. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

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!

October – Geese!

When the month changed we were still in Hailuoto. When we had packed everything we drove to Marjaniemi to twitch a Great Snipe. We saw it briefly and also 4 Jack Snipes and 15 Snipes. We also heard a Blackbird and saw a Wheatear. In Kirkkosalmi we still saw a Ruff which was already the 5th species we hadn’t seen the day before in a rally! So after all the winners weren’t that much better, we just hadn’t had enough luck.

In Oulunsalo ferry-harbour we saw a Lesser Black-backed Gull and then we had a short look at Nenännokka where 305 Whooper Swans were counted and a Jack Snipe, 154 Snipes, a Dunlin, a Ringed Plover, a Snow Bunting and 2 Skylarks were seen. Soon we dropped Pirkka to his car and continued with “potu” to pick up Harry from Oulu. Only observation we made on the way to South-East was a Black Woodpecker. In Juva Harry and potu continued to Mikkeli and I kept on going to Parikkala. At 10 p.m. I was home – the trip had been very hard and meanwhile in Parikkala had been seen maybe the best arctic migration ever – and I had missed it – at least I thought so.

On the 2nd of October I did a short visit to Siikalahti but there was nothing special. In Tiviänlampi I saw Pochards, Scaups and Tufted Ducks and a couple of Common Scoters. After work I started to drive to Iitti where a Ross’s Goose had been found the day before. In Lappeenranta I picked up Harry, Pekka and Henrik Salomaa and after a couple of hours driving we managed to find the right place Isokylä fields. Soon we saw the bird too! The Ross’s Goose was with a flock of 10 000 Barnacle Geese and some Bean and White-fronted Geese. Also 8 Bewick’s Swans were on the field. We also twitched a goose that was first identified as a blue morph of Snow Goose, but it was already so late that all we saw was a white-headed goose in a flock of 15 000 other geese in the middle of lake Särkijärvi. Later the bird was identified as a some kind of hybrid.

So the geese migration had stopped because of in the Southern Finland there had been a very bad weather when the geese were migrating. Many huge flocks had landed to the fields around the South-Eastern Finland and there were several big flocks in Parikkala too. On the next day after the work we drove to the best fields in Saari and we found several big flocks. The biggest flock was found in Kuposenmäki where were 6000 Barnacle Geese, some White-fronted Geese, a Brent Goose and a “minima” Cackling Goose!

On the 4th day afternoon I found some new flocks again. There were also hundreds of Bean and White-fronted Geese and in Jyrkilä there was a flock of 95 Whooper and 8 Bewick’s Swans. A young White-tailed Eagle was also seen there.

The next day was very similar – lots of geese but nothing special. But on the 6th day we drove north to Tohmajärvi to twitch a Red-breasted Goose and another Cackling Goose. On the way I got a message that the Cackling Goose wasn’t real but a hybrid, but luckily we saw the Red-breasted Goose easily. On the way back I got a message that the Cackling Goose we had found had been relocated; it was found from Pohjasuo where I had told the twitchers to go because of it had been the best geese-place in a couple of days. So we managed to see this Cackling Goose again – unfortunately it is not yet a species in Finland, and once it will be, will it be considered as an escaper – I think nobody knows!

On the 7th day I did the duck counts again in Siikalahti. A total of 913 Wigeons were counted! Also all the other common species were still present and of course more than a hundred Barnacle and White-fronted Geese. In the afternoon we drove to Pohjasuo to try to photograph the Cackling Goose. Once we had found the bird (I saw also a Pink-footed Goose) we noticed that all the 5000 geese were walking slowly towards us. So we went inside the car to wait and after an hour all the geese were really close – and the funniest thing was that the Cackling Goose was one of the closest birds! But then came a car full of twitchers and the huge flock of geese flew further and nobody saw the Cackling Goose anymore. Well we didn’t even try anymore – Hanna had got good pictures!

On the 8th day I visited the closest places but in Kullinsuo I found a new flock of geese (4 common species) and 100 swans (2 species). On the next day the southern wind that had made the geese stay finally stopped and turned to north. So geese started to continue their migration. In Siikalahti I saw more than 1400 migrating Barnacle Geese during my lunch-hour. In the afternoon when I was driving to Pohjasuo I saw a flock of 1100 migrating Barnacles and it wasn’t a surprise that there were only a couple of hundreds of geese in Pohjasuo anymore.

In the next week the rest of the geese left. Rains made some flocks to drop down to the fields but soon they continued again.

On the 13th day I counted 910 migrating Barnacle Geese, 170 White-fronted, 150 Bean, 410 Bean or White-fronted and 150 geese sp in Siikalahti. In Kullinsuo there were still 1000 Barnacles.

On 15th day the weather should have been perfect for the rest arctic migrants to go, but after all the weather wasn’t that good. Anyway we were watching for migration in Simpele watertower with Jari Kontiokorpi for the whole morning. About 150 swans, 2267 geese sp, 138 White-fronted or Bean, 260 White-fronted, 68 Bean, 2 Canada, 1451 Barnacle and 90 Brent Geese were seen. 4 White-tailed Eagles, a Golden Eagle, 34 Rough-legged Buzzards, 3 Goshawks, 9 Sparrowhawks, 3 Merlins and a Peregrine were also seen. Waxwings and Redpolls were getting more common. In the afternoon after some rains I stayed in Siikalahti where I saw 99 swans, 190 geese sp:s, 260 White-fronted, 1080 Barnacle and 320 Brent Geese. Also 2 migrating Jack Snipes were funny to see.

After the mid October the geese were almost gone. In a couple of evenings there were still some peaks in migration but soon the best geese autumn ever was over. On the 17th day I surprisingly saw a pale adult Arctic Skua migrating over Siikalahti. On the 18th day I counted 66 Smews in Siikalahti and saw the first Snow Bunting for the season.

To Lithuania

In the evening of 18th of October we started to drive to south – we going to Lithuania to Curonian bird rally. We saw the last Barnacle Geese on the way and in Utti we picked up Miika Suojarinne (potu) and continued to Helsinki.

On Thursday morning we had a ferry to Tallin and about 10.40 a.m. we started our long drive towards Lithuania.

The only birding was made in Kabli bird station where a Nuthatch was heard and we could also watch a local ringer taking many Long-tailed Tits from the “fella”.

The 1st bird we saw in Latvia was a Black Redstart 2.30 p.m. when we crossed the border.

In Saulkrasti we saw some Scaups, a Black-throated and a Red-throated Diver. We ate in Baltezers a little bit north from Riga. It was already late (10. p.m.) when we finally parked to Ventaine hotels parking place. And soon we were sleeping.

At 8 a.m. we started birding. We had only one day to prepare for the rally so we had too many places to go. First we went to Ventes Ragas where we saw amazing numbers of migrating passerines: tits, thrushes, pigeons, Starlings – everything and a lot!

Also better species were found: some Wood Larks, a female Marsh Harrier and a sub-adult male Pallid Harrier were migrating over us. A flock of White-fronted Geese, many Stock Doves, a couple of Collared Doves and Mistle Thrushes and a Hen Harrier were seen too. A Nuthatch and a Wren were calling in the forest. On the sea there were huge flocks of Tufted Ducks and Scaups and also some Pochards in one of the flocks. But otherwise the sea was pretty empty.

We continued to Kintai pools stopping a couple of times on the way. The pools were full of birds: White-tailed Eagles, Great White Egrets, Grey Herons and lots of ducks, even 5 Shelducks, and of course waders. Big flocks of Golden Plovers, lots of Snipes and Lapwings, some Grey Plovers Ruffs and Spotted Redshanks and a couple of flocks of Dunlins where were a couple Little Stints too. We also heard a Curlew and a Ringed Plover.

Next we drove to eat to a restaurant nearby and then we continued birding. We drove to our secret place that we had found last year and again there were Little Grebes, Gadwalls and Grey Partridges but also a Goshawk.

We decided to try to find some new places for the rally but in a couple of hours we managed to find only a Moorhen. In afternoon we continued south to Rusne. On the way we saw a Kestrel and a Rough-legged Buzzard but in Rusne there were nothing really special. Of course it is always nice to see Great White Egrets, Gadwalls, Smews and hear a Penduline Tit calling, but it is a long way to drive to Rusne so we were thinking it might not be necessary to go there in a rally.

At 7 p.m. (well it started an hour late) was the opening ceremony of the rally. And after that we were ready to go to sleep. Next day would be an important day!

Curonian rally!

We woke up early and at 8 a.m. the rally started. Even though they weren’t that many birds migrating now in Vente we had an amazing start of the rally! We drove only 1km towards Ventes Ragas and then started to walk. Scaups, Tufted Ducks and the Pochards were still there, a flock of Bean and White-fronted Geese, again a Marsh Harrier but also a young Pallid Harrier were seen! We found a Sedge Warbler from a small reed bed and once we had walked to Ventes Ragas we heard a Middle Spotted Woodpecker which we also saw well. We had many good species even though we had walked only for 1 kilomerer!

In Ventes Ragas we met several other teams but we were the only one to find a Chiffchaff even though there were a couple of teams really close. On the sea we saw some Smews and Goosanders but also a Red-necked Grebe but much more birds were found from the bushes. Lots of birds were migrating over the bushes: a Pied Wagtail, 2 Stock Doves, many Collared Doves, a Hen Harrier, a Tree Pipit, Common Crossbills, a couple of Mistle Thrushes, Serins, Dunnocks and Wood Larks and in the bushes there were Marsh Tits, Hawfinches, a Wren and so on!

After a couple of hours rallying we continued to Kintai where we found all the birds we had seen the day before but neither Curlew nor Shelducks. Extra species were a Black Woodpecker and a Ringed Plover so were more than happy. Next we had to hurry north to Palanga where all teams had to go to check-point between 12-1 p.m.

On the way to Palanga we saw our 1st Black Redstart and Lesser Woodpecker and finally we were at the check-point at 12.45.

In Palanga we were lucky again! We saw Long-tailed Ducks, Caspian Gulls, a Black-throated Diver, Snow Bunting, 11 Razorbills in 3 flocks, an Eider and a flock of 5 Velvet Scoters! But we stayed there longer than any other team, more than an hour. We were more than happy even though we had expected to see also Red-throated Diver or Common Scoter, but the weather wasn’t very good for sea watching, so we knew we had done it well – and we had already more than 100 species!

On the way to our secret places we saw a Kestrel. Then we ticked a Moorhen and then we continued to a forest we had also found last year. First there were just nothing but after some searching we found a Nuthatch. The river nearby was excellent for Kingfisher so it wasn’t a big surprise we found one. Then we continued to get Little Grebe, Goshawk and Gadwall but also the most ridiculous species we had still missing, a Reed Bunting. Unfortunately Grey Partridges weren’t found.

We had still 3 hours but we had no idea what to do! We had decided not to go to Rusne because of we had everything but the Penduline Tit already. It wasn’t clever to drive that far because of only one species. We walked a lot in a different kind of forests trying to find a Crested Tit or something but we weren’t lucky. So we decided to drive to Kintai again where we found a flock of Bewick’s Swans that weren’t there in the morning. Now we found also 2 Curlews so 2 new species were really good for us!

Even though there were still more than an hour we couldn’t find any new species anymore. We were back in Ventaine in time at 7 p.m. and an hour later started the ending ceremony where the results were told.

We had really had an amazing rally so it wasn’t a big surprise we won. The bigger surprise was that the second was a local team and only 2 species behind us. (In the results they were only 1 species behind us but we had forgotten to mark a White-tailed Eagle to our list.)

We weren’t able to celebrate our victory because of we knew how long drive we’ll have on the next day. So after midnight when the restaurant was closed we were ready to go to sleep.

We started our way at 6 a.m. We had only one stop in Estonia in Häädemeeste bird tower but the weather was really bad so we saw ony some hundreds of Bewick’s Swans, 3 Snow Buntingsand lots of ducks.

In Tallin we did some shopping and then continued to the harbour. After the ferry trip the driving from Helsinki to Parikkala was horrible because of the weather. We were at home at 02.00 a.m. The trip had been really good but also hard!

Winter comes

In Finland the autumn was over! Anyway we did some good bird trips in Parikkala. On the 23rd day there were still 5 Red-throated, a Black-throated Diver and 23 Great Crested Grebes in Haikanniemi. On 26th day in Siikalahti I saw a White-tailed Eagle and 2 Twites. And on the next day I found a Little Gull from the flock of Common, Black-headed and Herring Gulls. Even bigger surprise was a Bluethroat that was found from our backyard! This poor little bird had a broken leg but on next morning it was gone – hopefully it had continued its migration.

The winter arrived at the end of October. On the 28th day we found a Nuthatch from Hanna’s parents feeder. On the 29th day we were birding the whole day and saw a Red-throated Diver, 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Capercaillie, a Hazel Hen, some Black Grouses, a Black Woodpecker, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a Pine Grosbeak, Common Crossbills, some Common Scoters and a Long-tailed Duck, a flock of 58 Smews and the same Little Gull. I would say pretty good species for many birders outside Finland…

On the 30th day Siikalahti was frozen! Winter was here! The birding season was over! Some Whooper Swans were standing on the ice and a couple of Mallards were in a small free water area. Only 5 Smews were still in Tiviänlampi. Only a couple of weeks and there are absolutely no interesting birds. Now I have to focus on Lake Simpele, it is still possible to see something on the lake. But once the lake gets frozen it is time to wait for spring.

September

The beginning of September was very warm. I tried to do some birding every day and mostly I went to Siikalahti because of it takes only 6 minutes to get there.

On the first day nothing interesting was found – the same old White-tailed Eagle was still disturbing the ducks. But on the 2nd day we found several good birds with Hanna: a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a Bluethroat, a couple of Rustic Buntings, a Red-throated Pipit, a couple of White-backed Woodpeckers, Temminck’s Stints, 10 Bean Geese and so on.

On the 3rd day the best birds were 4 migrating Cormorants, a Cuckoo, a Spotted Redshank and there were still many migrants everywhere. On Lake Simpele there were still 25 young Little Gulls flying around.

During the next 2 days I saw a Little Stint and a Golden Eagle but the weather was finally worse – rainy and windy. After several months dry weather some rains were welcome.

On the 6th day 12 Marsh Harriers were still soaring above the redbuds and the duck counts told that almost all duck species were still present. And the numbers of ducks were big – 570 Wigeons and 414 Mallards.

On the 8th of September 6 Hobbies were still catching dragonflies and there were 470 Coots in one flock in the middle of the bay.

The best day of the beginning of the month was on the 12th day. I managed to do only 2 short visits to Siikalahti but they were worthy. First I went to twitch a Greater Spotted Eagle that Jari Kontiokorpi had found. I managed to see it quite well. After an hour I went back and Jari had managed to attract many good migrants to the bushes next to the tower with mp3-player. But once I arrived only a Bluethroat and a Sedge Warbler were still there. But soon we found a Reed Warbler and a rare Yellow-browed Warbler! It was a lifer for Jari and a really good Siikalahti tick for both of us!

From 13th to 15th day I was studying in Oulu but at the weekend we went to birding to Hailuoto with Petri Lampila, Aappo Luukkonen and Samuli Lehikoinen. Hailuoto had never been that empty -in Itänenä we saw a couple of late Spotted Flycatchers and a Slavonian Grebe. At Virpiniemi we found a Bluethroat, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Grey Plovers and a Greenshank, Kirkkosalmi had several White-tailed Eagles, a Marsh Harrier, 2 Grey Herons, 2 Lapwings, 15 Little Stints, 6 Dunlins, a Curlew Sandpiper and a Greenshank. Ulkokarvo had 4 Slavonian Grebes and a Shelduck in a huge flock of ducks. And at Pökönnokka we found 10 Shelducks.

On Sunday I drove back home and on the way I visited Ilkka Jarva in Sotkamo. We did some birding there together but nothing interesting was found. Later in Valtimo I found a Hawk Owl.

The autumn had arrived at Siikalahti. On the 18th day there were big flocks of thrushes and Chaffinches everywhere. The only interesting observation was made at night when I heard an Eagle Owl calling in Melkoniemi.

On the 21st of September I saw the first arctic migrants when a flock of 600 Brent Geese flew over our house. Only a couple of Swallows were still in Siikalahti and an Osprey was migrating fast towards the south.

On 23rd day I counted the ducks again. Now there were less species but both Mallards and Wigeons were more than 500. In the evening we tried to catch some owls but we caught only a Pygmy Owl.

On the 24rd day we went to watch arctic migration to Punkaharju Hirvikoski. Once we were there a Wood Lark was seen and a Saimaa Seal was swimming in front of us. Later 520 Barnacle Geese, 3 Brent Geese, 13 Black-throated Divers, 15 Red-throated Divers, a Little Stint and a couple of Cormorants were seen. We continued to Saari where we saw lots of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits but also 40 Whooper Swans, one with a Latvian ring and a Bewick’s Swan and 400 Cranes. In Siikalahti we saw an Osprey, young White-tailed Eagle, a Rough-legged Buzzard, 5 Buzzards and a small flock of Barnacle Geese.

On the next day I was expecting to see a good Crane migration but only a flock of 75 birds was seen. Also 520 Barnacle Geese were migrating on 4 flocks.

On the 28th day I counted 23 Smews and saw a late male Gadwall still swimming with 300 Wigeons and 520 Mallards.

On the 29th of September I started a long way towards Hailuoto and legendary bird-rally. But after 30 kilometres driving I had to stop at Punkasalmi because of the arctic migration had started! In an hour and 20 minutes I saw 7352 geese, 2830 Barnacle, 2020 Brent, 264 White-fronted and 20 Bean Geese 365 Wigeons, 35 Pintails, 12 Long-tailed Ducks (+ 500 duck sp), 110 Common Scoter, 79 Velvet Scoters, 168 divers, 101 Black-throated and 26 Red-throated Divers. Also a Hen Harrier, 2 Rough-legged Buzzards, a Goshawk, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-backed Gull and a Nutcracker were seen. But I had to keep on driving because I had a long way to Hailuoto. Miika (Potu) Suojarinne was waiting for me in Juva and when we continued our way we saw a big surprise – a Siberian Jay crossed the road in front of us. In Kuopio we saw a late Hobby but after that we saw only several Elks. We were almost in Oulu when Harry Nyström (who was already in Oulu) called and told that he was sick. Luckily Mikko Ala-Kojola was free to join our team. Soon we met my brother Pirkka and after we had had some dinner with my second brother Riku, we continued to Hailuoto. At 10 p.m. we arrived at Ranta-Sumppu where we had a small cottage and soon we were ready to sleep – we would have an early morning.

We started the rally traditionally on the NW part of the island. We walked for a half an hour to our starting place so we could start there at 7 a.m. The beginning was pretty quiet: lots of Redpolls and thrushes were migrating but almost nothing else was in the air. Some Red-necked Grebes, a Smew, Cormorants, a couple of Black-throated Divers and a Red-throated Diver, a flock of 10 Golden Plover and 2 Grey Plover, 4 Dunlins, 2 Ringed Plovers and when we were back near our car we found a Greenshank. Also some flocks of Common Crossbills and a flock of Snow Buntings and a Skylark were seen. A Goshawk was flying around, it was probably trying to catch a Black Grouse – we saw 10 grouses. Marjaniemi was empty but in Kirkkosalmi we saw lot of birds: a Grey Heron, 2 Lapwings, 2 Swallows, 8 Rough-legged Buzzards, 4 Goshawks, 3 Sparrowhawks, a male Peregrine and the best observation was a young Pallid Harrier that flew north! Patelanselkä was more quiet than ever, but in Pöllä we saw a Scaup and in Itänenä a Nutcracker. On the way back from Pöllä we saw a Kestrel and 2 Collared Doves. On Järventakusta fields we saw a White-tailed Eagle and the same 2 Lapwings were now there. Somewhere over Kaara we saw a flock of 100 Cranes and while driving towards Ulkokarvo we saw a Stock Dove. In Ulko-Karvo we saw hundreds of ducks, still 50 Mallards, 25 Smews, 10 Coots, 2 Red-necked Grebes and 4 Slavonian Grebes. As always we ended the rally to Pökönnokka, where we saw 10 Shelducks, a Snow Bunting, a Dunlin, a Ringed Plover and a Bar-tailed Godwit. After the rally we still saw a flock of 8 Rock Doves but they aren’t tickable in Hailuoto. But anyway it was our 4 species of doves!

After all we managed to see 81 species and we were 4th. Totally there were 11 teams and the top 3 were on their own numbers with 88, 87 and 86 species. After all we drove back to Ranta-Sumppu and we saw an owl crossing the road but it was already too dark to identify it. Everyone was too tired so there weren’t real parties – so we went to sleep early, because of we had planned to continue birding in Hailuoto next morning. But the next day was already October, so what we saw I will tell you later.

August – Back to normal life

After a holiday trip, the normal life felt pretty boring. I was working of course but all the free time I was birding. Actually I was birding at least a couple of hours every day in August. But almost nothing better was found – the same White-tailed Eagle had arrived to stay in Siikalahti. This was the third autumn for it and now it was already in adult plumage. It was also cleverer now, it was stealing the fish from Ospreys and Marsh Harriers but it was also eating fish and young Coots. Many Grey Herons had arrived also to stay in Siikalahti.

Like always, not many waders were seen in Siikalahti: Wood Sandpipers, Ruffs and some other common ones and one young Lesser Ringed Plover.

This autumn I had only 8 duck counts to do. Already the first round was productive: 473 Coots, 203 Mallards, 192 Teals, 87 Wigeons and still 6 Slavonian Grebes.

On the 12th of August we went to explore the forests of Haukmäki to Punkaharju, but only a Capercaillie and a Goshawk were seen. A couple of days earlier Hanna had seen several Capercaillies.

On the next morning I did the second duck count. Now there were more Grey Herons than I had ever seen – 22 birds. Now the most common duck was a Teal, 248 birds, 42 Shovelers were also a good number. The best observation of the day was a Collared Dove that I found from the flock of 200 Wood Pigeons, it was a Siikalahti tick for me!

On the 15th day a Bittern was still flying in Siikalahti and on 19th day I still found a young Thrush Nightingale. On the 20th day we had a different kind of bird trip with Matti Lötjänen. We went to do birding to a place in Parikkala we had never been before. In Koukkuinmaa we found a young Red-breasted Flycatcher, in Koukkuinnurmet we saw a flock of 5 young Common Rosefinches. From the view-tower in Kumpu we saw several Honey Buzzards, Common Buzzards, Ospreys, Sparrowhawks and still 2 Curlews and in Papinniemi and Hevoskallio we had a good look to big Lake Pyhäjärvi where Red-necked Grebes and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were found.

On the 23rd day I did the 3rd duck counts and even 609 Mallards were count. Aldo 3 Gadwalls were nice to see because of these were the youngsters of the first ever proved breeding in Siikalahti. Also 276 Teals, 273 Wigeons, 17 Shovelers, 7 Pintails, 10 Pochards, 1 Slavonian Grebe and 478 Coots were seen.

On the 26th day we had a bird eally in former Saari and Uukuniemi area. We started at six a.m. and continued 12 hours. Potu (Miika Suojarinne) was also in my team because Hanna was in Nederland in Dutch Bird Fair. In the beginning it was very foggy so our plan to watch to the lakes was not good. So nothing good was found from the lakes and our best observations were a couple of Grey Herons, a Whitethroat and a couple of Golden Plovers. In Akonpohja we found a couple of Lesser Whitethroats, a Sedge Warbler and some Teals. All the ducks were difficult in this area because of all the lakes are free for hunting. From Lahdenpohja we found some Wigeons. In Kirjavalansalo we saw a Black Woodpecker and in Pohjasuo we saw a Red-throated Pipit. In Kanavalampi a Swift, an Osprey and a Marsh Harrier were seen. Next species were a Chiffchaff, a Crested Tit, a White-backed Woodpecker and a Redpoll. Then we drove to Uukuniemi Hevoskallio, where we found some Common Terns, a Black-headed Gull, Red-necked Grebes and 2 Red-throated Divers. Also Black-throated Divers and Lesser Black-backed Gulls were seen, but those we had seen already. From Kumpu tower we met Harry’s team but only Harry climbed up to the tower while Jarno Walle and Jari Kiljunen continued to Pyhäjärvi – on this rally it was ok to do this. a Hen Harrier and a Goshawk were seen like some other common raptors too. Then we continued to Lammintaus where the only new species was a Wheatear.

Our 77 species wasn’t very much, the winners Jussi Valonen and Ari Parviainen had found 91 species! Altogether 5 teams had found 114 species but nothing really interesting.

On the 28th day I was again in Siikalahti (as almost in every day) and finally it started to rain! The rain dropped also some migrating waders down to the bay and even though it was raining really hard I managed to see 18 Ruffs, 2 Temminck’s Tints, 2 Spotted Redshanks and 2 young Curlew Sandpipers – the first ones for me for 3 years.

July and holiday

When the month changed, I was meeting my old friends in Oulu. We also had a meeting with my old classmates which some of them I hadn’t met for more than 15 years! On the other hand some of them are still my best friends. The menu was mostly alcoholic, but anyway I managed to make some bird observations because we were in one of the best birding places in Oulu in Hietasaari. Hawfinches were calling on the trees and we even visited the bird tower with Juha Heimovirta. So I managed to get Little Tern and Shelduck as a year tick but we also met a group of Swedish birders which were the same we had met in Krankesjön, Southern Sweden, at Eastern. So I paid my depth and told them some birds around Oulu – they had told us a Firecrest then. At night the parties were still on while Long-eared Owl youngsters were calling their parents for food.

On the 2nd of July I was just starting to drive back home when Antti Pesola and Dani Burgas informed me that they had found a couple of Red-footed Falcons from Liminka Hirvineva. So I decided to visit the place to see some more friends and of course some birds too. Antti, Dani and even 3 Red-footed Falcons were still there and we also saw a female Pallid Harrier and some other raptors too. It was a great visit in a place I had been doing counts in the past.

The second stop was made in Piippola Kortteinen where I managed to see a Black Tern, even though Antti had afraid there are none.

I drove slowly towards South-East and finally I decided to sleep a little in Pyhäselkä Reijola. So when I woke up I could twitch a Booted Warbler as a year tick. After all I could sleep only 2 hours at home before I had to go to work.

On the 5th day we did the last night singer counts in Saari. Nobody had heard the Lanceolated Warbler in July but it was still singing in Pohjanranta. It had just moves a couple of hundreds of meters. Otherwise birds were mostly quiet: a Grasshopper Warbler, 2 River Warblers, Spotted Crakes, Corn Crakes, a Water Rail and a Nightjar.

During the next weekend I was near Jyväskylä partying again. Of course we saw some birds with Ilkka and Kristjan Niitepöld, but the most important thing was that we really had a great time!

On the 10th day we did a night singer trip with Dani who had came to holiday to Kesälahti. Of course the summer was too late to make a good trip but I think the Lanceolated Warbler was alone enough for Dani. We still heard some Spotted Crakes, Corn Crakes, some fledlings of Long-eared Owl, a Short-eared Owl, a Nightjar, a Golden Oriole, an Icterine Warbler, some Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a couple of Grasshopper Warblers but no River Warblers – they were all silent! We ended our trip while checking everything was still ok with the breeding pair of Barnacle Geese.

On the next day I still visited Siikalahti where were just the same birds than every summer – Grey Herons, Smews, Reed Warblers and all the common breeding birds.

Then it was time to leave to the bird holiday to Georgia and Armenia to watch birds for a couple of weeks (the whole Trip story will come soon, for example 213 species, which 21 were WP-ticks!). (Look at the Gallery too, where you can already find hundreds of pictures from the trip.)