views of another adult swimming on the lake by telescope before we left back to Parikkala. We still twitched a pair of Long-tailed Tits that surprisingly was in the same place than a couple of months earlier when we had been checking the owl nest-boxes. After we had seen a couple of male Red-backed Shrikes we were ready go back to the villa. We warmed up the good wood-sauna for the group and left them to do packing and have sauna and sleep and drove to our home to sleep.

The end of tour

On the 30th of May we were ready to leave again towards Tampere at 6:15 a.m. We had planned only one stop on the way which was made in Lappeenranta Joutseno Kotasaari. After walking 1.5 kilometres from the main road to the pools, we found first 2 Little Ringed Plovers and after some searching also 11 Broad-billed Sandpipers! So David had got a lifer for each day of the trip!

At midday we were in Tampere where we got my car from the garage and continued towards Pirkkala airport. After seeing 167 species, including all target owls, woodpeckers, grouses, Red-flanked Bluetail, Siberian Tit, Siberian Jay, Great Snipes, Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Thrush Nightingales, Pallid Harrier and much more in a week it was time say goodbye to the group. Only target species that we had missed were Little Bunting, Arctic Warbler and Red-necked Phalarope – the 2 first ones hadn’t been seen in whole country yet and the last one I didn’t know any place where to see it easily without wellingtons – thanks to Ryan Air the group didn’t have them. So it wasn’t a surprise that at least some of the group said that this had been the best birding trip they had ever done – and these guys had been travelling a lot!

But after all, I had still a long holiday to do birding! And staying in Tampere wasn’t a part of my plan – so I hit the road again!

J.A.

White-backed Woodpecker is endangered and specially protected species. Finnish population is estimated to be 120-180 pairs. Most of them breed along eastern border area. Their favourite habitat is in this area dying, water harmed shore forest of Alders, Aspens and Birch. When these trees grow in too wet places they cant fight against insects. White-backed Woodpecker eats insects during winters too and they can’t change their diet to seeds as Great-spotted Woodpeckers do. There is winter feeding with pork skins to reduce winter mortality of White-backed Woodpeckers. Many of Finland’s White-backed Woodpeckers are colour ringed during last decades. This ringing program has provided lots of information of their behaviour, movements and life.

I had promised to be assistant in ringing. Kimmo Martiskainen and Anniina Kontiokorpi try to ring all nestlings of White-backed Woodpeckers in Parikkala and surrounding regions. In this nest there was a risk that large nestlings will escape from nest and fly to all directions. Collecting them and taking them back to nest would be huge work for one person.

Kimmo uses pole climber shoes that electric workers use when they have to get up to electric poles. He climbed up and angled nestlings out.

Anniina did ringing on ground. Every ringed White-backed Woodpecker gets individual colour rings. These rings can be checked from distance with telescope. Another ring is colored very light aluminium ring and to another leg they get 2 plastic rings.

It is possible to sex nestlings this size from redness of their head. After ringing Kimmo will put nestling back towards to door of nest. Nestling will back to nest hole. When ringer has climbed down and collected tools, parent woodpeckers will start to feed their young’s right a way.

This time nestlings did not try to escape, so my assistance was not actually needed. White-backed woodpecker is our finest woodpecker species and one my favourite birds. Participating ringing was great experience. H.A.

To Virolahti

On the 17th of May my long-waited holiday finally started and I left to Virolahti to watch arctic migration. On the way I stopped in Lappeenranta Joutseno Konnunsuo where only 2 Short-eared Owls and a Hen Harrier were seen. In Miehikkälä I still saw a female Capercaillie and after some shopping in Virojoki I continued to Virolahti Lintulahti bird-tower. After a coupel of minutes waiting I heard a Savi’s Warbler singing – the bird had been found a couple of days earlier, but it had been very difficult to hear, so I was lucky to hear it almost immediately. Also a couple of Caspian Terns were seen as a year-tick.
Soon I continued to Lakakallio where many birders that come to see arctic migration every spring already were. In the evening there was almost no visible migration but in the darkness we could hear almost continuous calling of Common Scoters from the sky.

Ristisaari twitch

On the 18th of May the weather was very bad. The fog was very thick so there was less than 100 metres visibility. Only a tailless Wood Lark and a small flock of Common Crossbills were seen in the first hour. So when a message came about an Iberian Chiffchaff that had been found on the previous day but was still in Ristisaari, it was an easy decision, we’re going! With Matti Sulko and Markku Lund we managed to get places to the first boat to this island and soon we’re driving towards Kotka Sapokka harbour.
In a harbour there were 65 twitchers and soon we were on a big boat and going towards my first ever big island twitch! The sea was still foggy but still we managed to see an Arctic Skua and a Razorbill on the way.

Close to Ristisaari there was a smaller boat waiting for us so we managed to get to the shore easily. First half of the twitchers were already going towards the place where an Iberian Chiffchaff still had been singing. We had about a kilometre walk to a place where one of the founders of the bird told where the bird was and there the first group had already heard the bird calling and then they had stopped about 30 metres before the edge of the trees to wait and listen.
But then it was silent. A Chiffchaff, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Wood Warbler and a Garden Warbler were seen and some maybe saw the right bird too, but it was always behind the branches or something. A Wren was singing and also 2 nice male Red-breasted Flycatchers were making similar calls than Iberian Chiffchaff, but finally I was sure I heard the right bird calling too and soon some twitchers saw it on the top of one tree. But still I couldn’t find it but now we knew in which tree it used to come, so we started to plan mist-netting it. We all knew that it was necessary to catch the bird to make its identification sure, so after some planning we were putting up the mist-nets with two other Twitchers association executive committee members. Soon we were ready and had also a mp3-player playing under the mist-net. I was on the one end of the mist-nets and Jörgen Palmgren, the ringer, on another end. Soon the bird came to the tops of trees just over us and started calling and singing! It started to fly over the mist-net but always too high, but slowly it came lower and finally it was in the mist-net! “Jösse” ran faster than anyone expected and soon the bird was in his hand! And very soon he was taking the measurements and I was writing them down. As every good birder know many measurements are needed to make sure the identification of an Iberian Chiffchaff, but “Jösse” made it very quickly, actually I had problems to write all the information down that quickly. DNA-samples were also taken (3 feathers) and then the bird was of course photographed well. The whole situation lasted about 30 minutes which is less than a normal ringing takes time in a ringing station for example. But like many times when all the measurements have been taken the bird was not able to fly when it was released. I was sure it was because of the many maximum measurements of the flight feathers and of course a small bird can be a little bit shocked. Anyway I was sure it was flying again soon.

Unfortunately we couldn’t stay following the bird as our boat was coming to get us back to the bigger boat, so we had to hurry.
Of course we all felt uncertain about the birds wealth while we were walking back to the boat but I had seen this many ties before and this time the bird didn’t really look any weak so I was sure it was ok. A Greenish Warbler was singing no the way and soon we’re on the boat again. On the way back to Kotka Sapokka we still saw a Black Guillemot.
After the twitch there was a headline in newspapers that twitchers killed a rarity and so on! But I think this was just imagination of the people that never saw the bird – it wasn’t found on the next morning again – I am sure it had just continued its migration and was singing somewhere else.

We still drove to Hamina Kirkkojärvi where we twitched a Penduline Tit that was building its nest. Also a Common Whitethroat was singing there.

The evening migration in Lakakallio was quiet: only a Whimbrel and a mixed flock of Whooper and Bewick’s Swans were seen and Eiders were seen as a year-tick.

Late in the evening we of course had a fire in a camp and had sausages, drinks and many good laughs. Anyway I was once again one of the first ones to go to sleep.

In Virolahti

On the 19th of May we started watching arctic migration at 4:15 a.m, but the migration was still pretty weak. In 4 hours we saw 4774 geese and 2679 of them were identified as Barnacle Geese. 68 divers, mostly Black-throated Divers, a couple of Scaups and a Short-eared Owl were also seen.
During the day I was in Kurkela bird-tower which is the best place in a coutry to see rare raptors. In several hours trying the only better bird was a Black Kite.

On the 20th of May we started at 4:15 a.m. again. A Common Rosefinch was already singing but again there was almost no migration at all. Only 750 Barnacle Geese, 21 Brent Geese, 2 Velvet Scoters and so on were seen. A Rook and a flock of Common Crossbills were seen too. Almost all other birders went to sleep but me and “potu” Suojarinne who had just arrived and a couple of others stayed on the rock which was good as I found a flock of waders that migrated just over us and there were 3 Greenshanks, 3 Knots and a Marsh Sandpiper in a flock!
During the day we were again in Kurkela with ”potu” and Kalle Larsson. The day was extremely hot so it was very hard work to scan the sky for hours while the first Spotted Flycatcher of the year was calling next to the tower. Anyway a couple of White-tailed Eagles, 2 Black Kites, a Hen Harrier, a Merlin, 3 Arctic Skuas and a nice White Stork were seen.

In the evening we went to see a Penduline Tit again. A Thrush Nightingale and 2 Great Reed Warblers were singing in Kirkkojärvi too. On the way back to Lakakallio we still saw a male Capercaillie close to Virojoki.

On the 21st day we started at 4:30 a.m. the geese migration was stronger. First there were only smaller flocks of Barnacle Geese but soon the flocks came bigger and there started to be mixed flocks between Barnacle and Brent Geese and in the afternoon there were almost only big flocks of Brent Geese migrating. So we stayed in Lakakallio until 7:45 p.m. (only an hour shopping trip was made in the afternoon). We counted altogether 34174 geese and 20501 of tem were Brent Geese! Also a nice flock of 105 Knots, 70 divers, 4 Arctic Skuas, 75+45 middle-sized waders, 40 Dunlins and so on were seen – and again a nice White Stork too.

On the 22nd day we started at 4:30 a.m. but again there was nothing happening on the sky. In 4.5 hours we saw just a little bit more than a thousand geese, 35 divers, 4 Dunlins and a nice mixed flock of 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, 22 Knots and 40 Grey Plovers.
During the day with “potu” we visited Kolsinpohja bird-tower, but nothing except 6 singing Wood Warblers along the track were found and in Lintulahti where a Reed Warbler and an Icterine Warbler were heard. Then we still drove to Hurppu because of a Brent Goose flock with a Red-breasted Goose was coming but even though we saw the flock it was too far to identify a Red-breasted Goose from the others.

During the afternoon I drove to Parikkala to rest as I was going to have an extremely tough next week touring around “Southern” Finland with a British group! In Parikkala we still had to go to ring a nestlings of one Tengmalm’s Owl with Hanna and then Matti Lötjönen called that he had found an adult male Black Redtstart in Kukonkanta and of course we had to go to twitch it. There was also a Little Ringed Plover.
Then I had to go to sleep, I was going to have a long journey: Tampere-Oulu-Kuusamo-Lieksa-Parikkala-Tampere – and many good birds to find for the Ornio group!

J.A.

On the 13th of May in my lunch-hour I saw a flock of 150 Yellow Wagtails, a White-tailed Eagle and 5 Swifts in Siikalahti. After my work we left birding to Saari area where we checked all the traditional places Rautalahti, Akanvaar Tetrisuo, Pohjasuo, Pohjanranta, Jyrkilä, Tarassii and Kanavalampi. The best birds were 2 Ortolan Buntings and a Rook in Tetrisuo, a flock of 2000 Barnacle Geese, a Brent Goose, 3 Black-tailed Godwit, 24 Spotted Redshanks and a Grey Heron in Pohjanranta and 250 Wood Sandpipers in Kanavalampi.

On the next day we saw 2 Arctic Terns with 115 Common Terns in Kirkkoselkä. It was only my 2nd observation of the species in Parikkala! In Siikalahti I saw a Canada Goose that seems to be nesting, a White-backed Woodpecker and heard 2 singing Blackcaps.
In the afternoon I made almost similar trip to Saari than on previous day with Harri Partanen and “rolle” Mortensen. The north-eastern wind seemed to have stopped the migration and most of the same birds were seen again. New birds were a younger White-tailed Eagle and 3 male hen Harriers. There were now 2500 Barnacle Geese in Pohjanranta

In the evening we went to check the size of the Ural Owl nestlings and surprisingly the mom owl was in the nest-box so we managed to check the ring and it was the same bird than already 5 years.
The 3 nestling were still too small to be ringed. Then we continued to ring Tengmalm’s Owl nestling and surprisingly all 5 nestling were still alive. The mom Tengmalm’s Owl was watching from the tree while we ringed the youngsters. Harri and “Rolle” really enjoyed the owl-experience!

Harri sended nice picture of ringing. This Tengmalm’s Owl nestling is just getting aluminium ring on its furry feet.

On the 15th of May I went to Siikalahti already at 4:30 a.m. Again a crazy Common Tern had incubated to the middle of the parking place. So like last year we have to try to move slowly the eggs to the man made nest outside the parking place. Sedge Warblers were singing and also a Bluethroat was singing quietly. At 5 a.m. I walked to the main bird-tower and started to count migration. Soon flocks of geese started to migrate and in the beginning they were mostly grey geese (Bean and White-fronted Geese) but later they were mainly Barnacle Geese. Only other better migrants were a Black-tailed Godwit, a Whimbrel, a Honey Buzzard and on possible female Pallid Harrier which was just too far to positively identify. I counted the geese until 1 p.m. when there was no more flocks coming and altogether I saw 10685 geese.

While I was driving to home I got a message that a Black-eared Wheatear had been found in Siuntio. It was one of the species that I had always wanted to see In Finland so I decided to give a try even though it was 390 km to Siuntio Myrans. I picked up Pekka Punnonen in Lappeenranta and after some hours driving we finally found to Myrans pools. After a kilometre walking we found also the twitchers that had the bird almost in front of them. It was a nice female.

We watched this Black-eared Wheatear for some time and then decided to start our long way back home. WM ice-hockey final Finland-Sweden started when we had still 100 km to Lappeenranta, but I still managed to get to home to see the 3rd period when Finland made 5 goals and won WM-gold 6-1! What an amazing day!

J.A.

On the mornings I checked Lake Simpele from Härskiinmutka and saw (best daily number) 50 Tufted Ducks, 232 Long-tailed Ducks, 45 Common Scoters, 4 Velvet Scoters, 135 Common Terns and an Oystercatcher. In Kangaskylä I heard a Wryneck calling.

On the 10th of May I got a message that Esko Veijalainen was watching a Lesser Spotted Eagle in Siikalahti. I drove there and managed to see the bird disappearing behind the trees in east. While we were discussing about the eagle we noticed a Black Kite flying over us towards north-west. What a 5 minutes in Siikalahti!
In the afternoon we went to check the owl nest-boxes in Punkaharju, but there was nothing else than some marks that there has been an owl visiting the nest-boxes sometimes earlier. We also went to ring one of the new Ural Owl females and it was the biggest we’ve ever handled! It was also pretty angry and when we released it, it called very angrily and then also male started to call surprisingly close. On the way back I saw my first Hobby of the year.

After we had been in new sauna in Tarvaslampi we still went to see if one of our old Ural Owls really was the same than in previous years, but surprisingly it was already out from the nest-box! So we couldn’t check if it had the ring or not, but when I climbed to check that there really were nestlings in the nest-box, the female started to attack like in previous years! For sure it was the same bird! It’ll be very interesting to come back later to ring the nestlings!

On the 11th day there was a good geese migration, but I had to be at work. During my luch-hour I still saw about 1000 geese, mostly grey geese (Bean or White-fronted) but also some flocks of Barnacle Geese. Also one sub-adult White-tailed Eagle was seen.

In the evening we went to ring another new Ural Owl, which was much easier as it flew to the fish hand-net when we put it in front of the hole of the nest-box. This bird was also clearly smaller and weaker than the previous one.

On the 12th of May I visited Siikalahti on my lunch-hour. 30 Swallows and 30 House Martins, 70 Wood Sandpipers, 45 Ruffs, 7 Spotted Redshanks and a Temminck’s Stint were seen. I laso saw one more Black Kite. It seems they are again commoner than in many years in Siikalahti.

In the evening I had to go twitching again when I got a message that Markku Loippo had found a Steppe Eagle in Lemi Urola. On the way I picked up Sampsa again ans the rest of the trip was fast as Sampsa knew thr route to the place well.

When we were finally there in Urola we found the other twitchers and the bird was still on their scopes! The Steppe Eagle was perched on a pile of stumps about 1.5 km from us. But still it was easy to identify because of the colouration and its enormous bill. Hooded Crows were attacking towards it so it opened its wings a couple of timed and then it was even clearer to identify!

After some time the snu started to set down and then a Red Fox came to the same stumps. There was a couple of dead Whooper Swans on the field; they had flight towards the electric wires and thet was where the eagle had been found. Now the Fox was going to eat the swans too but it then noticed an eagle and I managed to get a video of these too animals metting each others!

J.A.

Twitching a dream bird!

When we parked to our parking place we got a message that Karri Kuitunen had found a SOCIABLE PLOVER in Lappeenranta Joutseno Kivisaari (again, he had found one also 23 years ago)! Hanna wasn’t very keen to leave because of we knew that we probably couldn’t make it to Kivisaari before the darkness. But we left together with “potu” anyway.
We managed to Joutseno sooner than we thought and picked up Sampsa Cairenius and then continued towards the field-areas. We had only 10 more kilomtres to drive when we got a message that the bird had been lost to the darkness because of a Lapwing had chased it to flight at 10:35 p.m. We were in Kivisaari only 20 minutes late and it was absolutely too dark to do anything anymore. We still checked the place where the bird had been found, but it was too dark to see anything anymore.
So we decided to drive back to Joutseno and to rest and sleep a couple of hours in Sampsa’s apartment. After all I managed to sleep maybe an hour on Sampsa’s carpet and already before 3 a.m. we were back in Kivisaari.

There were already some twitchers and more came all the time. It was really cold. Luckily I had got some extra clothes from “potu” and Sampsa, but I still missed gloves.
When it started to get lighter we started to find Lapwings from the fields, but even thought there were more than 100 twitchers watching to the field the target bird was not found before at 4:40 a.m. it suddenly was just in the middle of the field! A SOCIABLE PLOVER – one of my dream birds!

The bird was running straight towards us and I managed to get the first pictures and videos o fit right away. Then it suddenly stopped and started hiding again, but so that its head was still visible. More and more twitchers were coming all the time and everyone was extremely happy! Soon the bird started to call like a Garganey or weak Corn Crake and then it started to feed.
Then suddenly at 5:35 after it had already flight a couple of times it left towards NE with a Lapwing. And of course there were still birders coming and it was awful to see a couple of pretty famous twitchers miss the bird by 2 minutes!
I was sure that the bird hadn’t leave anywhere far, because of the Lapwings weren’t migrating anymore. I was sure it was just going to Konnunsuo fields or Kotasaari pools that were pretty close in that direction the bird had left. We decided to check Kotasaari with “potu”.
In Kotasaari we found only a couple of Little Ringed Plovers and soon we got a message that Vesa Väkevä had seen the plover in Konnunsuo fields and it had left towards us again. We were watching to the sky but couldn’t find it, so we decided to drive back to Kivisaari. We asked the first disappointed twitchers to follow us and after a minute in Kivisaari I saw the bird coming back and landing to the same place it had left an hour earlier! And everyone was happy again!
The bird was now active all the time but the haze started to get worse so after an hour we decided to leave back to Parikkala to rest.
We slept a couple of hours and then “potu” had to leave back to Mikkeli. Then I did some “Photoshopping” and worked with these sites before in the evening 5 p.m. we left again to see the bird with Hanna and Hanna’s mother – it was a Mother’s day!
Once we were again in Kivisaari the bird and surprisingly many twitchers were still there! Now the haze was gone so I managed to get much better pictures and videos. The bird was again flying a couple of times and also calling a little. I even managed to get a couple of calls recorded. It was also chasing female Lapwings so it really seemed that it wasn’t going anywhere soon.

After maybe 100 pictures and 10 minutes videoing and the 1st House Martin of the year we continued to Konnunsuo bird-tower where were still amazing numbers of geese. I counted 1525 White-fronted Geese and there were also about 200 both Bean and Barnacle Geese. Some of White-fronted Geese were very close so we took some pictures before we continued to Parikkala.

On the way back home we saw a Honey Buzzard and then in Parikkala we still decided to go to try if great Snipes had arrived to their traditional lekking place to Kullinsuo. We saw a female Capercaillie, a Hazel Hen and some of Black Grouses but no Great Snipes (yet). Then we finally were ready to go home to sleep.
In next morning the Sociable Plover was still seen but at 4:50 it had left alone towards north and it wasn’t seen again.

J.A.