. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

The warm spring continues

The April started warm and a good selection of birds had arrived already. On the 1st day I birded with Miika Suojarinne and in Saari we saw 2 Stock Doves, Canada Geese, Wigeons, Wagtails, a Crane and a Pheasant. In Siikalahti we saw 30 Bean and 2 White-fronted Geese, Wigeons, Teals, 2 Black-headed Gulls and so on. Bitterns were already calling. In Punkaharju Lusto we ticked a Nutcracker.

On the 3rd I saw the next year-tick when a Lesser Black-backed Gull flew over me in Siikalahti. It was a pale-backed race – whatever heuglini/graelssii/intermedius? We spent the Eastern in Sotkamo by skiing and relaxing with my parents and brothers families. It was till winter in Sotkamo and luckily on those days it was a back-winter everywhere in Finland so I didn’t miss anything. On the way back home on 9th day we found a Wood Lark in Sotkamo Leväjoki and I could finally try my new microphone and minidisk-player and try recording its beautiful song. Unfortunately the traffic was very heavy so the recording wasn’t very good, but at least something.

On the 10th day I saw the first Curlew and a couple of migrating Stock Doves in Siikalahti. On 12th day we had a meeting of our local bird association EKLY again and on the wasy to Lappeenranta I twitched a Mute Swan in river Vuoksi. In Joutseno Konnunsuo we saw 500 Bean, 150 White-fronted and 2 Pink-footed Geese and in Lappeenranta Rasala 300 Bean Geese more.

On 13th day I saw the first Osprey and Bewick’s Swan and on the next day I did the duck-counts in Siikalahti: for example 35/6 Pochards, 55/49 Goldeneyes, 9/5 Smews, a couple of Pintails, 103 Mallards, 81 Coots and so on. 14 Rough-legged Buzzards were migrating in an hour but soon all the migrations stopped – 5 Rooks, a Wren singing, a Golden Plover and then the best observation of the day – a Great Black-backed Gull.

On the 15th day I saw 4 Shovelers, a Black-throated Diver and a Green Sandpiper. Already 350 Black-headed Gulls had arrived and the visit to Saari was as meaningless as usually. On the next morning a Chiffchaff was singing on the health centre and in the evening we started our way to Kirkkonummi. Hanna had BirdLife Finland meeting in Helsinki and I was going to Spain Andalucia to 1st professional meeting of bird tourism in El Rocio Donaña.

To Andalucia Spain

On the 17th of April I flew first from Helsinki to Stockholm, then to Madrid where I was too late and missed my plane so I had to wait a couple of extra hours for the next flight to Sevilla. Finally I was in Sevilla after 14 hours travelling and there I had a driver waiting for me and I still had an hour drive to Rocio.

Finally I was in Rocio at 00.30 a.m. and I had a room in a beautiful hotel Toruño. After an hour I was finally able to go to sleep.

Birding!

I woke up after 4 hours sleep but it was still dark outside, so I waited for an hour and went to birding. Only aboyt 30 meters from the hotel was a big water area with marshes – the biggest Nature reserve in Europe, Donaña.

When the sun started to rise I could find many birds: Flamingos, Spoonbills, Moorhens, Black-winged Stilts, Black Kites, 2 Red Kites, Gold Finches, Great Reed and Reed Warblers were singing. Trees were full of Swallows, some Cetti’s Warblers were singing and Spotless Starlings were everywhere!

I walked for a hundred of metres more to a roof of an old building where I could see the whole water area better: Red-crested Pochards, Gadwalls, a couple of Greylag Geese (yes, they were also flying), Grey Herons, lots of White Storks in the fields with horses and much more – what a beautiful wake up!

The driver I had at night had told me that I wasn’t expected to join the experts meeting in the morning so I decided to keep on birding until the afternoon. I walked for a couple of kilometres to the other side of the water where was a 3,5 kilometres long patch and several birdhides.

Already on the way I saw and heard several Nightingales, Collared Pratincoles, Yellow Wagtails, Crested Larks, Savi’s Warblers, Night Herons, Cattle Egrets, Squacco Herons, a Pied Flycatcher, Serins and a Subalpine Warbler. I didn’t see anything really special (a Yellow-legged Gull and some Whiskered Terns and Gull-billed Terns and so on) from the hides but on the way through the pine-forests I saw many Chaffinches, a Wren, Long-tailed Tits, a couple of Cuckoos, a displaying Black-shouldered Kite, a Sardinian Warbler, 2 Stonechats, some Short-toed Larks and Melodious Warblers.

After several hours birding I walked back to the hotel where I got a message that I had been waited in a meeting! Well, anyway I thought after some experience about birding places I could have something more to say how the things should be there! So I promised to write down something later.

In the afternoon I joined the experts and we had a trip inside the Natural Park to eat and do birding. I was in a car with 4 British birders (Keith Betton, Tim Stapleton, Michael Witherick and Carol Depney) and once we had finally had something to eat we had really good birding together! Already from the lunch-table we could watch a nest of a Spanish Imperial Eagle with the telescopes. Unfortunately the mother was just lying down in the nest so nothing really was seen. But finally the father came and flew directly over us and we had good views of his extremely rare bird!

Once we had eaten we continued to marshes and drier areas where we could find for example Griffon’s Vultures, Black Kites, Booted Eagles, Bushchat Shrikes, Whiskered and Black Terns, Glossy Ibises, Red-legged Partridges, Calandra Larks, some Little Owls and Great Spotted Cuckoos, Black-tailed Godwits, Garganeys and in one place we could find 2 male White-headed Ducks with Coots, Black-necked, Little and Great Crested Grebes and Gadwalls.

A little bit later we stopped in a place where was a huge colony of Glossy Ibises, Cattle Egrets, Little Egrets, Squacco Herons, Night Herons and Purple Herons. Also some Great White Egrets were seen. Amazing! Also Golden Plovers, a Dunlin, Zitting Cisticolas, a Quail and surprisingly 7 Pin-tailed Sandgrouses were seen – the second lifer to me!

Later in the evening we still tried to find an Iberian Lynx but we saw only its food – Rabbits. The dinner was very Spanish – it started really late and lasted long! All the participants had now arrived so it was really nice to meet new people around the Europe and U.S. So after all I managed to go to sleep very late .

The Fair day

On the 19th day was the Fair day. I slept until 8 a.m. and then after less than an hour we wet to a camping area where the fair were. Most of the participants were staying there too. I met the British birders again and hey told that they had planned to go birding again in the afternoon with a guide and they asked me to join them.

The place was a bit too small and noisy for the fair but there were many interesting stands so I gad lots to do. After a couple of hours I noticed that the British had left already, so I had to keep on.

In the afternoon after a long lunch we went to a bird trip with all the rest of the participants and unfortunately the destinations were exactly the same I had been a day before. The Spanish Imperial Eagle and this time 3 male White-headed Ducks were seen again and many other same birds too. Some new ones were Kentish Plovers and Montagu’s Harriers. It was funny to see that most of the participants didn’t know the birds well so I was guiding all the time.

In the late afternoon we tried again to find an Iberian Lynx and we managed to see it but too briefly – I can’t be sure what it was but 2 girls were sure it was a Lynx.

Birdrace!

On the next morning all the expert birders were joining the first ever bird race in Andalucia! I was with a Welshman Gerry Thomas and 2 British Barry Trevis and Rebecca Nason. We had also a driver and a translator because of the driver wh was the number one guide of the reserve couldn’t speak English. At 6.15 a.m. I was picked up from the hotel and soon I met the rest of my team in a small cafeteria from were we started the rally at 8 a.m. There were altogether 5 teams: British, Swedish, Dutch and locals with an American.

So we started from the cafeteria and we had planned to go to the hotel to see all the common species and some warblers I had seen there earlier, but the driver waned to do something else. And because of we knew he was the best guide of the area we decided to go wherever he wanted. So we went to the last place I wanted – to see the Spanish Imperial Eagle. Of course the eagle was good to see but we lost several hours in the best time in the morning in a place where weren’t too many birds at all. So we had to work hard with the common species too!

Anyway in the beginning we got some other good species too: Wood Lark, Red-legged Partridges, Black Stork, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Cuckoo, Turtle Dove, Azure-winged Magpie and so on. There were 10 species that all teams had to see, and I think our driver had understood something wrong and he wanted to get these species as quickly as possible. But I think we would have got 60 species in an hour from the hotel-area and now we spent 3 hours to get them. And of course because of this was already third time for me in these places most of the birds were the same again. But a Peregrine was a nice surprise.

The weather was cool and it was also raining a little. This was a good thing for us because of now we still had a possibility to find warblers. In a hot day they just disappear. So a Blackcap, Garden Warblers and Chiffchaffs were found easily once we stopped the first tie to check some trees.

Mostly we were just driving around the long sandy track around the Nature reserve and we stopped only when there were really lots of birds. The best stop was worthy of: Ringed Plovers, Little Stints, Curlew Sandpiper, Dunlin, Montagu’s, Hen and Marsh Harriers, Yellow-legged Gull, Shovelers, Garganeys, Calandra and Short-toed Larks, Subalpine Warbler and so on.

Near the colony we saw of course all the Egrets and so on but also a Purple Swamphen, Avocet, another Black Stork, 2 Red-rumped Swallows and a little bit later a bigger surprise a Bonelli’s Eagle.

The next hour was bad but we had already got a hundred species so everything seemed to go well. But if comparing to the first day when I was birding – I got then 106 species alone!

But finally we got a reason to be happy again when after a long searching we found a Crested Coot! In same place we saw some White-headed Ducks too. But I think we lost a lot of time again…

We still were lacking some ridiculous species but still we tried to see some good ones first. We had no luck with Stone Curlew, but a Northern Wheatear, Black-shouldered Kite and Spanish Sparrows were good ones. The last hour we tried to find some easy species and we still got a Blue Tit, Sardinian Warbler and on the way back to the meeting place we still found a Southern Grey Shrike! It was our 113th species in 6 hours rally.

After all, the rally was very successful. It wasn’t a surprise to me that we won the rally. It was much bigger surprise to my team-mates. The Swedish team had 111 and another British team 104 species.

In the afternoon I had an hour time to walk around the Rocio village. The village is very strange with all sandy roads and horses everywhere. All shops I found were flamenco-shops, but that was all I needed to get souvenirs for Hanna.

In the evening we had a horse-ride around the village and after the dinner a flamenco-show. We had really fun and I could have kept on talking with al the people for many hours but I had to go to sleep at 2 a.m. because of after 2 hours I had only 2 hours time to sleep!

Back to home

At 4.14 a.m. I was on my way to Sevilla airport. My flight to Madrid was at 6.35 and after to Stockholm (late again – no points to Iberia in this trip) at 11.15 a.m.

In Stockholm I spent again a couple of hours and bought the most expensive coke and sandwich ever – 11.60€. Finally my Finnair plane to Helsinki left at 6.10 p.m. It was good to be in Finnair – everything was so much better than on Iberia! Finally I was in Helsinki where my brother picked me up and we drove to Kirkkonummi to my parents.

On 22nd day I started my way back home early and I did some birding on the way. In Espoo Suomenoja I saw 24 Slavonian Grebes, 18 Gadwalls, 4 Moorhens and 3 Eiders, in Laajalahti I saw 2 Ruffs, several Redshanks and Greenshanks, a Ringed Plover, 2 Oystercatchers and a Water Rail was calling. In Viikki I birded with Kristjan Niitepöld and we saw a Little Grebe, a Common Tern, a Caspian Tern, a Little Ringed Plover, a Haw Finch and 2 Bearded Tits. Then I got a message that there was a Griffon’s Vulture coming towards Helsinki so we drove to Vantaa Westergulla to wait for it, but unfortunately soon we heard that it had flown 20 kilometres more North from Kerava. So I decided to drive home because I had still a long way.

On the next day we managed to twitch a 2nd cy Pallid Harrier in Kanavalampi. We also checked all the owl nest boxes in Saari. Then we continued to Melkoniemi where we also checked a couple of nest boxes and finally we were lucky. In 5 minutes we saw a Pink-footed Goose, a Capercaillie and then in a Ural Owl nest box there was a female incubating! We ringed this bird and we know next time we’ll see that bird it won’t be that easy anymore!

On the next 2 days I twitched 6 Shore Larks in Kanavalampi and a Black Redstart in Imatra Kupari. The other yearticks were a Red-throated Diver, a Wheatear and a Spotted Crake. I also checked many nest boxes but they were all empty. It seems that we’ll have another bad owl year!

On the 28th of April i was watching migration in Siikalahti. The day was cold and the wind was northern but anyway I saw 200 Bean Geese, 2 Pink-footed Geese, 20 White-fronted Geese, 2 White-tailed Eagles, 2 Hen Harriers, a male Peregrine, Greenshanks, Green Sandpipers, 52 Little Gulls, 4 House Martins, a Chiffchaff and a Lapland Bunting. In the evening we checked 14 nest boxes but nothing! Anyway we saw briefly 2 big owls, either Ural or Great Grey Owls.

On the 29th day I saw Wood Sandpipers, Tree Pipits, Whimbrels, Pied Flycatchers and a Swallow as year ticks. But again came a back-winter and on the morning of the last day of April there was snow on the ground!

The spring comes early

On the 1st of March we had a meeting with South Karelian bird assosoation where Hannu Siitonen showed pictures of Parikkalas Siberian Jays. On the way to Lappeenranta we twitched a wintering Robin which was still alive even though on the same feeder a Least Wheasel was seen.

On the 3rd day I saw Black Grouses, a Hazel Hen and a Capercaillie in Siikalahti. The last one was a Siikalahti tick to me! On the next day I did the winter bird count, 24 Black Grouses, White-backed Woodpeckers, 7 Long-tailed Tits, 109 Great Tits, a Great Grey Shrike, 15 Goldfinches, an Arctic Redpoll and so on were seen. After the count I went to Imatra to twitch a Steller’s Eider and to see the first migrant – a Herring Gull.

On the 5th day we went to sauna to Tarvaslampi were we heard a Tenmalm’s Owl. So we did a short trip in Melkoniemi and heard another Tengmalm’s and 2 Eagle Owls too.

On the 9th day In Vuoksi I saw already 150 Herring Gulls and 2 Great Black-backed Gulls. Now there were male and 3 female Smews. During the next day 3 Herring Gulls arrived at Tyrjä and also a stunning adult Golden Eagle was migrating.

2 days later I went to search the last “missing” Ural Owl nest box which was in Rautjärvi Purnujärvi. In Asemaseutu I saw a Dipper and in Purnujärvi I saw with Jarmo Pirhonen in a couple of hours a couple of migrating Whooper Swans, a Blackbird, a Grey-headed Woodpecker and 5 Rooks. The nest box was also found easily because of the forest had bee cut and it was on the only tree left.

On the 12th day after work I saw 3 migrating immature Golden Eagles, 5 Lapwings, 2 Starlings, 4 Linnets, a Snow Bunting and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. On the next day the 1st couple of Goldeneyes had arrived at Lemmikonsalmi and in Siikalahti I saw 49 migrating Lapwings, 2 Buzzards, a Wood Pigeon and 3 Skylarks – it was really a spring!

On 15th day a White-tailed Eagle and 5 Rooks were seen in Siikalahti – the sun was shining and it was really warm!

On the next evening we had again EKLY meeting where Sampsa Cairenius showed a multimedia show about Southern Spain. On the way I saw 13 Stock Doves, Lapwings, Starlings and so on in Joutseno Konnunsuo and in Lappeenranta Luukkaansalmi 2 Grey Herons that had been wintering there successfully. After the meeting we had an owl trip but only 2 Eagle Owls were heard.

2 days later I saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker and on the 19th day a couple of Buzzards, 5 Lapwingsand on the 20th 5 Buzzards and already 75 Lapwings! On the 21st an old White-tailed Eagle was migrating, 120 Lapwings, Skylarks, 2 Meadow Pipits and so on!

In Parikkala Kangaskylä a flock of 30 Goldfinches were singing and on 23rd day a White-tailed Eagle was seen in Tyrjä, a Dipper in Honkakylä and 60 Snow Buntings in Tarassiinlahti.

On 24th day we first birded in Joutseno Konnunsuo where 119 Bean Geese, 3 White-fronted Geese, Canada Geese, 5 Stock Doves, 2 Wood Pigeons, a Meadow pipit, 25 Snow Buntings, a Reed Bunting and in Luumäki a Wood Lark was seen. We continued to Valkeala to BirdLife Finland meeting where surprisingly EKLY was chosen as the year’s bird association in Finland!

Even though the parties were long we managed to ged up early and started our way back. In Valkeala we saw amazingly 8 female Capercaillies and in Konnunsuo and Kivisaari altogether 290 Bean Geese, 8 White-fronted Geese, 28 Canada Geese, 5 migrating White-tailed Eagles, a Hen Harrier, a Kestler, a Merlin and 2 Goshawks, a Wood Lark, a Redwing and so on. On the way home we saw 2 male and 4 female Smews in Vuoksi and on the next day a female was seen in Särkisalmi too.

During the next few days I saw a White-tailed Eagle, a Merlin, some Black-headed Gulls, a Stock Dove, 2 Parrot Crossbills, 7 Canada Geese, 2 Coots and a couple of Teals. On the 29th day I was again in Joutseno where I counted more than 2000 Bean Geese, 250 White-fronted Geese, a Brent Goose, 4 or 5 Pink-footed Geese, a Greylag Goose, Canada Geese (so 6 species of geese in march!) and on the way back I saw a Woodcock.

On the 30th day a Bittern was calling in Siikalahti, there were also more than 10 Coots and in Särkisalmi we found the first Pochard.

On the last day of March we took part to a forest bird rally with Miika Suojarinne. Our area was the western part of the lake Simpele. We started at half past four in the morning with a Tengmalm’s and a Tawny Owl. Soon we saw a Woodcock and then we started to count Black Grouses and Common Crossbills, because in this rally we could get a point of every single forestbird and even more of better ones. 3 calling Pygmy Owls, a Capercaillie, a Hazel Hen, 2 Grey-headed Woodpeckers, a Black Woodpecker, and then Black Grouses, Common Crossbills and Great Spotted Woodpeckers gave us most of the points in this rally. Also 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Merlin, 12 Buzzards, 2 Sparrowhawks, 3 Dunnocks, a Wren, a Song Thrush, 2 Great Grey Shrikes, 4 Long-tailed Tits, 12 Canada Goose, 30 Bean Goose, a Coot, a Stock Dove, a Common Gull and 6 Pheasants were good observations. The results of the rally were amazing! Even 90 species were seen! The winner team saw 74 species and also a Bobcat! White-backed Woodpecker gave most points and we never found one so we were only 4th. Anyway the rally was again funny and the weather amazing.

A February without surprises

The February was as boring as I had expected. Luckily I had a lot to do! Mostly I was working for the local bird association, but on every weekend I had also something else.

On the 1st of February I saw a Nuthatch and a White-backed Woodpecker in Siikalahti and on the second day we went to twitch a wintering Robin to Joutseno with Jari Kontiokorpi. On the way back we saw a Blackbird, Fieldfare and a couple of Smews in Imatra. In Simpele I still saw 5 Chaffinches, a Goldfinch and an Arctic Redpoll.

On the 4th and 5th day we were in Kuopio where was a meeting of bird-ringers. Hanna passed the ringing exam for the ringing station ringers, so in future se can be ringing many more species. The weekend was ok; it was good to see many friends.

On the 9th day I saw a Sparrowhawk over our house and In Siikalahti I saw a Grey-headed and White-backed Woodpeckers.

On the next day I went to Punkaharju Lusto to speak about our trip to Georgia and Armenia for our neighbour bird associations meeting. There we decided to go to Uurainen to twitch an Azure Tit on the next day with Eino Repo.

So on the next morning I work up early and drove to Juva where “Potu” was waiting and we continued to Juva where we met Eino and Harri Miettinen. At 10 a.m. we were in Uurainen where were many twitchers even British! After a couple of hours the Azure Tit finally came to one of the feeders and I was the only one to get a picture of it. The bird was seen 5 times but only very shortly. It was with 56 Blue Tits and they were just flying around. I think some twitchers even missed the bird. On the way back I saw a Pygmy Owl in Savonlinna.

During the next 2 weeks I saw just a Grey-headed Woodpecker, some White-backed Woodpeckers, a flock of 40 Black Grouses in Siikalahti, an Arctic Redpoll a Black Woodpecker and some Common Crossbills and so on.

On the 24th and 25th day I drove to Kiljava to a Birdlife meeting for rarity committee members. Before we started to drive there we visited Siikalahti with Marus Keskitalo and saw again the woodpeckers. In Joutseno we twitched the Robin again and at midday we arrived to Kiljava. The weekend was really fun. It was good to meet many new birders! On the way back we were really tired, but we had a stop in Lappeenranta Toikansuo, but nothing was found. On river Vuoksi we saw a couple of Smews.

On the last days on February I tried to get a couple of owl-species more to my winter bird rally list but only a Tawny Owl was heard. After all I managed to get 89 species during the winter in South Karelia.

Warmest January ever

The New Year started as every year with a bird trip. And the birding was better than ever this time. During the day we saw altogether 43 bird species which is much more than in a normal year. We started with Siberian Jays, Black Grouses, Parrot and Common Crossbills and Crested Tits. In Lake Simpele there were still some Whooper Swans. White-backed Woodpeckers and Long-tailed Tits were also found in the morning. In Simpele we saw a Dipper but soon we had to continue to Imatra Immalanjärvi because of I got a message that there was a Glauscous Gull. After some wait we found the gull and also a Velvet Scoter. In River Vuoksi we saw Goosanders a couple of Smews and a Tufted Duck. In Kupari we twitched a Little Grebe and in Kiurula a beautiful Great Grey Owl; also a Great Grey Shrike was seen. In Joutsenon Pulp we saw 3 Cormorants and somewhere we saw a flying Black Woodpecker. It was already late so it wasn’t a surprise that we couldn’t find the Pine Grosbeaks in Joutseno city even though Fieldfares and Waxwings were still there. We also missed a Blackcap that was found just 5 minutes before we went to Punnanlahti, but we still managed to get our last species of the day, a Blackbird.

The 2nd of January was a workday but on my lunch-hour I found a couple of Hawfinches, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, an Arctic Redpoll and twitched a Nuthatch. The next day was at least as good because of I found a Song Thrush!

On the 5th day I drove to Rautjärvi Torsajärvi where the lake was still open. On the lake only a Cormorant and a family of Whooper Swans was found but in Ruokolahti Ahjärvi I found a Great Grey Owl.

On the 6th day I was birding the whole day again. In Immalanjärvi I saw several Herring and Common Gulls, 2 Velvet Scoters, a Scaup, a Great Crested Grebe and a big surprise a Red-necked Grebe! But even more interesting was a smallish gull – a size of a Black-headed Gull which hadn’t got any white on the leading edge of the wing and Kauko Kauppinen saw the bird earlier closer and he told the bird had wide white areas on the secondaries. But the bird was too far so it was just a possible winter plumage adult Ross’s Gull. It was never found even though several birders were searching for it for the rest of the day. I was almost the rest of the day searching for the gull but I did a short visit to Joutseno where I twitched the Pine Grosbeaks and a Blackcap. It was already dark when I gave up with the gull and started to drive back home. On the way I saw a Three-toed Woodpecker in Ruokolahti Kopsala and twitched a Hawk Owl in Rautjärvi Pitkätsolaset.

On the next morning I drove back to Immalanjärvi to search for the gull. The Red-necked Grebe was still present but the lake was now freezing and only a Common Gull was seen. I also searched River Vuoksi but only the familiar birds were found. So when Jari Kontiokorpi called that he had found a Red-breasted Merganser in Parikkala, I decided to go to twitch it. I found the merganser easily and also 3 Otters were seen. In Haikanniemi I saw a Long-tailed Duck – also a bird that “konza” had found already.

The next better day was the 12th of January when I was birding with my Catalan friend Dani Burgas. It was the first real winter day and the lake Simpele went completely frozen during the morning. We had a good start for the trip in Siikalahti where 2 Hazel Hens, 2 White-backed Woodpeckers, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a couple of Chaffinches and 23 Black Grouses were seen. After one more Hazel Hen we continued to Simpele where a Dipper and a Hawfinch were seen and many Willow and Coal Tits were easy to photograph. In Pitkätsolaset we saw the Hawk Owl again but later in the evening only a flock of 7 Waxwings were seen. But we had a good 4 hours trip!

During the next day we had a bird count rally in Imatra where the city was split to 9 areas and each team was counting all the birds on their own area. We were walking in Saareksiinmäki, Mansikkala, Imatrankoski area. In 5 hours we managed to see 295 Great Tits, 171 Redpolls, 153 Greenfinches, 108 Waxwings, 99 Yellowhammers, 86 Tree Sparrows and 80 Rock Doves and so on. Better observations were a flock of 30 Hawfinches, 6 Long-tailed Tits, an Arctic Redpoll, 4 Fieldfares, a Blackbird, a Goshawk, a White-tailed Eagle, a Cormorant and a couple of Smews. Altogether 9 teams managed to see 12583 birds of 41 species. Ducks weren’t counted (because of all teams hadn’t got any water on their area) but 7 more species were seen.

After the rally we watched videos and pictures and had fun with all the birders. And we also slept in Imatra. But on the next morning I woke up early and drove to do birding in Lappeenranta. In Toikansuo I found 2 Linnets, a Wren which I had found in the beginning of December, a Dipper and a Goshawk. In Laihia I saw a Pheasant but many other places were empty. So I went back to Toikansuo where I now found a Jack Snipe, 2 Teals and saw another Goshawk. In Tykki I still saw a Goldfinch. In the evening we had the first meeting of the government of the local bird association EKLY. Many very important things were decided. After the meeting I went to Toikansuo one more time to twitch an Eagle Owl. Not a bad winter day!

On the 15th day I saw a Great Grey Shrike almost on our backyard and a little bit later in Siikalahti I found a White-backed Woodpecker. I was trying to read the colour-rings of the woodpecker when the bird suddenly stopped moving at all – I looked to the sky and a beautiful Golden Eagle was flying over me (and the White-backed Woodpecker)! Only a couple of minutes later I saw a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a Grey-headed Woodpecker so amazing 5 minutes on my lunch hour!

On the 17th and 18th day I saw the Song Thrush again and on 21st day I went to River Vuoksi to count all the wintering ducks. 365 Mallards, 48/37 Goldeneyes, 12/29 Goosanders, 27 Cormorants, 1/1 Smews and a female Tufted Duck were counted. In Meltola I saw atleast 25 Hawfinches but then a very heavy snowstorm started. So I had nothing else to do that to go twitching – I drove to Lappeenranta Hovinpelto to twitch a Starling which was a winter rally tick. Later I went to Toikasuo where a Teal was seen and to Laiha where were now 2 Pheasants and a Blackbird. On the way back north I stopped (as in morning) in Imatra Korvenkanta and now I managed to find a male Brambling which was also a winter rally tick.

The winter had finally started so there were not many birds around anymore. On the 27th and 28th day we took part to a backyard birding day in our own, Hanna’s parents and Hanna’s grandmothers backyard. Nothing very special was seen, both on our own and Hanna’s parents backyard we could see 14 species in an hour. We also visited Siikalahti where White-backed Woodpeckers and Grey-headed Woodpecker were seen again.

During the end of month nothing much was seen. The winter was now like in normal year so there were more than -10 degrees almost every day and even -25 in some days. So only some White-backed and Grey-headed Woodpeckers were seen. Only surprise was a Goldfinch that we saw in Siikalahti. But then was the time for the most boring month – February.

December – Winter bird rally starts again

The December was warmer than ever! So it was interesting to start a traditional South Karelia winter bird- ally. All the lakes were open and fields were almost green! The first of December was a Friday so I could start to collect winter ticks well. I started from our backyard where I saw Whooper Swans, Siskins, Common and Herring Gulls and a flock of Common Crossbills. In Tähtiniemi I saw a Cormorant, Great Crested Grebe and a Hazel Hen and in Koitsanlahti I saw 6 Cormorants and a Great Grey Shrike.

On the 2nd of December I had a great trip to southern parts of the South Karelia. In Imatra Immalanjärvi I saw a Velvet Scoter, on river Vuoksi some Smews and 2 Tufted Ducks and in Mellonlahti I saw a Hawfinch. Then I continued to Lappeenranta Luukkaansalmi where I saw 3 Grey Herons. In Toikansuo I saw a Chaffinch and the first Wren for me in winter ever. But there were more lifetime winter ticks to come… In Joutseno Konnunsuo I saw only a Great Grey Shrike but from Kivisaari fields I found first a Bean Goose and then a Lapwing! Both real winter rarities and Lapwing was the 1st ever in winter in South Karelia! I still saw a Pygmy Owl in Imatra Salo-Issakka, so I had had a good day!

Next day I decided to go to check the river Vuoksi more carefully. Smews and a Tufted Duc, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was drumming, a couple of Dippers and Cormorants were seen but nothing else. I decided to go to Joutseno again. A Bean Goose and a Lapwing were still present and soon there were also some twitchers. But even though I really tried I couldn’t find anything new. When I was back in Parikkala I twitched a Common Scoter in Koitsanlahti and 2 Canada Geese in Rautalahti.

The only tick I got in the 4th day was a Wigeon that Jari Kontiokorpi had found in Kokkolanjoki – I twtiched it on my lunch-hour.

On the 5th day I had a short trip in forests to see my old friends Siberian Jays and Crested Tits. I also cleaned several owl nest boxes.

On the next day I twitched again the birds that Jari had found: and both were the first ones for me for the year in South Karelia: a Mute Swan in Kivijärvi and a Hawk Owl in Pitkätsolaset.

On the 6th day was the Independence Day and traditional ID-rally. We started at 7 a.m. and the weather was really bad. It was raining and very windy. So we decided to go to forests where the wind is not a problem. The first bird was a Black Woodpecker in Tarvaslampi. The second bird was a Black Grouse and even though the sun started to get higher it was very quiet. Some Common Crossbills were calling and finally Siberian Jays and Crested Tits came for us. We drove back to Melkoniemi and a flock of 4 Hazel Hens, Ravens, Great Tits, Willow Tits, Goldcrests, Bullfinches, Hooded Crows and so on came to ticks.

From the lake Simpele we found Goosanders, Common Gulls and a Herring Gull. In Tarvaslampi we saw some Tree Sparrows, Blue Tits and 2 Coal Tits on a feeder. In Rautalahti we saw Whooper Swans and Canada Geese but also a Long-tailed Tit. In Parikkala Kangaskylä we ticked Jackdaws, Feral Doves and House Sparrows.

In Koitsanlahti we saw again a Common Scoter and in Kivijärvi a Mute Swan. In Kokkolanjoki we found a Dipper, Mallards and a Wigeon. A Hawk Owl wasn’t found so we continued to Immolanjärvi where a Velvet Scoter was still present. In Vuoksi we saw a Smew and a Tufted Duck but nothing else. Hawfinches or Fieldfares weren’t found either but a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Siskin were finally found. In Salo-Issakka we saw a Great Grey Shrike and in Suokumaanjärvi we finally saw Yellowhammers, where on Earth they had been earlier! The Bean Goose had disappeared so we continued to Joutseno Pulp where we finally found Cormorants. In Lappenranta Murheistenranta we couldn’t find any new species but in Luukkaansalmi we could get our last tick after the sunset when 2 Grey Herons flew against the factory-lights. We still had a couple of hours, but we couldn’t find any owls. After all we got 44 species in this very poor birding day but it was enough to win the rally.

On the 7th day I saw an Arctic Redpoll and during the next day we cleaned all the owl-nest boxes in Punkaharju. It was nice to see 2 old beautiful Capercaillies too. Later in the evening I saw a Sparrowhawk.

On the 9th day I drove to Imatra again and even though I had a good start for the day when I found a Hawk Owl along the main road 6, the rest of the day was very poor, only 3 Velvet Scoters and a Goshawk was seen. On the next day I got my last Siikalahti yeartick (number 181) a Grey Woodpecker. Even Tiviänlampi was open and there was a Goldeneye..

Only ticks on the mid-December were Parrot Crossbills in Melkoniemi, a long-tailed Duck in Särkisalmi, a surprise a White-tailed Eagle in Siikalahti where I saw also a Great Grey Shrike, Blackbird in Kangaskylä where were also a Hawfinch. One more Pygmy Owl was seen in Rasvaniemi. On our way to Lappeenranta to buy Christmas presents we twitched 2 Pine Grosbeaks in Joutseno.

On 16th day I saw a small Turdus with 4 Fieldfares. I am pretty sure it was a Redwing but I saw it too briefly. The rest of the day we cleaned owl nest boxes in Rautjärvi. On the 17th of December we had a good trip: in Joukio we saw a Ural Owl, we had our first visit to Simpele Lahnanen where some Long-tailed tits were seen, in Syvienkallio we saw 6 Cormorants, a Mute Swan was still alive in Kivijärvi and a Hawk Owl was again seen in Pitkätsolaset. A surprise was also to see altogether 196 Whooper Swans in Lemmikonsalmi and Rautalahti!

Finally on 19th day I saw the 1st White-backed Woodpecker of the winter. It had been so warm that the woodpeckers were still in the forests. Also a Chaffinch was found from one feeder.

The winter-holiday was spent in Kirkkonummi with my parents. Anyway I did some birding every day. The real birding day was the 22nd of December when we went out with Andreas Lindén. In Espoo and Helsinki we managed to see for example a Reed Bunting, Bearded Tits, a Robin, A Chaffinch, a Gadwall, 3 Coots, a Nuthatch and a Hawk Owl. On the next day I went to Porkkala where was more quiet than ever: only 5 Cormorants and a Long-tailed Duck. So I went to twitch one more bird which I had never seen in winter before – a Bewick’s Swan in Nummi-Pusula.

On 26th day we were back in Parikkala and we had a traditional winter birdc ount rally. In Simpele, Parikkala and Särkisalmi centres were split to 5 areas and all teams had one area where to count all the birds they could find. We walked with Mikko Ala-kojola more than 16 kilometres in Särkisalmi and found 24 species. The most common ones were a Redpoll with 477 birds, Great Tit (202) and Blue Tit (120) and some better species were a Whooper Swan, an Arctic Redpoll, 5 Coal Tits and flocks of 10 Long-tailed Tits and 8 Chaffinches.

On the 28th day I saw again a Pygmy Owl this time in Kirkonkylä and on the next day the same Common Scoter was seen last time. On the 30th day I did the winter bird count and walked some 19 kilometres from Kangaskylä around Siikalahti. Nothing very special was seen just a Black Woodpecker, a Whooper Swan and altogether 22 species.

The last day of the year was spent in a forest with Siberian Jays. After all in a year 2006 I got 244 year ticks in Finland and at midnight I had again 0 year ticks!

November

The beginning of November was extremely cold! So there was no reason to get out – so I did the 1st observations on the 3rd day when I saw a Red-brested Merganser in a flock of Goosanders and a Fieldfare from our backyard. We had a backyard bird competition in November, so I had a good start. In the afternoon we started a long way to Oulu where we had a BirdLife Finland weekend. On the way we saw a Ural Owl in Leppävirta and a Pygmy Owl in Siilinjärvi Pöljä.

Next morning we woke up in Kempele Vihiluoto hotel and we had a couple of hours time for birding so we drove to Liminka. It was absolutely freezing weather with minus 27 degrees! We found a Collared Dove and a flock of 22 Tree Sparrows. In Tyrnävä we found a couple of flocks of Grey Partridges. Another flock was under the snow but we could see a head of one bird but another flock was close and we managed to get some good pictures. A couple of big flocks of Redpolls had altogether 3 Arctic Redpolls. In Oulu we met my brother Pirkka and Aappo Luukkonen and we released a Teal that Pirkka had saved from all frozen Kemijärvi.

The meeting on Saturday was very long, but we had important things to decide!

The Sunday morning was also really cold, but again we went to do birding with Hanna and Pirkka now to Oulunsalo Riuttu. Many Herring Gulls and some Great Black-backed Gulls, a Whooper Swan and a Snow Bunting were seen but the sea was all frozen. Soon we had to get to meeting which wasn’t that long and at 3 p.m. we were on our way back home. We stopped in Vuokatti to meet Ilkka Jarva and on the way south to Parikkala we had some problems with our car but luckily we managed to get home before the midnight.

On 6th day I saw a Great Grey Shrike in Siikalahti and after work I went to see a Great Grey Owl to Rautjärvi Änkilänsalo. On the next day I found a Great Grey Owl from Siikalahti! It was my Siikalahti tick number 229! When we went to see it again with Hanna we saw also a Ural Owl and a Great Grey Shrike! On 8th day I saw a Pygmy Owl almost in the same place so there really were lots of mice-eaters around! I think that was because of it had snowed really much for several days and there was nothing to eat for owls in the forests because of all the mice were under the snow.

On the 10th of November we saw a Cormorant from our backyard and In Kontiolampi we saw a Chaffinch. On the next day I did the winter bird count and walked more than 16 kilometres mostly in deep snow: 300 Goosanders, a Cormoront, 22 Common Gulls, 14 Whooper Swans, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, 2 Goldfinches, 420 Redpolls and altogether 30 species were seen. Also the total number of birds was a new record.

On the 12th day we went to clean some owl-nest boxes. Now the weather was warm again (+ degrees) so there were some biting insects in the nest boxes! A flock of Long-tailed Tits, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, some Hazel Hens and a couple of Goshawks were seen. At home I got a good backyard-tick – a Great Grey Shrike.

On the 14th day I saw a Great Black-backed Gull in Moskuunniemi and on the next day a Black Woodpecker in the same place.

I did birding every single day but the next better observation was a twitched Little Grebe that “konza” found from Simpele Kokkolanjoki. It was also good to see Dippers for the long time. On the 19th day a Smew was swimming on the shore in front of our house.

On the next day we saw with “konza” a Pygmy Owl in Siikalahti and a day after that I saw a flock of 40 Black Grouses there.

During the end of November the weather was very warm. It was raining a lot so the snow was melting again. The Lake Simpele was again completely free so it was worth to try to find some interesting birds there.

So on the 25th day I drove around the lake and tried to check all the bays and so on. All I saw were a Great Crested Grebe, a Mallard, one unidentified duck which was too far, about 300 Goosanders and 105 adult and 27 young Whooper Swans. Also some Common and Herring Gulls were seen. Only better bird was a Ural Owl in Murtoniemi.

On the next day I continued to check all the other lakes nearby but only better place was Rautalahti where I saw 55 adult and 23 Whooper Swans and 2 Canada Geese. The rest of the day was boring: only a Hazel Hen and a Goshawl even though I drove more than 200 kilometres around Parikkala.

The last days of the month were pretty good: on 28th day I saw a Great Grey Owl again in Siikalahti and on 29th a Pygmy Owl in the same place. Also a Common Scoter and a Goldeneye were seen. The latter was 27th species from our backyard during the November. In the evening we had our local EKLY meeting where we told about out trip to Georgia and Armenia and showed pictures. I was also chosen as a chairman of EKLY.

On the last day of November I found a Long-tailed Duck from Vartialahti. On the next day in December a winter bird rally would start!