. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

December

December was so cold and snowy that birding wasn’t clever at all. There were absolutely no interesting birds around Parikkala at all. Also price of petrol was so high that I tried to drive as little as possible.

On the 2nd of December I had some studies in Lappeenranta and on the way I saw a Herring Gull and a couple of Cormorants in Imatra Vuoksi. On the next day I saw a Treecreeper and a couple of Crested Tits in Tetrisuo.

On the 4th of December we had a traditional bird-race. We started at 7 a.m. and an hour later had our first bird a Pygmy Owl calling in Melkoniemi. In Tarvaslampi we saw some common feeder birds before we continued to the forests. We walked a kilometre and found the Siberian Jays easily. Also Goldcrests, Crested Tits and a Hazel Hen were found. In Parikkala village we found House Sparrows, Rock Pigeons and Jackdaws easily so we decided to check all the best feeder areas too. A Chaffinch was found in Surumäki and a Nuthatch in Kirkkoranta. Then in Tetrisuo a Treecreeper was found again. Then we drove around Siikalahti but only new species was a White-backed Woodpecker. It was clear that we had used far too much time in Parikkala. We continued to Rautjärvi and saw Dippers in Kokkolanjoki before continued towards Imatra. Along the main road 6 we luckily saw a Capercaillie and a Black Grouse on the top of trees in the middle of the worst storm damages where only some trees were still standing. In Vuoksi we saw first Goldeneyes and Mallards but then found again the Herring Gull, Cormorants and some Goosanders too. In Mellonlahti it was already very late but luckily a flock of Long-tailed tits were found. We had planned to continue much further but we realized it was already too late so we decided to give up. Altogether we had 34 species and came 3rd in the race where winners got 40 species, but it was clear that Imatra and Lappeenranta would have been the best areas. While we were still in Imatra I got a message that there had been a Black-throated Accentor found in Pori. I decided to go twitching! I dropped Hanna to train and started to drive towards south. I picked up Sampsa Cairenius in Lappeenranta and we decided to drive until Pori right away so we could go to see the bird easily early in the morning. We had no plans were to stay overnight but luckily I managed to get us room from my old friends Hannes Tiira’s summer-cottage where we finally were at 11 p.m.

On the 5th of December we woke up early and after a proper breakfast in ABC we continued towards Pihlava Kaunismäki. We were almost there when we got a message that the bird was still there! What a relief! Soon we were there and after some waiting the bird was found again hiding under a thick bush in a snowy garden. My 12th lifer of the year and my 615th WP-tick! The bird was hiding very well so after all I couldn’t get any good pictures of it. After a couple of hours trying we decided to leave to do some more twitching.
In Toukari we found a Marsh tit easily from the feeder so then we decided to go to a crazy twitch to Lapua Alajoki where a Snowy Owl had been found on previous evening. It was a long drive but on the way we saw a Tree-toed Woodpecker, a Goshawk, a Dipper and some Pheasants. In Alajoki we found the bird-tower from where the owl had been seen, but found only a flock of Snow Buntings, a Great Grey Shrike and a Kestrel. We met the man who had found the owl and he told it had been active only in the sunset. Se we waited in cold and windy weather until it was too dark but couldn’t see anything more. Finally we gave up and started a long way back home.

On the 6th of December we did a short walk around Kangaskylä but found only a couple of Coal Tits.

On the 8th day I saw a couple of Dippers and a flock of Waxwings in Simpele. But then the weather changed even more wintery! It was either snowing or far too cold to go out at all! Of course it was also dark all the time

On the 18th of December we went to Lappeenranta to Christmas shopping. On the way we tried to twitch a Marsh Tit in Imatra Teppanala but found only a Coal Tit. In Vuoksi Imatrankoski some Cormorants and a Little Grebe were found easily.

Around the Christmas I was sporting almost too much – more than many years. So I was aloud to eat as much sweets and traditional Christmas food as I wanted. In Christmas eve it was extremely cold, -33.5 degrees! Luckily on the next day the forecast wasn’t that bad as I had planned to do the traditional winter-bird count.

On the 25th of December we started the winter-bird count a little bit late as it was still -24 degrees in the morning. Mikko Ala-Kojola joined me and we skied around Siikalahti and because of there were no skiing tracks at all it took too long. The sun set when we had still a couple of kilometres to go. So I had to count the rest on the next morning.
Altogether only 18 species were seen and there weren’t many birds around. The most numerous species was Yellowhammer – there was a flock of 130 birds in a farm near Siikalahti. Most of the birds seemed to be on feeders and there wasn’t many on our route. The best birds were 1+8 Pine Grosbeaks, one beautiful adult male even, a Hazel Hen and a Black Grouse. Altogether 453 bird individuals were seen which was about the average on my 7 year counts in mid winter.

November

On the beginning of November it was easy tell that the winter was coming, and a birdless winter. There were absolutely no berries in trees or bushes so all Waxwings and thrushes had gone already a long time ago and most of the other birds were gone too.

On the 1st of November I saw a Nutcracker in our own garden sembra and on the 2nd day I visited Siikalahti where were still 460 Whooper Swans, a Mute Swan, 43 Wigeons, 43 Mallards, 4 Smews, a White-tailed Eagle, a Goshawk and a Great Grey Shrike. In Härskiinmutka I saw a flock of 21 Great Crested Grebes. After the work I went twitching to Kerimäki Jouhenlahti where a Bar-tailed Godwit still was – a new month-tick. Also 2 Common Scoters were seen there.

On the 6th of November I did a winter bird count around Siikalahti and luckily the bay wasn’t frozen yet even though it was minus degrees. 321 Whooper Swans, 5 Wigeons, 10 Mallards, a Long-tailed Duck, 2 Smews, 137 Goosanders, 2 Black Grouses, 25 Common Gulls, 2 Herring Gulls, 9 Rock Pigeons, 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers, 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, 10 Goldcrests, 12 Long-tailed, 2 Crested, 1 Coal, 49 Blue and 220 Great Tits, 1 Treecreeper, 7 Jays, 27 Magpies, 42 Jackdaws, 26 Hooded Crows, 5 Ravens, 36 House Sparrows, 37 Tree Sparrows, 3 Chaffinches, 122 Greenfinches, 2 Siskins, 88 Redpolls, 4 Pine Grosbeaks, 9 Bullfinches, 108 Yellowhammers and a Reed Bunting were seen. I had never seen so many species on the count before.

On the 7th day I found a Black-throated Diver and 5 Tufted Ducks in Joukionsalmi, 2 Smews in Tiviänlampi and 2 Bewick’s Swans in a flock of Whooper Swans in Vartianlahti where on the next day was also a Tufted Duck.

On the 12th day I saw the Nutcracker again and still 128 Whooper Swans and the same 2 Bewick’s Swans, 22 Canada Geese, 5 Mallards and on the next day also a Teal in Vartialahti. Then I saw again the Black-throated Diver and also a Tufted Duck and a White-tailed Eagle in Joukionsalmi.

On the 15th day I saw 7 migrating Velvet Scoters and a Smew in Härskiinmutka and still 130 Whooper Swans, 22 Canada Geese, 9 Mallards and the Teal in Vartialahti. In our own garden there were surprisingly 2 Starlings on the grass. On the 16th day there were still 77 Whooper Swans in Vartialahti, in Härskiinmutka I saw 260 Goosanders, 36 Common and 3 Herring Gulls. On the next day I twitched again in Kerimäki Jouhenlahti where a Wood Lark was now.

On the 19th day I saw 45 Common and 5 Herring Gulls and still 14 Whooper Swans in Härskiinmutka but a drive around Tyrjä produced only some Black Grouses and a flock of Long-tailed Tits.

On the evening of 20th day In Lappeenranta Toikansuo some birders saw a strange bunting that was first thought to be a Little Bunting but later they thought it might have been a Black-faced Bunting. So I had to go there on the next morning like about 100 other twitchers. Together with Karri Kuitunen, Sampsa Cairenius, Totti Toiskallio and Jouko Rantanen we walked around the snowy hillside where the bird had been seen while the rest of the twitchers were waiting but we couldn’t find the bird. Soon all birders were free to start searching for it but it wasn’t found. A Robin and a Wren were found on the ditch nearby, 10 Waxwings migrated over us and 8 Long-tailed Tits were found on the forest nearby but soon we decided to go to birding somewhere else with Pekka Punnonen. In Tyysterniemi we saw just 4 Long-tailed Ducks, in Voisalmi a Black-headed Gull, 7 Long-tailed Ducks, a Great Crested Grebe and a migrating Red-throated Diver, in Joutseno Kivisaari we twitched a Lapland Bunting and a Skylark and in Konnunsuo we saw a Kestrel before we went back to Toikansuo. A Merlin and 4 Teals were seen but no sign of the bunting.

I stayed overnight in Pekka’s home and next morning we were again in Tyysterniemi where we found a Tufted Duck before we went again to Toikansuo. The weather was again more like in winter and soon we gave up, the bunting was either dead or somewhere far. Only a Fieldfare was found. In Luukkaansalmi we saw 4 Common Gulls and a flock of 250 Greenfinches. Soon I started to drive towards Kouvola where I had a rink ball match in the evening. In Luumäki I saw a flock of 18 Pine Grosbeaks. I drove to Iitti Lyöttilä where I twitched 3 Marsh Tits on one feeder. I tried to record and photograph them but the wind was too strong and it was also so cold that my fingers and my camera-batteries didn’t last long. There was also a Great Grey Shrike visiting the feeder which made the bird very shy. Next I drove to Elimäki Mustila arboretum where I twitched a flock of 6 Two-barred Crossbills. I even got a short recording of them even though they were mostly quiet. Luckily I found a flock of 12 Grey Partridges in the very same place where we had seen them 1,5 years earlier on our Yellow-browed Bunting twitching trip. I still twitched a Little Grebe and saw a Dipper in Kuusankoski Keltti before I continued to ice-hall.

On the 22nd of November even Härskiinmutka started to get frozen, still 24 Whooper Swans were there but on the next day I saw only a family of 4 swans, 3 Herring Gulls were migrating. Also Vartialahti was completely frozen, 3 Whooper Swans were standing on the ice.

On the 27th day I was in Rautjärvi Simpele playing inner bandy tournament. Some Whooper Swans seemed to be still on Kokkolanjoki River. On the 28th of November we drove 260 kilometres to twitch the first ever Middle Spotted Woodpecker for Finland. After 4 hours searching in -15 degrees with Hanna and Sampsa Cairenius and maybe 100 other twitchers the bird was finally found. The bird was very active but finally it flew to some big trees where it stayed so I could get some photographs and video of it. Also a Song Thrush, a Black Woodpecker and a Dipper were seen in Asikkala Vääksy. On the way there we had seen an Arctic Redpoll in Iitti Kausala.

The end of the month was very cold! It was about -20 degrees every night and about -15 during the day. It was going to be a long winter!

October

We were still on our 5 weeks trip with “potu” Suojarinne in Shetland Foula and other parts of Shetland (In October we still saw in Shetland for example Red-breasted Flycatchers, Yellow-browed Warblers, Red-flanked Bluetails, Grey Phalarope, Hornemann’s Arctic Redpoll, Siberian Chiffchaff, Spotted Sandpiper, Bonelli’s Warbler, Radde’s Warbler, Daurian Shrike and Rose-coloured Starling) and thenwe stell went for a week to Catalonia (where we saw Lesser Yellowlegs, thousand of Shearwaters, Black Wheatears, Black-bellied Sandgrouses, Long-billed Dowitcher, Wallcreeper, Pekin Robins and much more.)

We came back to Finland on Sunday evening on the 24th of October and on the next morning I had to go to work. It was already cold and dark in Finland but not snow yet. And surprisingly there were still quite a few birds around. I visited Siikalahti on the 26th day and saw 476 Whooper Swans, 2 Bewick’s Swans and a Mute Swan, 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Meadow Pipit, a Waxwing and 11 Teals and so on.

On 30th and 31st of October we were in Kajaani in BirdLife weekend. I took some free and went to twitch a Marsh Tit that was nearby. It was on a feeder of famous photographer Pekka Helo. Actually there were much more Marsh Tits in Finland than ever – several in Kajaani and much more in North Karelia. So on the way back to home on Sunday we stopped a couple of times in Valtimo where we knew nobody had tried to find Marsh Tits. Already on 2 first stops we found lots of Great Tits but the third stop we made in the village when we found a really good feeder. We played CD, but only Great and Blue Tits with one Willow Tit were found. After some minutes the owner of the house came to talk with us and Hanna had just told him that we were trying to find a Marsh Tit when I found one! A new self-found tick! We continued soon and still managed to find a Hawk Owl in Nurmes before it was too dark.

J.A.

September

On 5th of September we saw a young Peregrine Siikalahti and after that we left to Saari with Pekka Punnonen. On the way we saw a Capercaillie, Hazel Hens and Black Grouses but later only a Red-throated Pipit, 8 Lapland Buntings, extremely young Red-necked Grebe youngsters and 4 Rustic Buntings. In the afternoon I still saw a flock of 23 Canada Geese in Siikalahti.

On the 6th day I heard a Red-throated Pipit on our garden, on 7th day I had 2 Nutcrackers in Kangaskylä and had a Rustic Bunting on our garden.

On the 8th day I counted 800 Wigeons in Siikalahti and in Imatra Immalanjärvi I saw 2 Scaups and a Red-throated Diver. Also a Crested lark was still in Linnankoski.

On the 9th day I twitched a Greater Spotted Eagle in Siikalahti where also 3 Red-throated Divers, 7 Lapland Buntings, 2 Rustic Buntings and a Grey-headed Woodpecker were seen.

In September I was waiting for my holiday but of course I did some birding while waiting. On the 2nd day I saw a Gadwall in Siikalahti and on 3rd we still had 3 Redstarts on our backyard. On 4th day I saw again a migrating harrier on Lake Simpele and it really looked like a Pallid but there was something wrong with that bird – it might have been a hybrid with Hen Harrier? In Siikalahti a White-fronted Goose was still waiting for its north migrating friends and in Lahdensuo I saw 3 Bluethroats.

On the 10th of September I saw 16 migrating Barnacle Geese, 2 White-tailed Eagles and also this adult Greater Spotted Eagle was still around. 2 Water Rails were still calling and again a couple of Rustic Buntings and a Bluethroat were seen. In Satumäki I saw the first flock of Waxwings.

On the 11th day there were 10 White-fronted Geese, 709 Wigeons and a Gadwall in Siikalahti. I managed to get good pictures of Greater Spotted Eagle in Tetrisuo and later with Hanna we got even better pictures in Kaukola. The bird seemed to stay away from Siikalahti where 2 White-tailed Eagles were staying. I also had a Red-breasted Flycatcher while I was doing duck-count. Also 8 Red-throated Pipits, 7 Rustic Bunting – they seemed to be much more common than normally – and a nice flock of 472 Starlings were seen.

On the 12th day I saw 56 Barnacle Geese and on 13th 44 Bean and 120 Barnacle Geese. On 14th day in Härskiinmutka I saw 3 Scaups and in Kangaskylä now 3 Nutcrackers which one of them was ringed in Punkaharju Metla in summer. In the evening I saw a Scaup, 5 Red-necked Grebes and 80 Barnacle Geese in Immalanjärvi.

On the 16th day I saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker, 2 Red-throated Pipits and a Bluethroat in Siikalahti and on the 17th of September a flock of 80 migrating Brent Goose in Muttelinmäki. Then it was finally my 5 weeks holiday!

After my work I started to drive towards South. In Lappeenranta I picked up Miika “potu” Suojarinne and we continued to Helsinki where we visited Lintuvaruste and FotoFennica shopes, bought some equipments and souvenirs before went to birding.

We headed to Espoo Laajalahti where we met some birders that told that all birds that we hoped to be there were still there. Soon we found a Red-breasted Goose from a huge flock of 6000 Barnacle Geese and pretty soon also a Broad-billed Sandpiper, 2 Little Stints, a Temminck’s Stit and a Green Sandpiper. All very late birds. There were also 2010 Wigeons and more than 100 Gadwalls! After pizza we headed to Helsinki where we stayed at night in potu’s friends right now empty apartment.

On the 18th of September we woke up at 7 but after slowly start we headed again to Laajalahti where weren’t that many birds. 2 Garganets, 8 Moorhens and so on, in Kirkkonummi Saltfjärden we had a Bluethroat. We ate together with my parents and then with my father drove my car to a service and then continued to Helsinki-Vantaa airport.

Together with potu we headed to 5 weeks birding tour to England, Shetland and also again to Foula. (In September we saw for example Wilson’s Phalarope, White-rumped Sandpiper, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Scottish Crossbills, Pectoral Sandpiper, Puff-breasted Sandpiper, Paddyfield Warbler and much more.)

August

On the 1st of August we started early and drove together with Daniel Burgas to Joutseno where we tried to listen if any Corn Crakes or Quails were still calling but they weren’t. In Kotasaari there was still a thick fog at 6 a.m. but a Dunlin, a Spotted Redshank and some Little Ringed Plovers were seen. Then we continued to Lappeenranta Toikansuo where were already some lifer and month-tick twitchers waiting for a Pallas Sandgrouse to show up. We waited for more than an hour and heard a Grasshopper Warbler, a Thrush Nightingale and saw a family of Blyth’s Reed Warblers and a single Marsh Warbler before the Pallas Sandgrouse finally was found from the dense vegetation on the top of Toikansuo hill. Soon it flew almost straight over us calling and landed somewhere behind the Askola pools. We waited for some time and saw 7 Temmink’s Stints, a Curlew Sandpiper, a Dunlin, 2 Green Sandpipers and 4 Little Ringed Plovers, but continued to Kuusela forests. Soon after that the sandgouse had flew to the closer pools.
In forest we saw 3 Long-tailed Tits and a couple of Woodcocks but not any Greenish Warblers. Then we drove to Reijola where a long-staying Crested Lark was found after some searching.

On the next night we had a huge storm and even in our garden a tree was fallen and flagpole was snapped. But in Rautjärvi there was a huge disaster – almost all trees broke down in many big areas! And a couple of days later we had another storm that also hit to Rautjärvi very hard. It also hit to Siikalahti where many trees were fallen to the path and even small duck-counting towers were fallen.

So the next few days were very quiet. We did visit Siikalahti a couple of times and photographed the disaster. Some Grey Herons were seen. In Joukio there were a couple of families of Barnacle Geese and in Punkaharju we saw a Nutcracker flying over the road when we were going to Savonlinna.

On the 7th of August we drove south. On the way we stopped in Toikansuo where was a Little Stint and some flocks of Common Scoters were migrating. Pallas Sandgouse had left already some days earlier. We continued to Kotka Sapokka harbour where the rest of the participants to a trip to Hamina Koivuluoto Island were already packing the boat. Soon we were on the way to this one of the outermost islands on the south-eastern sea. On the way we saw a Razorbill and right away when we landed to the island we saw the first Rock Pipit.

This day and also the next one we were working as volunteers and worked pretty hard to make this small island’s facilities better. We did 3 campfire places, painted one house and so on. Of course we did some birding too and a couple of Black Guillemots, an Icterine Warbler, a Cuckoo, a couple of more Rock Pipits, a Wren and some other birds were seen. But during the daytime it was absolutely too hot for birds so most of the time we had free we were looking for dragonflies. There were a couple of extremely keen dragonfly experts with us so we managed to see several interesting species. The most interesting one would have been a new species for Finland but we never saw it landing and right then we didn’t have dragonfly net or camera with us. But it was all golden and therefore easy to identify as a Green-eyed Hawker. We also saw some other interesting butterflies like Admirals, Bath Whites, Blue Underwings and some other insects like 4 to 5 Migratory Locusts and I also saw a blue-winged grasshopper but even though I saw it landing-place we never found it again.

On the 9th day we visited Siikalahti together with Mikko Ala-Kojola and we photographed the fallen trees wondered if anyone can somehow make the path open anymore. A Red-breasted Flycatcher was heard calling on the top of the trees that were still up.

But luckily on the 12th day the paths were open and duck-counting towers up so I could do a duck-count again. It was easy to tell that this summer had been extremely bad for breeding ducks as only some small families were seen. Anyway 227 Mallards, 143 Wigeons, 121 Teals were counted so the numbers were good. But diving ducks were missing almost completely. The bird of the day was a Nuthatch that was migrating over me. Another good bird was a Wryneck on the dam-road.

On the 13th day I twitched a Crested Lark in Imatra on the way to pick up our washing machine from the service. On the next night we did a short night-trip to Saari but no Quails were found. Only birds were a couple of Nightjars but we saw lots of Perceides – falling stars! On the 15th day the only interesting bird was a calling Spotted Crake.

On the 17th day I saw a 2 cy White-tailed Eagle, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, 8 Grey Herons and on 19th I did a duck-count again. There was much less bird now: 155 Wigeons, 90 Mallards and 100 Teals. A Garganey, an adult White-tailed Eagle and a White-fronted Goose were the best birds.

Twitching lifers

I was very bored to Parikkala so I decided to go south on the weekend. Our goal was to get at least one gull lifer as there had been a couple of Mediterranean Gulls around. But anyway my first stop was in Joutseno Myllymäki where had been a local Short-toed Eagle on the previous day. But in a couple of hours only some Buzzards, Honey Buzzards, Ospreys and smaller raptors were seen. It wasn’t windy enough for eagles. Only better birds were a local Waxwing and a family of 5 Wood Larks. In the afternoon I continued my drive until Salo where still a day before had been a Med Gull but even though I searched until the dark I couldn’t find anything else interesting than a calling Collared Dove. It was already late when I parked to Kirkkonummi to my parents.

On the 21st of August I visited Espoo Suomenoja and Laajalahti and saw altogether 66 Gadwalls, 18 Moorhens, 4 Curlew Sandpipers, a Little Stint, 2 Temminck’s Stints, 15 Dunlins, a Spotted Redshank, 227 Lapwings, 2 Caspian Terns and so on.
In the evening I got a message that there had been a Yellow-legged Gull and a Caspian Gull in Ämmässuo rubbish tip. I planned to go there for the next day and asked some information from the local birders, but as I already knew they told that the place was closed and the thought it’d be impossible to see the birds from outside the gates.

So on the 22nd day I slept long and was going to Laajalahti again when I got a message that the gull-counters gad found the Yellow-legged Gull again and there were twitchers going to try to see it from outside. I decided to go there too right away. I was already were close when I got the instructions to a place where the bird was visible, but unfortunately it was right on the other side of the huge rubbish tip. After all I was the 6th car to park to the place where I still had to walk some to the right place. Luckily the bird was still there and I was there early enough to fit to that small area where the bird was visible. It was possible to see the bird from only on small rock!
I studied this Finnish lifer for some time and then left to my parent to eat. I was on the way when I got a message that there had been a Med Gull in Kirkkonummi Lapinjärvi. I had just passed that place! Anyway the bird had left towards the rubbish tip so I decided to wait that the other birders find it and went to eat. The Med Gull wasn’t found but a Caspian Gull was. So I drove soon back to Ämmässuo and managed to see at least one 1 cy Caspian Gull, probably a 2 cy bird was seen too.
After that I still tried to find a Med Gull until the late evening when I had to start my long way back home.

On the 25th of August I got a phone call from Jouko Rantanen that he had found a young Pallid Harrier from Siikalahti. I immediately drove there and managed to find the bird easily. This beautiful harrier was flying together with a couple of young Marsh Harriers. I had to go back to work soon but I went back there after work but the bird wasn’t found anymore.

On the 27th day I still saw a Curlew in Siikalahti. In the afternoon Hanna left to Helsinki by train to BirdLife meeting and I was juts planning what to do on the weekend when I got a message that there was a Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Espoo Laajalahti! I left immediately!
I picked up Sampsa Cairenius in Lappeenranta and we drove against the sunset towards southwest. The bird had flight to a reed bed soon after finding and it had been missing for hours so the bird-tower was absolutely full and in worst time there had been more than 100m queue! When we were finally there most of the people had already given up so after 15 minutes wait we fit to the tower. It was already too dark so we just checked some of the other birds like 3000 Barnacle Geese. But it meant that we had to stay over night and come to try again at early morning.

Twitching lifers – part II

On the 28th of August at 6 a.m. we were back in Laajalahti. It was already too late as the tower was already full of twitchers. Luckily we managed to fit somehow to the back of the tower where it was possible to see a part of the bay. We found a Red-necked Phalarope, a Curlew Sandpiper, 2 Dunlins, 2 Little Stints and so on before Mika Bruun found the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper on the backside of the bay. It took a long time to see it behind all the twitchers and after all I managed to climb to a bench where I could see the bird over all other twitchers. Soon I made room to other twitchers that were first on the line under the tower. After we had managed to find another place than the tower where it was possible to see the bird, we decided to go somewhere else. We’d come back to try to see the Sharpie better later anyway.
We drove to Helsinki Niskala where had been a Red-breasted Goose but only Barnacles were found. A Red-throated Pipit flew over us calling. Soon we had information that a Yellow-legged gull was again in Ämmässuo suo we drove there so also Sampsa could get a lifer! After some work we managed to find a beautiful pale 1cy Caspian Gull too! In best moment we had both of these rarities in our scope in same time! Many friends came to see these birds after twitching a Sharpie and “potu” got 2 more lifers in a minute!

We checked Lapinkylänjärvi where we saw a Red-throated Diver before we went to eat. In Veikkola we saw a mixed flock of Parrot and Common Crossbills before we continued to Siuntio to try to find a Mediterranean Gull that had been seen there a couple of days before. We had checked almost all the fields around the village when I got a message that it had been found 12 km from us from Pikkala! We drove there and the bird was still there! 2nd lifer to me in same day! But “potu” made it his 4th lifer in very same day! And after just 15 minutes watching the bird left.

We continued to Inkoo Kopparnäs where we saw 3 Wood Larks, 4 Eiders, Caspian Terns, 12 migrating Sparrowhaks and heard a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, before continued to Suomenoja where Gadwalls, Moorhens and 2 Slavonian Grebes were seen easily.
Light was already getting worse when we drove back to Laajalahti where Hanna was also now. She had got a ride from BirdLife meeting to get a WP-tick too. We saw the Sharpie a little bit better than in the morning but still it was too far to photograph. Soon we started out way back home. We still had a short stop in Etu-Viikki where the Red-breasted Goose had been seen, but saw only 130 Ruffs and a Golden Plover. Altogether we had seen 112 species during the day.

On the 29th of August we slept long but then went to Siikalahti to try to see Honey Buzzard migration. But they had probably gone on the previous day as the only migrating raptor we saw was a Black Kite – which is a good bird of course! Also a White-tailed Eagle was seen but we didn’t see a Greater Spotted Eagle that had been seen just before we came. Another good bird was a late Golden Oriole.

On the 30th day I saw another White-tailed Eagle in Siikalahti and on the last day of August I did duck-counts again. 554 Wigeons, 146 Mallards, 111 Teals, a Gadwall, 2 Canada Geese, 128 Coots etc. were seen. Also 10 Bean Geese, 75 Cranes, a Rustic Bunting, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a couple of White-backed Woodpeckers and a thousand of Chaffinches were seen.

Amazing hot July

July started hot and came even hotter. On the 1st of July I twitched a Baillion’s Crake as a month-tick and together with Mika I. Koskinen and Petri Salakka we continued to twitch also Savi’s Warbler that was further in Ruokolahti Utula. There we heard also a young Long-eared Owl. During the day I saw a Red-backed Shrike in Siikalahti, somehow it had been breeding there so that we had missed it on the counts.

To see Wolverines

On the 2nd day we drove north to North Karelia where we went to celebrate our 10th anniversary to a hide where we tried to photograph Wolverines in Lieksa Erä-Eero. In Joensuu Eno we saw a Ural Owl and in the late evening we parked to Patvinsuo Autiovaara where we spent the night while a Red-flanked Bluetail was singing.

On the 3rd day we first walked around Autiovaara track where 3 Red-flanked Bluetails were singing, a couple of Red-breasted Flycatchers were alarming, Greenish Warbler was singing and also plenty of Crested Tits, some Coal Tits and Treecreepers and a Hazel Hen were found.
After a short walk on one big bog we continued to Erä-Eero where we met Eero and a couple that were joining us to the hide. Abut 4 p.m. we drove near the hides and walked to the hide that was closest to the place where animals came to feed. Soon after Eero had hid some meat to the ground and under rocks and trunks the first Ravens came and started to search for food and they did find too many meats too quickly! Also a Common Gull and a Herring Gull were good in stealing food that we really wanted to be left for bigger animals.
Finally at 6.40 p.m. after more than 3 hours wait I saw shortly something running in the forest and soon after Hanna saw a Wolverine coming towards us. Soon it came down from the bigger hide and came straight to feeding place and started to find food. It found first meat soon and dig it to the ground very close to the hide and it also did it to a couple of next meats. The 4th meat it took with her and soon disappeared to the forest.

It was already late and dark when it started to happen again. It was too dark to photograph but it was amazing to follow the Wolverines. There were two of them, a smaller and darker male and bigger female coming to feeding place a couple of times always one in time. At 1:35 a.m. another Brown Bear came slowly and carefully towards us. It was much more careful than the first one and it was trying to find some food and found some after a long search and soon disappeared to the darkness.
Still between 2 and 3 a.m. both Wolverines were still visiting shortly but they couldn’t find any food anymore. After 3 a.m. we heard a couple of splashes of a Beaver and soon it came to swim to the lake nearby.
Soon the sun started to rise and Ravens and gulls came to finish serving that were mostly leftovers from the bears. At 5:30 a.m. I had just felt asleep for a first time when Hanna woke me up and told that the Wolverine was back. Finally we managed to photograph and video the male Wolverine in good light. After this we saw only Ravens and gulls, Wrens were singing and soon it became so hot that after 9 a.m. we decided to leave. We still went to say goodbye to Eero and started our way back home. It had been an amazing night!

On the 5th of July I twitched a White-fronted Goose as a species that I’ve now seen in every month. A Great Reed Warbler was still singing and the first bigger a flock of Wood Sandpipers were flying over Siikalahti. The autumn was coming!

The weather was still hot and it was even getting hotter – hotter than ever! Every day it was more than 30 degrees but nights were even more awful because of it was more than 25 degrees then. It was impossible to sleep even though we had all the doors and windows open all the time!

On the 8th day we drove to Hollola where we collected Hanna’s paintings that had been in an exhibition in Liminka and were soon going to another one to Inkoo Galleria Karaija. On the way we twitched a Corn Bunting that was still in Luumäki and saw a 2nd c-y Heuglin’s Gull in Nastola.

On the 10th day we were joining to a bird race where we tried to get some Bird-Atlas areas better solved. Our area was in Ruokolahti near Akkala where we checked every single place in that 10 times 10 km area for 12 hours. We also tried to find all the divers on the area as they were this year project species. We managed to 16 Black-throated Diver territories, but only one pair had a youngster. Altogether we had 47 Black-throated Divers but we couldn’t find any Red-throated Divers. Other good birds were many Wrens, a Wryneck fledling, Thrush Nightingale family; several Red-backed Shrike families, a House Sparrow couple and altogether we saw 66 species in an area where we would never went to do birding without this race.
After the race we all gathered to Klaus Jernstöms summer cottage that was on the coast of Lake Saimaa and had a good time. Next morning we twitched a family of Red-throated Divers nearby so also this project bird was seen.

New species to South Karelia

On the 14th days night I was unable to sleep because of the heat so I left to do some birding to Lappeenranta. A couple of Grasshopper Warblers were found on the way to Joutseno Kotasaari where a Temminck’s Stint was seen. In Lappeenranta Hyrynmäki I just checked the places where Jarmo Pirhonen had found the first ever Crested Lark for South Karelia. But I knew it was still too early to find it so I continued soon to Toikansuo to check the Askola pools. Only a Golden Plover was seen and at 5 a.m. I decided to drive back to Hyrynmäki. I had still 1.5 kilometres to drive when I noticed a bird on a grass just next to a road and there it was, a Crested Lark that I was going to try to find! After some photographing I started a way back to Parikkala. I just did a short stop in Ruokolahti Laurniemi where an Oystercatcher was seen. At 7.30 a.m. I had to be at work.

To Hanko

On the 16th day we drove south to Inkoo where we dropped Hanna’s paintings to Galleria Karaija. In the evening we enjoyed the weather and did some seawatching in Kopparnäs. Later we continued to Siuntio Purnus where Pirkka’s family was staying on their holiday.

Early on the next morning I drove to Hanko. Hanna had too many projects to do so she went to shopping to Helsinki and continued back home in the evening. On the way I saw a beautiful Tawny Owl in Lohja. In Hanko I stopped first in Svanvik where were some waders, for example 9 Dunlins and a Temminck’s Stint. I also stopped in Vedagrundet and Långören but at 5 a.m. I arrived to Tallholmarna where I had decided to stay as much as possible during the next 2 days and try to see a Sandwiched Tern. There were lots of tern on the sea but they were all Common and Arctic Terns and 4 Caspian Terns. Only migrating species was a Black-headed Gull, some hundreds were seen. In the evening I went back to Tallholmarna where I saw a Razorbill but not a lifer tern.
I slept in a car and in the morning I went to check Svanvik again. A Curlew Sandpiper was the best wader again and soon I was back in Tallholmarna again. The weather was now windy, rainy and much cooler. There were only some terns flying on the sea and I was almost giving up already when I saw flocks of Curlews and Whimblers migrating. Soon I saw some flocks more and altogether I saw 42 Curlews and 32 Whimbrels but also 13 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Knot, 22 Dulins, 10 Grey Herons, a Gadwall and 4 Arctic Skuas. So the morning was good after all. Anyway I decided to leave towards Espoo pretty early. I visited Finno where I counted 69 Gadwalls, 28 Moorhens, 7 Slavonian Grebes and had also 2 Reed, 2 Great Reed and 2 Marsh Warblers. I also stopped in Laajalahti where were good number of waders and 55 Dunlins, 6 Curlew Sandpipers, a Broad-billed Sandpiper, a Grey Plover and so on. In the afternoon I drove back home.

On the 19th day a rain had dropped a couple of Dunlins to Siikalahti but otherwise it was very quiet there.

It had already been too hot, but it came even hotter! It was impossible to sleep in our apartment so I was very tired all the time. Anyway I tried to do some birding every day as I knew there was something rare coming with the weather. But there was absolutely nothing interesting in Siikalahti. On the 22nd of July I had my first Grey Heron in Siikalahti and on the 23rd I heard a young Long-eared Owl in Lahdensuo. On the 24th I did a duck-count but nothing interesting was found – a Smew was the best bird and worst thing was that there were almost no young birds at all!

Next weekend we spent on the shore of Lake Saimaa. First we were on “potu’s” cottage in Anttola and then on my relatives villa in Ristiina where we celebrated my grandmas 90th birthday. 5 Grey Herons were seen there.

The heat brings cosmic mindf***ers

On the 27th of July a Woodchat Shrike was found in Luumäki so after a work I had to drive there. The bird had been missing for 4 hours but when I parked there it was just found! It was a long-waited lifer and the first really rare bird in South-Karelia for ages! I was looking at the bird for some hours and it was almost all the time visible even though sometimes it disappeared to trees or to the field. In the evening we did some spontaneous birding in Luumäki with “potu” and visited one of the worst birdtower I have ever visited. The place Ylä-Hirvas was pretty good but the tower wasn’t. I also stopped in Kotasaari, but nothing better was found.

On the 29th day even bigger bomb was dropped! And it wasn’t the truth that it was the hottest day in Finnish history as 37.2 degrees were measured in Liperi, but a Pallas Sandgrouse was found in Lappeenranta Toikansuo by Matti Vanhapelto! I visited the place immediately but the bird was hiding in a dense vegetation so all I could do was to organize the twitching as well as I could because I knew all the Finnish twitchers were now coming there!
After a work we left back to Lappeenranta with Hanna and we had got good news that the bird was still hiding in exactly same place where it had landed after Matti had found the bird. Only some birders had seen it walking, but most had to still wait.
We had just arrived to the place and the bird had now been hiding for hours so many birders were just going to buy something to drink and rest a little bit because of it was so extremely hot! But then after a minute the decided to fly back to the Askola pools where it had been first found. We saw it extremely well and it seemed to land to the pools, but it landed so that it wasn’t visible. But soon it flew to the closest pools and it stayed there for hours so everybody could see it. Every other bird was chasing it so it managed to get only once some water from the pool. Once the bird flew a long round around the whole area and seemed to be leaving but luckily it turned around and landed back to the pools. In late evening it flew to the further pools and wasn’t visible anymore so we decided to leave. Other bird there were 600 Swifts, Marsh and Blyth’s Reed Warbler, 3 Spotted Redshanks, 4 Little Ringed Plovers, 9 young Little Gulls, 345 Black-headed Gulls and so on.
We then twitched a Crested Lark that had been found again after some weeks, and also visited Kotasaari and Kukkuroinmäki but 3 Spotted Redshanks, 4 Little Ringed Plovers and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker were the only better birds.