. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

April

On the 1st of April I tried to twitch a Black-throated Thrush again in Savonlinna, but the bird was gone. On the way back to Parikkala I saw a Nuthatch in Punkaharju Lusto. In Siikalahti and small open waters nearby I saw some Whooper Swans, Goldeneyes, Lapwings, Woodpigeons, Blackbirds, Common Buzzards and a Snow Bunting. On the next couple of days I saw also some Starlings and Skylarks and a couple of Canada Geese and twitched a Greylag Goose and 2 Nuthatches.

On the 4th day in Siikalahti I saw already 30 Lapwings, 7 Buzzard, 52 Woodpigeons, a Rook, a Goldfinch and a Reed Bunting. Also a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was seen amongst the “common” White-backed Woodpeckers, a Grey-headed and a Black Woodpecker and several Great Spotted Woodpecker. In the afternoon I went to check some owl nest boxes and saw a young White-tailed Eagle migrating.

During the next few days it was colder again so almost all Lapwings and Woodpigeons were going back to south. It was pretty cold and everything still covered with snow. So on the 5th day I drove to Joutseno where in Konnunsuo were already more like spring. 2 flocks of Bean Geese, lots of Common and Rough-legged Buzzards, some Chaffinches and a couple of Stock Doves and Meadow Pipits. On the way back I saw still 2 Red-throated Divers in Imatra Vuoksi.

On the 7th day I saw 2 Nuthatches, I even got pretty good recordings. In the afternoon I drove to Ylämaa to twitch a Great White Egret. The bird was found standing on the ice with Whooper Swans. Also the 1st White Wagtail was seen and on the way back I saw some Black-headed Gulls. On the next afternoon I had pretty good time in Siikalahti where an Osprey, a Marsh Harrier, a Merlin, a Stock Dive, a Curlew and altogether 3 White-tailed and a Golden Eagle were seen. A Grey-headed Woodpecker and Black Grouses were calling too.

On the 9th day the best birds were a Cormorant and the 1st vulpinus Buzzard. A Flock of Mistle Thrushes, 500 Woodpigeons and 250 Lapwings were again flying south, and soon it started to snow very hard. So on the next day we decided to visit my grandmother in Mikkeli.

On the 11th day it was more like spring even though the weather was stilp retty poor. 68 Curlews were going straight to north. 45 Black-headed Gulls, 3 Lesser Black-backed and 2 Common Gulls, 40 Skylarks, a Wood Lark, 2 Song and 4 Mistle Thrushes, 24 Fieldfares, 10 Redwings, 25 Meadow Pipits, 100 Starlings, 500 Chaffinches and 25 Siskins were also seen. A flock of 15 Long-tailed Tits were moving towards east. On the small open water places Goldeneyes, Mallards, Goosanders and Coots didn’t hate too much space. Also a Couple of Canada and Bean Geese were swimming there.

On the 12th day I twitched a Shellduck in Imatra and on Konnunsuo there were already 550 Bean, 50 White-fronted and 6 pink-footed Geese. Also 6 Hen and 4 Marsh Harriers, 4 Merlins, a Peregrine, 10 Golden Plovers, a Green Sandpiper, some Linnets and Lapland Buntings and at least 5000 local Chaffinches were seen.

On the 13th of April I went to twitch. On the way I twitched a Mute Swan and saw an Oystercatcher in Imatra but then I continued to Pukkila Kantelejärvi where I easily saw a Green-winged Teal – my bird number 339 in Finland. The spring was further there so I stayed there longer and saw Pochards,, Tufted Ducks. Wigeons and Pintails. I continued to Orimattila Ruha to see geese but the biggest surprise weren´t the geese or Bewick’s Swans but that I found the same Green-winged Teal there! It had moved several kilometres exactly while I was changing the place. On the way back I saw a Wheatear and 2 Shelducks in Lappeenranta.

On the 14th day I saw my 1st Rough-legged Buzzards for the year in Parikkala. The species had been very common only 100 kilometres south for whole winter! 40 Wagtails were also migrating. On the next few days the open water areas were still very small but Teals, a Pochard and a Bittern arrived. On the 15th day I saw 8 Canada Geese, 2 Bean Geese, 3 Cormorants, 4 Snipes, 3 Goldfinches and so on in Siikalahti but then it started snowing again! So I went to check some owl nest boxes and found the first Ural Owl. In Rautjärvi Lahnanen I saw again 2 Shelducks, they were probably the same birds that had been flying around South Karelia for days.

During the next days the back-winter continued: On the 16th day I saw a Greylag Goose, on the 17th another Ural Owl was found, on the 18th a Tengmalm’s Owl was found, on the 19th we saw a Woodcock and on the 20th day a Bittern was walking on the ice in Siikalahti. On the 21st day 2 White-tailed Eagles, already 7 Marsh Harriers and a Rook were seen.

On the 22nd day 125 Curlews were migrating and 75 Bean Geese were flying around. 2 Rooks were on the field with a Whimbrel on a flock of Curlews. The open water areas were already full of common waterfowl but nothing better.

On the 23th of April I found a hybrid male of Mallard and Wigeon. Also the 1st Wigeon, and 2 Great Crested Grebes were seen, but the best bird was a beautiful male Pallid Harrier that I found in Siikalahti. In the afternoon I drove to Lappeenranta Vainikkala to twitch a flycatcher that had been there for days but only now it had been though to be something else than Pied… The bird had been found again just a minute before I got there and the bird sure was something special. As I’ve seen quite a few Semicollared Flycatchers on my trips I really thought this to be the 1st ever in Finland. Unfortunately the bird wasn’t caught during that evening and on the next morning it was gone. Maybe it stays as a mystery bird forever?

On the 24th day new birds in Parikkala were a Smew, a Pochard, 2 Bewick’s Swans, a Linnet, a Greenshank and a couple of Hen Harriers. In the evening also 3 Water Rails were heard. On the 25th day we were counting migration in Siikalahti. And it was really a good day! In 8 hours we saw altogether 5212 thrushes, 7369 finches, 1746 Woodpigeons, 93 Wagtails, 80 Whooper Swans, 420 Bean Geese, 7 Black-throated Divers, 2 Red-breasted Mergansers, 36 Rough-legged Buzzards, 201 Lapwings, 105 Curlews, 655 Black-headed Gulls, a Common Tern, 2 House Martins, 3 Tree Pipits and some local bird numbers were 2 Gadwalls, 102 Teals, 350 Mallards, 6 Pintails, 5 Shovelers and so on. In the evening I twitched a White Stork in Simpele.

On the next day still small open water areas were full of life: altogether more than 200 Goldeneyes and Teals, 128 Mallards, 31 Great Crested Grebes and Smews, a Common Sandpiper and a Chiffchaff were found. In Siikalahti the first couple of Slavonian Grebes, 2 Little Gulls, a Garganey, a White-tailed Eagle and a Common Tern were seen but I decided to go to see what birds I could found from the new open waters in Saari. Greenshanks, Shovelers and Pintails were found on every place; in Jyrkilä I found 2 Pink-footed Geese and lots of Teals. I decided to check all of them carefully. In Lammintaus I found 200 geese but also lots of Teals again. I was checking them for a second time when I found it – a Green-winged Teal! After an hour the 1st twitchers arrived – it was the 3rd ever in South Karelia.

During the next days I was able to go to see the 1st ever Grey Wagtail in Parikkala. The bird was singing actively so we decided to keep the place as a secret because of there might have been too many birders coming to see it as the season in Siikalahti was beginning.

On the 28th day I saw a Greylag Goose and 2 Garganeys in Lemmikonsalmi, already 14 Slavonian Grebes, 10 Ospreys, a Ruff, 2 Redshanks, a Hobby, 2 Swallows, a Rook and a Whinchat in Siikalahti. At night the 1st Spotted Crake, 5 Water Rails and a Long-eared Owl were heard.

On the 29th day I went to ring the Tengmalm’s Owl mother that had still 6 eggs on its nest. On the last day of April we went to Saari to twitch a Green-winged Teal as a lifer to Hanna. It was pretty difficult to find from a flock of 820 Teals! Also a Redshank, a Yellow Wagtail, a Spotted Redshank, 5 Wheatear, 5 Whinchats and altogether 400 geese were seen and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was heard. At night I heard 6 Water Rails, 2 Bitterns, 2 Long-eared Owls and a Ural Owl.

March

On the 1st of March we were still in Åland with my brother Pirkka, “potu” Suojarinne and Mikko Ala-Kojola. After an early breakfast we went together with several other rally-teams to Styrsingsudden. There was almost no migration at all, a couple of Eiders and 25 Black Guillemots were swimming on the open sea and better migrants were a couple of Scaups and a Razorbill. On the forest-road we heard a flock of Parrot Crossbills, Goldcrests and a singing Treecreeper. In Västerfjärdeni we saw a Wren and in Storby another one. In a harbour we saw a female Eider and also a Common Scoter. We were already on our way to Hammarudda when we got a message that there was a Moorhen found in Storby Postbryggan. While we turned around we saw a Jay but soon we were twitching a Moorhen. One day earlier it’d been a really good winter-tick. In Jomala Djurvik we saw a couple of Common Crossbill – a male was singing. In Hammarudda we saw some Black Guillemots and Re-breasted Mergansers and a Black-throated Diver.

We still went to Lemland Nåtö where we saw 15 Grey Herons, in Maarianhamina we saw an Arctic Redpoll in a flock of Redpolls and while we were waiting to get to the ferry we saw a migrating Common Buzzard. From the ferry we saw in harbour a couple of Grey Herons and a Black-headed Gull. We still were scanning the sea for a couple of hours from the ferry and saw 2 Common Scoters, 3 more Black-headed Gulls and a flock of 8 Velvet Scoters and 8 male and 7 female Steller’s Eiders!

During the next days I wasn’t very motivated to do any birding because of it was really still a winter in Parikkala. On the 3rd of March I saw 2 Herring Gulls and on the 6th some Mallards and a Goldeneye in Tyrjä. A White-backed Woodpecker was seen In Siikalahti and a Tawny Owl was heard in Melkoniemi at night. On the 8th day I saw a Goshawk migrating and a Great Grey Shrike again in Siikalahti. On the next day in Saari the best observation was a flock of 27 Waxwings. On the 13th I we heard an Eagle Owl in Simpele and during the next day I was playing the last ice-hockey tournament of the season and a couple of Whooper Swans were seen. In the evening I went to twitch an amazing flock of 8 Red-throated Divers to Imatra Vuoksi. Also 500 Herring Gulls and a Great Black-backed Gull was seen.

On the 15th of March I tried to see eagles in Tyrjä, but only better birds were a Common Crossbill and a Herring Gull. But in Siikalahti I managed to see an adult White-tailed Eagle migrating. In the evening we went to Vuoksi and saw the divers again and altogether 1250 Herring Gulls, 2 Great Black-backed Gulls and a probably intermedius Lesser Black-backed Gull. On the way back we managed to hear a couple of calls of a Great Grey Owl in old breeding place and also a couple of Tengmalm’s Owls. On the 16th I saw an eagle that was too far to identify in Siikalahti. It was probably a Golden Eagle. A Grey-headed Woodpecker was calling and a Black Woodpecker was seen. On the 18th day I saw an adult Golden Eagle migrating even though the weather was awful. Also a Goldfinch was migrating and in Tyrjä I saw a Dipper and some Whooper Swans here and there.

On the 21st day we drove to Kiljava to BirdLife weekend. On the way we stopped in Vuoksi and on the way we saw 2 Great Black-backed Gulls and common Buzzards. On the next day we stopped in Lahti Asemantaus where a Crested Lark was wintering still and in Vuoksi we saw 2 Great Black-backed Gulls and an early Pochard and so on.

On the 24th day I saw a beautiful “borringe” Common Buzzard. Also a Snow Bunting was seen and a Grey-headed Woodpecker was calling and White-backed Woodpecker was seen again in Siikalahti. On the next day I saw again a Golden Eagle but the weather was again really bad. On the 26th day only a Common Buzzard and some Whooper Swans were seen. In the afternoon I did a long bicycle trip, but saw almost nothing.

On the 28th day we had a traditional wilderness rally. We got a familiar area, but somehow all woodpeckers were missing! We couldn’t find any better woodpeckers. All our better observations were made in very early morning in dark: an Eagle Owl, a Tengmalm’s Owl, a Pygmy Owl and amazing 13 Hazel Hens were heard and 1 seen. 6 Black Grouses were lecking and later during the day only 2 Goshawks, 2 Common Buzzards and a Great Grey Shrike

On the 29th day I saw the first flock of 5 Lapwings, a Woodpigeon, a Skylark, a Fieldfare and an adult White-tailed Eagle migrating. A Grey-headed Woodpecker was calling and 3 Black Woodpeckers were fighting – of course now, not the day earlier.

On the 30th day I saw again an adult White-tailed Eagle, a Starling, a couple of Common Buzzards and on the last day of March I saw 20 Lapwings, 13 Common Buzzards, some Woodpigeons, a Skylark, a Starling, 3 Snow Buntings and a big surprise a young White-fronted Goose. The weather was still very cold, it was snowing but when the sun was shining it was really warming!

Pretty good February

Normally February is the most boring month of the year, but again we’re having a Euro-winter so at least in the southern part of South Karelia we had much more birds than in normal winter. Unfortunately the border of the normal winter was in river Vuoksi so in Parikkala we’re having as small number of birds as always. Just the last days of January had been the coldest days in whole winter so it was interesting to see if the birds had survived.

On the 1st of February I twitched a Nuthatch in Likolampi and then drove to Imatra to twitch a Grey Wagtail again. That was the last time the bird was observed, I couldn’t see it, just heard it calling. Maybe the extremely cold days had been too much for this rare winterer? In Vuoksi I saw a Cormorant, a Canada Goose and a Tufted Duck, in Vallinkoski a Great Grey Shrike and in Korvenkanta a Goldfinch. In Lappeenranta I drove to Skinnarila where I tried to find a Song Thrush without luck. Only 20 Fieldfares were seen. I wasn’t lucky in Kukkuroinmäki either where I couldn’t find a White Wagtail. In Konnunsuo I saw another Great Grey Shrike and a Hawk Owl.

On the 4th days night I heard an Eagle Owl and a Ural Owl in Tyrjä. And on the 5th day I went by bike to lake Argus where I saw 2 White-backed Woodpeckers, a Grey-headed Woodpecker and a Black Woodpecker. Also a Nuthatch was seen again in Likolampi. Not bad eco-ticks!

Crazy twitch!

On the 6th day we left to a craziest twitch ever. With Sampsa Cairenius and Miika “potu” Suojarinne we left to Stockholm to twitch a Yellow-browed Warbler! So we drove first to Helsinki. On the way we saw a Kestrel in Kuusankoski, a flock of 8 Grey Partridges, a Common Buzzard and 2 Rough-legged Buzzards in Elimäki. In Helsinki we still got some year-ticks of gulls before we drove to a ferry that was full of ice-hockey fans that were going to Sweden hockey-games. Because of the fans it was difficult to get any sleep during the night.

On the 7th day we woke up early and soon we climbed up to the bridge of the ferry. But the fog was extremely thick, so it was impossible to see anything. At mid-day we finally had managed to drive to Järfalla Sjäbysjön where we easily found the right place. There were about 30 twitchers watching to a feeder and right away when we’re parking we’d see that there was something happening! The bird must have arrived. I took my scope and camera and almost ran to the other birders and pretty soon I managed to see the Yellow-browed Bunting hiding in the middle of the dense branches some 5 metres from the feeder. Also potu managed to see the bird soon but it took some time before Sampsa also saw it. It seemed that all the other birders had been waiting for the bird to arrive for the whole morning! We’re extremely lucky! We spent a couple of hours trying to get some good pictures of the bunting, but the weather was still so foggy and dark and the bird wasn’t present all the time. We could see the bird twice about 25 minutes altogether and finally we managed to get some good enough pictures. When the bird left again with a flock of Yellowhammers we decided to keep on birding. On the feeder we had seen also some Nuthatches, heard a Coal Tit and saw a Woodpigeon calling already.

We continued to Vallentuna to twitch and photograph a Black-throated Thrush. The bird was there already and even though the weather was getting even worse we managed to get some pretty good pictures. Pretty soon we had to start our way back to the harbour. We still checked a couple of open bays in Stockholm and saw Coots, Black-headed Gulls, Canada Geese and so on. On the ferry we went to eat the best but also the most expensive lunch I’ve ever had. But we had really something to celebrate!

On the 8th of February we were in Helsinki at 9 a.m. We started birding right away and twitched a wintering Barnacle Goose and 4 Wigeons very close to the harbour. Then we continued to Lauttasaari where we saw a Smew, 5 Tufted Ducks, 350 Goldeneyes, 700 Goosanders and surprisingly 4 Pine Grosbeaks. In Espoo Kaitalahti we heard a Wren calling and saw a big flock of Siskins. In Kirkkonummi Ämmässuo rubbish tip potu and Sampsa managed to see a Glauscous Gull but I couldn’t find them from the flock of 4600 Herring Gulls. It was still very foggy. In the afternoon we drove to Siuntio to twitch a White-fronted Goose and 2 Bean Geese. It was already late when we went to Kirkkonummi Saltfjärden where Bearded Reedlings were heard and a couple of Common and Rough-legged Buzzards seen. Then we still had a long way back home.

On the 10th day I had to drive to Lappeenranta and on the way I saw the first migrant in South Karelia too – a Herring Gull was with Canada Goose, a Tufted Duck and a couple of Smews in Vuoksi. On the next evening I twitched a calling Tengmalm’s Owl in Rautjärvi Lahnanen.

On the 13th day I found a Goldeneye and 12 Mallards in Tyrjä but even though I was birding the whole day only other birds I found were a White-backed and a Black Woodpecker in Siikalahti. It was really a winter in Parikkala. In the afternoon of 14th of February I drove again to Lappenranta and saw a Rough-legged Buzzard, 9 Starling and a Rook in Kukkuroinmäki. At night we went to owl-trip with Pekka Punnonen but only an Eagle Owl was seen in Toikansuo and a middle-sized owl seen in Vihtola. Next day we were birding in Lappeeranta fields with Pekka and Jari Kiljunen and saw some Common Buzzards, a Great Grey Shrike, a Dipper, a flock of 30 Black Grouses and again the same birds in Kukkuroinmäki.

A week later on the 20th day I was back in Lappeenranta because of I had the get my car from the service. With jassi we saw a Wren in Toikansuo and in the evening I saw an Eagle Owl again. On the next day I had really nothing to do, so I drove to Savonlinna to twitch a Carrion Crow that had been staying in a rubbish tip. I managed to find from the flock of Hooded Crows, Ravens and Jackdaws and then I continued to see a Black-throated Thrush again. The thrush was now staying in the middle of the city in good bushes full of berries.

On the 22nd of February I did the winter bird count again. 472 birds of 22 species were found. The best birds were a couple of Grey-headed Woodpeckers, a drumming White-backed Woodpecker, a Great Grey Shrike, a Sparrowhawk and 2 Arctic Redpolls.

To Åland

On the 27th day I drove to Nastola where we met with potu again. We twitched a wintering Crane and continued to Lahti to twitch a Crested Lark. The lark was perched on a branch and it was singing very quiet but beautiful sub-song. I managed to get some good pictures of it. Soon we continued to Turku where we were in the evening. There we met my brother Pirkka and Mikko Ala-Kojola and soon we took a ferry to Åland. We were going to a bird race! At 1 a.m. we were in Åland and after an hour driving we’re finally in Torp in our hotel.

On the 28th of February after some three hours sleeping we woke up, had a breakfast and started to rally at 7 a.m. We started from Degersand where we had Red-breasted Mergansers, Black Guillemots and 2 migrating male Eiders. In Torp we heard a Coal Tit singing and in Storby we found a singing Wren and one of the only Rock Pigeons of the island. A Water Rail was found from a reedbed where we had found the same species 3 years earlier in a race too. On the harbour we saw a female Eider. In Käringsundby we were lucky to find an Arctic Redpoll in a flock of Redpolls and in one feeder we saw 2 Chaffinches, a Brambling and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Also a Black Woodpecker was heard drumming. In Hammarland we saw a Dipper and heard a Crested Tit and soon continued to Jomala Hammaruddan where Willow Tits were welcoming us. But then it started snowing very hard. We couldn’t see almost at all to the sea. After almost an hour waiting the weather turned better and we could see 10 White-tailed Eagles, 2 flocks of Purple Sandpipers, 16 Smews and so on but still the visibility wasn’t good enough to see more seabirds like Razorbills or scoters. Luckily a flock of Waxbills flew over us and a Treecreeper was calling. In Kungsöbatteri we saw a Great Grey Shrike but then we ran out of luck. Both Ramsholmen and Torpfjärden just spent our time with no new species. The next new species were found in Maarianhamina harbour when a Coot and a female Scaup were found. In Lemland Nåtö we saw 15 Grey Herons. We continued via Finström (where another Rock Pigeon was seen) to Sund Kasteholma where we managed to twitch a Kingfisher and saw also another Water Rail. Even though we did our best we couldn’t get any more species so our final number was 53. It wasn’t enough to be in top in this extremely good quality rally. In the evening we made plans how to start March in Åland on the next morning.

January

As every year on the 1st of January we went birding and tried to see as many species as possible. We also tried to see species that we hadn’t seen before in 1st of January. Our 1st year tick was a Hawk Owl in Imatra Vallinkoski. It was still almost dark when we checked the river Vuoksi and saw some common species but also 5 Cormorants and a Canada Goose. A Grey Wagtail was found easily from Meltola and other birds there were a Hawfinch and a Goshawk that flew over us. In Kupari we saw 10 more Cormorants. In Räikkölä we found easily 2 Hawfinches, a Chaffinch, 2 Fieldfares and a Grey-headed Woodpecker. In Salo-Issakka the only better bird was a Coal Tit. As Joutseno had been joined to Lappeenranta, it was strange to book a Common and a Rough-legged Buzzard 2 Great Grey Shrikes to be seen in Lappeenranta Konnunsuo. In Kukkuroinmäki we saw 10 Herring Gulls and when a Goshawk was making all the crows fly we found also 6 Starlings from the huge flock. In Mustola we saw a Blackbird and in Luukkaansalmi 5 Starlings. When we were trying to see a Nuthatch in Pappilanniemi I got a message that there was a Kingfisher in Grey Wagtail place! We were pretty sure that the bird won’t stay there for long but after 20 minutes when we haven’t seen the Nuthatch and we had got a message that the Kingfisher was still there, we decided to go. Thanks to Jarmo “jamppa” Pirhonen who was keeping a Kingfisher in control so we could see this gem fishing in evening light. An adult Whooper Swan was flying up to the river and in Itä-Siitola we saw a family of Whooper Swans but also a Tufted Duck and a male Smew. We’d had a great start for a year 2009!

On the 2nd of January I visited Siberian Jays. There were 4 of them and they were hungry! The almost attacked me when I started to give them some food. Some Goldcrests and Crested Tits were heard. On the next day I saw a White-backed Woodpecker and a flock of Black Grouses in Siikalahti. Later I was driving in Rautjärvi Kangaskoski when I suddenly lost all visibility to the road because of combination of new snow and sunlight. So I crashed my car to a deep ditch! Luckily nothing went badly broken and after all I managed to drive to Lappeenranta and catch up rest of my ice-hockey team as we were going to play to Suomenniemi. On the way I saw a couple of Whooper Swans and a Black Woodpecker. On the 4th day the only year ticks were a Hazel Hen and a Dipper in Tyrjänkoski.

On the 6th day I did a winter bird count. I was skiing around Siikalahti and saw altogether 20 species, best birds were a Black Grouse, Long-tailed Tits, a Great Grey Shrike and Waxwings. On the 9th day I was in Uukuniemi where only better bird seen was a Whooper Swan.

On the 10th day we had a traditional birdwalk in Imatra. We were walking with “potu” Suojarinne in Virasoja-Kymälahti –area and saw a Pygmy Owl, a Dipper, a White-backed Woodpecker, 6 Fieldfares, a Great Grey Shrike and even a Grey Heron flying over the city. After the race we still went to see a Grey Wagtail, a Hawk Owl, a Canada Goose and saw 2 more Great Grey Shrikes, another Pygmy Owl and a small raptor which probably was a Merlin. The evening celebrations were fun and after only 3 hours sleeping we started our way to Lappeenranta. We were birding with “potu” and Jari Kiljunen and in Toikansuo we saw 8 Goldfinches, 3 Teals and a Rough-legged Buzzard. In filed areas we saw another Rough-legged and 4 Common Buzzard, a Great Grey Shrike, 3 Pheasants, a Blackbird and on the way back north also a Kestrel in Konnunsuo.

In the mid January I was birding a little every day but nothing was found. It was really a winter in Parikkala. Because there was really nothing else to do I went once to see Siberian Jays again. On the 17th day I went to Savonlinna to twitch a Black-throated Thrush. There had been twitcher waiting for it for several hours in very cold weather, but I found the bird at 10.50 a.m. when it was perched in a top of a tree for a couple of minutes and then disappeared again. We continued to a rubbish tip with “potu” and “jamppa” where a Carrion Crow had been found by jamppa some days ago. But the weather was so foggy that all crows seemed to be just black! So we drove back to see the thrush and now it was seen very well and I managed to get some pictures too.

On the 24th of January was a traditional Garden watch -day and we participated in our own garden but also in Hanna’s parents garden in Tarvaslampi. The best birds were a Grey-headed Woodpecker and a flock of Waxwings. On the next day I saw the first Fieldfare of the year in Parikkala.

On the night of 28th I heard a Tawny Owl in Melkoniemi. The last observation of the month was a Three-toed Woodpecker that was calling in Ristimäki.

December

On the 1st day of December I spent my lunch-hour in Vartialahti where I went to see a Wigeon that we had found a day earlier. It was a good winter bird race tick. On the next day my target was a White-backed Woodpecker. Altogether 140 Whooper Swans were still seen in Lake Simpele.

On the 5th day I had a short visit in Imatra where Smews and a Canada Goose were seen in vuoksi and a Long-tailed Duck in Lake Immala.

On the 6th day we had a traditional Independent day bird rally. We started in Rautjärvi when it was still dark and an Eagle Owl and a Pygmy Owl were heard. When the sun was rising we were in Lappeenranta Toikansuo where we found 5 Teals, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Wren, a Chaffinch and 2 Goldfinches. In Hanhi-Kemppi we saw a Common Buzzard and a Kestrel and in Parasitentie we found a flock of Waxwings and Fieldfares. In Pappilanniemi we twitched a Nuthatch an in Mustola a Nutcracker. In Luukkaansalmi we saw a Black-throated Grebe, Goldeneye, Common Gulls and a Grey Heron, in Tyysterniemi a Great Crested Grebe and in Laihia a flock of Herring Gulls. In Tuohimäki we saw the first Great Grey Shrike before we continued to Joutseno Kukkuroinmäki where we saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker. In Konnunsuo we saw a flock of Whooper Swans, another Rough-legged Buzzard and in Mielikonniitty a Pygmy Owl. In Imatra Mellonlahti we saw a Dipper and in Vuoksi only a Canada Goose. Immalanjärvi had a Velvet Scoter and 2 Tufted Ducks but soon it became too dark. After all we saw 46 species and were 2nd in the race.

On the 7th day I picked up Sampsa Cairenius, Pekka Punnonen and Jari Kiljunen and we headed to Lahti where a Desert Wheatear had been found on previous day. We started to do birding in Luumäki where we checked several places where we could see to Lake Saimaa. We waited for a message about the wheatear but after a couple of hours we got a message that the bird hadn’t been found. Anyway we decided to continue to Lahti. But there we drove to Asemantausta where a Crested Lark was again wintering. There were plenty of birders around that had already given up with the wheatear but the Crested Lark was also missing. After some time one birder finally found it but in same time there was also another group of birders whistling and shouting something. We went to see a Crested Lark and then Mika I. Koskinen got a phone-call that there was a Hume’s Leaf Warbler only a couple of hundreds of metres from us! We ran to the group we had already seen and soon we found a small green bird which wasn’t a Hume’s but a Pallas Leaf Warbler. The first winter record ever in Finland! And “jassi” got his 2nd lifer in a couple of minutes! Soon we continued to Kujala where we still tried to find the wheatear for on hour but the bird was gone. Anyway we had a good trip even though I didn’t get any lifers. But Pallas Leaf Warbler was my year-tick number 268!

The next birding was done in 13th of December when I started from Lake Immala where a Velvet Scoter was still. In Vuoksi I saw again a Smew and a Canada Goose but also a Grey Wagtail was still present. It was a new winter-tick. In Vallinkoski I saw a Great Grey Shrike and in Konnunsuo a Log-legged and a Common Buzzard. In Kukkuroinmäki I saw 8 Starlings before I had to continue to ice-hockey match. From our teams bus to Iitti I still saw a Hawk Owl somewhere in Luumäki.

In the mid December it was already winter. So only some flocks of Whooper Swans and Goosanders were seen in Parikkala. I also went to see Siberian Jays one day.

On the 21st day in Lake Immala were still a Long-tailed Duck, a Velvet Scoter and a Herring Gull. Also a Dipper was on a small ditch. The Canada Goose in Vuoksi was already feeding from hand. Also a Tufted Duck and a Cormorant were seen in Vuoksi Itä-Siitola. A Grey Wagtail was seen again but bigger surprise was a Little Grebe that I found while watching the wagtail. It was the first Little Grebe in South Karelia in whole year and my species number 231 in South Karelia this year. In Vallinkoski I saw a Great Grey shrike again, but also a Goshawk and a Grey-headed Woodpecker. In Räikkölä I twitched Hawfinches and saw also a Chaffinch, Common Buzzard and a Blackbird. In Neitsytniemi I still found 3 Pine Grosbeaks so I had really good 3 hours in Imatra!

We spent the Critmas in Kirkkonummi with my parents and we were of course birding every day. On 24th day we drove first to Siuntio Myrans where we twitched a Red-breasted Goose that was in a small pool with some Whooper Swans and Mallards. Also 4 Rough-legged Buzzards, a Common Buzzard and a Black Woodpecker were seen there. In Sunnanvik we twitched a White-fronted and a Bean Goose that were together. In Tjuträsk we saw 3 Rough-legged Buzzards before we drove to Inkoo Degerby to twitch a Crane. In Kirkkonummi Vuohimäki we saw a Great Grey Shrike and in Bro a small thrush flew across the road. In Eestinkylä we saw a Goshawk and around Saltfjärden several Common and Rough-legged Buzzards. Also Bearded Reedlings were heard; Grey Heron, Great Grey Shrike and finally 2 Hen Harriers were seen.

In Christmas day we were birding around Saltfjärden again. Lots of buzzards were seen which is not normal in Finnish winter! In Medvast Morsfjärden we saw 140 Mute Swans, 12 Gadwalls, a Smew and a Coot. During the day we went to Porkkala where only a flock of Velvet Scoters, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers and some Long-tailed Ducks were seen.

On 26th of December we visited Espoo Suomenoja where 2 Gadwalls were seen. Then we drove to Helsinki Seurasaari to feed Canada Geese and a Mute Swan from hand before we continued to my uncle’s family to have Christmas meal. Also my grandmother was there sp we had a good time.

On the 27th day we started our way back home but we still stopped in Seurasaari where a Barnacle Goose was now together with Canada Geese. The weather was nice so we spent some time photographing these tame birds. Our last bird observation of the year was made in Lappeenranta Selkäharju where a Common Buzzard flew across the road. The last day of the year I was working from dark to dark.

After all I saw altogether 268 species during the year which was my new record.

November darkness

The November started with Hailuoto bird race. We woke up in our cottage in Pöllä and soon we took Pirkkas car with Andreas Lindén and Harry Nyström, Mikko Ala-Kojola and Miika Suojarinne took “potu’s” car. It was really a winter – at least 10 cm snow everywhere!

We started the race from mid island but couldn’t find any owls. Only better bird in dawn was a Siskin. We had a short stop in Kirkkosalmi where Bearded Reedlings were heard and continued towards Riisinnokka. A Goshawk, some Pine Grosbeaks and 3 Coal Tits were seen on the way but soon we parked to Rautaletto and walked to Riisinnokka.

In Riisinnokka we found plenty of woodpeckers: several Three-toed and a couple of Lesser and Great Spotted Woodpeckers. A Treecreeper was found and from the sea we found easily several Mute Swans from the huge flocks of Whooper Swans, a couple of Velvet Scoters, a Smew, Teals, Pintails and a Shoveler and so on. A White-tailed Eagle was soaring on the sky, a Brambling, Snow Finch and a flock of Common Crossbills flew over us.

On the way to Kirkkosalmi we saw more Pine Grosbeaks and from the tower we saw 5 Coots, 2 Great Grey Shrikes, 3 Redwings, heard Bearded Reedlings, a Blackbird again and only I managed to see a Hen Harrier.

A couple of next places had Tufted Ducks and Scaups, Common Scoters, Black Grouses, a Sparrowhawk and so on but then we had to rush to Kuivasäikkä where one team had seen a Little Auk. Of course the bird wasn’t there anymore so soon we continued to Pöllänlahti where a Little Grebe was found easily.

On the fields of Järventakusta we saw a Rough-legged Buzzard migrating and in Marjaniemi we saw 3 Twites and a Black-throated Diver. We continued to east and in Vaski we found a Great Crested Grebe and in Lahdenperä a flock of Long-tailed Tits that were our last species. When the race had ended we still twitched a Crane that had been found too late for us.

After all we became fifth that wasn’t very well. But 5 first teams were very close to each others, the rest of the teams were far behind. Harry, potu and Mikko were second.

Pirkka left to Kemijärvi but the rest of us stayed another night in Pöllä. On the next morning we drove again to Riisinnokka where we found again several Three-toed Woodpeckers, a Woodcock and an Arctic Redpoll. Kirkkosalmi was surprisingly almost completely frozen but there was a Greylag Goose walking on the ice. Bearded Reedlings were heard again

In Järventakusta we saw a couple of Bramblings and a Tree Sparrow and in Ulkokarvo we saw 2 Red-breasted Mergansers. But then it started to rain very hard. So we drove to Huikku to wait for the ferry. But then Harry found the best bird of the trip: a Purple Sandpiper was migrating very close to the shore and I got my year-tick number 267!

In Oulunsalo Vihiluoto we still saw a Long-tailed Duck before we said goodbyes to Mikko, Harry and ”andy” who was catching a train from Oulu to Helsinki. We continued to Liminka with potu where we saw a Rook and a flock of 15 Tree Sparrows before we continued towards south-east.

On the 3rd of November I still saw more than 100 Barnacle Geese a couple of Pochards and some Scaups and a Long-tailed Duck in Siikalahti. Other flocks of Barnacle Geese were also flying around in Parikkala. In Vartialahti I saw a Great Crested Grebe, 3 Common Scoters and a Scaup. On the 4th day I counted 1100 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti; 5 White-fronted Geese and on the next day also a Bean Goose was also seen. Other good birds were a Coot, a White-tailed Eagle and 11 Pine Grosbeaks. But on the 6th day all the geese were gone! A female Pochard was still with a couple of Scaups and Tufted Ducks, also other ducks were gone, just 8 Wigeons and 2 Mallards were seen. On the 7th day the bay was completely frozen, a flock of 38 Wigeons were flying around and a White-tailed Eagle had already caught one of them and was having a lunch on the ice.

On the 8th of November I did a winterbird-count again. Best birds were a Red-necked and Great Crested Grebe and 254 Goosanders from our back-yard. 8.11. In Siikalahti the White-tailed Eagle was still present and other good bird was a Great Grey Shrike. Altogether 28 bird-species were seen.

On the 9th day we saw 200 Whooper Swans in Pohjasuo but otherwise Saari was very empty. A Buzzard was seen in Akanvaara Tetrisuo and a couple of bigger flocks of Black Grouses were seen. The best birds of the day were 2 male White-backed Woodpeckers in our garden! On the 15th and 17th day we were in Kokkola in BirdLife meeting. On the way we saw a Barnacle Goose in Laukaa in a flock of Whooper Swans.

Still on the 17th day I saw a Red-necked Grebe from our back-yard. Other birds there were a Smew that was in a flock of Goosanders and 5 Common Scoters. On the next day I saw 81 Common Gulls and 10 Herring Gulls. On the 22nd of November I drove to Tampere to receive an award of the twitcher of the year! It was an honour to be chosen! There were really good lectures but unfortunately there weren’t very many people. On the way I saw a Kestrel in Akaa and on the way back I stayed in Lappeenranta and on the 23rd day we went to birding there with Pekka Punnonen. The weather was getting really bad but in the morning we managed to see 5 Rough-legged Buzzards, 3 Teals, a Fieldfare and an Arctic Redpoll in Toikansuo, a Nuthatch in Pappilanniemi and a Nutcracker in Mustola.

The last days of November went while doing many different works for the local bird-association. The weather was also very bad and it was raining almost all the time. I wasn’t birding much. On the last day of November we still found some flocks of Whooper Swans and in Vartialahti we still found a Wigeon. In the afternoon I went to twitch a Grey Wagtail that Jarmo Pirhonen found in Imatra Kupari. Together with Pekka and Jari Kiljunen we managed to find this bird and it was my 230th species in South-Karelia this year. Before I drove back home I twitched also a Hawk Owl in Vallinkoski, only a couple of kilometres from the Grey Wagtail.