. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

April

In the beginning of April I was just waiting for the spring to come. I wasn’t birding very much.

The first migrants I saw in Parikkala were Rooks, Herring Gulls, Snowfinches, a Kestrel, Starlings, Lapwings, Common Buzzard and a Wood Pigeon.

On the 7th day the spring came! After the work I went to Siikalahti and saw some nice species like a Golden Eagle, 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Greylag Goose, a Stock Dove, Rooks, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits, a White Wagtail and a Marsh Harrier.

At the weekend I drove to Lappeenranta where we did some birding together with Harry Nyström, Pekka Punnonen and Henrik Salomaa. We began from Joutseno Konnunsuu where we saw 56 Canada Geese, a couple of Merlins, a Hen Harrier and some other common migrants. But we had expected more… We continued to Lappeenranta Luukkaansalmi where only new species were Black-headed Gull. Toikansuo was better: Rooks, a Woodcock and a Reed Bunting. Then we quickly listened to Goldfinches sing in Tykki before we got a message that there was a Moorhen in Toikansuo. The bird was in a ditch which we had checked only a couple of hours before but it was hiding so well that it wasn’t a surprise we had missed it. Now we managed to see it well only when we were in a car.

On the next morning I went again to Konnunsuo and now it was worthy. There was a lot of migration going on. Right away I saw some Bean Geese but also a Pink-footed Goose, a Wheatear, Cranes, 6 Hen Harriers, Mistle Thrushes and later a Dunnock, 3 Rough-legged Buzzards, White-tailed Eagle, a Peregrine and a Hawfinch. There were also hundreds of Skylarks, Wood Pigeons and Lapwings but when Harry arrived, after he had finished a guided trip he had promised to lead, there was almost nothing in the air anymore. In the afternoon we saw some White-fronted Geese, a Linnet, a couple of Lapland Buntings and some Lesser Black-backed Gulls which one of them was a Heuglin’s.

Next few days I managed to do birding only on my lunch hours. Anyway I found 3 Wood Larks, a Wren and a Pheasant, that really tried to crash with cars.

Eastern trip to Sweden

On the 13th day we started our Eastern trip to Southern Sweden with Ilkka Jarva. We had again his parent’s caravan. First we drove to Turku from where we took a ferry to Stocholm. Then we drove south to Lund where we picked up Andreas Lindén who joined us for the time that we were in Skåne – 2 days. The best observations were many Red Kites, a Short-toed Treecreeper, a Firecrest, a Peregrine, many Avocets, some Grey Partridges and Marsh Tits, Nuthatches, an Arctic Skua and many more. We even visited the famous Falsterbo, but it isn’t very good place in spring. Then on the way back to Stockholm, we drove to Hornborgansjö Lake which is an amazing place with thousands of Cranes, Greylag Geese and ducks. There we saw also some Black-necked Grebes. Altogether we saw 125 species in Sweden. Then in Stockholm we took a ferry again and from the ferry we managed to see some Razorbills but also a male King Eider! Then on the early morning of 19th day we were back in Parikkala.

End of April

Once we were back at home we could see there wasn’t a lot of snow anymore on the ground. In Siikalahti I saw many Snipes, Curlews and ducks which meant I had to begin to do duck counts! Also 4 Greylag Geese, a Black-tailed Godwit and a Whimbrel were found.

Also Särkisalmi and Lemmikonsalmi were good for ducks but the better species were seen in Siikalahti: a Grey Heron (20th day) and an early Swallow (21th).

On the 22nd day in Siikalahti I saw a White-tailed Eagle, a Golden Eagle, Bitterns, a Shoveler, 21 Rough-legged Buzzards, 12 Sparrowhawks, 8 Ospreys, 68 Cranes, 3 White-fronted Geese and so on. Later in the day I drove to do duck counts to Saari where were much more ducks than we had expected! But only better observations were 5 Canada Geese, a Grey Heron and a couple of hundred of Bean Geese.

On 23rd day I drove again to Konnunsuo where we birded with Harry, Pekka and Jari Kiljunen. But this time it was really quiet in Konnunsuo – only 3 Pink-footed Geese, so we decided to go twitching! We drove 160km to Pukkila Kantelejärvi to twitch a Kentish Plover. It was a lifer number 333! And we got pretty good pictures too!

Kantelejärvi was a pretty good place, so we managed to see also a Caspian Tern, some Greylag Geese, White-fronted Geese, 2 Pink-footed Geese and a Bewick’s Swan that all were with a flock of Bean Geese.

Next few days I birded a lot in Siikalahti, Särkisalmi and Lemmikonsalmi. I also did counts in Siikalahti and Saari. New yearticks were Common Sandpiper, Slavonian Grebe, Gadwall, Garganey, Yellow Wagtail, Black-throated Diver, Chiffchaff and a Black Kite that migrated in Siikalahti in 26th day. Good observations were also a flock of 121 Great Crested Grebes in Särkisalmi, a family of Bewick’s Swans in Tarassiinlahti and first Water Rails and a Jack Snipe in Siikalahti.

Before the end of the month I still got a Red-necked Grebe, Willow Warbler, Little Gull, Wood Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank and Spotted Crake as a year tick. Also 2 Peregrines were seen.

The last 2 days of the April I was checking the owl nest boxes but there were nothing in them! We are the only area in Finland where is no voles or mice at all! But there are still half of the boxes to check! Only real observations were many Hazel Hens, a Capercaillie and 2 Ural Owls that were heard.

Very quiet March

The whole March was snowy and cold. It was minus degrees all the time, so even the end of the month was very quiet – almost no migrants. But the sun was already shining – the long winter was coming to its end.

I hadn’t able to do bird watching because I was working and in weekends I had rink bandy games. Our season was longer than ever!

So all birding I did on the way to play to Imatra. So Rautjärvi Simpele Kokkola River and Vuoksi River were the places.

On the 4th day I found a Goosander from Kokkolanjoki. It was the first outside Vuoksi for me – so some kind of migrant. The Marsh Tit was gone but there were still some Hawfinches on Korjontie feeder. On Vuoksi there was a Whooper Swan which had been wintering on Russian side of the river.

On the next day I did a winter bird count, which was quite easy this time because there were a good skiing route around the Siikalahti. But the only better observation was the first real migrant, a Snowfinch.

On the 11th day I found the first 2 Herring Gulls from Vuoksi. And n the 17th day we were skiing in forests with my parents that were staying in Parikkala for some days and we visited the familiar Siberian Jays.

On the 22nd of March I twitched a Ural Owl that was sitting only 3 metres from the main road 6 in Särkisalmi. The owl seemed to be really skinny, but otherwise in good shape.

On the next day there were already 330 Herring Gulls and a Great Black-backed Gull on Vuoksi. And on 24th day there were the first couple of Goldeneyes outside Vuoksi on Kokkola River. Also a White-backed Woodpecker was seen flying in Simpele. The first Common Buzzard was already in Siikalahti.

On the 24th of March we had a “traditional” (second) forest bird rally. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to join to the whole rally because I had a match in same day but I was rallying from 4 a.m. to 12 a.m. Others were continuing 4 more hours. All the teams had their own area where to do birding and the main target was to find forest birds. The most important species was a White-backed Woodpecker which gave 10 points to the team.

It was very quiet in the forests but I managed to hear a Tawny Owl and a Tengmalm’s Owl at night and then I found 3 Hazel Hens, 3 Common Crossbills, a Blackbird, 8 Long-tailed Tits and luckily 2 White-backed Woodpeckers!

On the 28th there was a Rook sitting on the closest tree of hour house. It is quite rare species here in eastern Finland. In the afternoon I was once again in Vuoksi where I had 4 Smews (only two had been wintering). Now there were 900 Herring Gulls!

So not many migrants arrived during the March but April will be much more interesting!

The most boring month begins

I started the February at Simpele Korjontie feeding place and managed to see a Marsh Tit before I had to drive back to Parikkala to work. Also a Coal Tit, Black Grouses, a Dipper and a Waxwing were seen.

The only Fieldfare that was still alive was found on 3rd day in Särkisalmi and on the next day we were birding with Matti Lötjönen to Simpele. The Marsh Tit wasn’t seen but a small thrush (probably a Redwing), 8 Hawfinches, a Sparrowhawk and a Blackbird were seen.

On the 5th day I saw a Treecreeper in Siikalahti and then I drove once again to Korjontie to see both the Marsh Tit and Mikko Ala-Kojola who was driving by.

The funniest mammal I saw in February was found in Tyrjä where an Otter was fishing on the river Joensuu.

I also did some birding in Imatra Vuoksi River where I saw a Whooper Swan, a couple of Smews and Cormorants. On the 12th day I was again skiing in the Siberian Jay forests but I couldn’t find them. But a Hazel Hen and a Capercaillie were found! A Black Woodpecker was flying over our house.

To Ahvenanmaa rally

The 24th of February was the day I’d been waiting for a long time. After the midday when I had finished my work we packed our car and started to drive across the country to Turku. We were going to Ahvenanmaa Island to bird rally!

Our first stop was made in Korjontie because we had Markus Keskitalo with us and we wanted to twitch the Marsh Tit. The tit wasn’t seen but 6 Hawfinches and a Tree-toed Woodpecker were seen. Our second stop was by the Vuoksi River in Imatra. The Whooper Swan, Smews and Cormorants were there again but then we found a surprise – an adult Glauscous Gull flew over us!

Our third stop was in Lappeenranta Luukkaansalmi where we twitched a Grey Heron and 3 Teals. It took only a couple of minutes even though some birders had spent several days to see these birds – we were lucky! But then we had to hurry, we had a long way to drive and it was getting late.

Finally we were in Turku harbour at 8.30 p.m. and we were the last car to drive to the ferry! There we found Mikko Ala-Kojola and Antti Pesola who was the other half of our rally-team. Markus was going to another team.

The 4 hours ferry trip went quickly, Finland beat Russia 4-0 in the Olympic semi-final ice hockey.

It was really late when we finally arrived at our hotel in Eckerö Torp. An Eagle Owl was calling outside our window when we started to sleep.

We couldn’t sleep enough because our alarms woke us up before 6 a.m. We had a breakfast and before 7 o’clock we were listening if the Eagle Owl was still calling. Even though there were several teams nobody could hear anything, so we decided to move on quickly. We were the first team to leave the hotel.

After 5 kilometres driving we stopped to listen and there the Eagle Owl was calling! We had started with a really good species!

Our next species were found while driving in Hammarland when the sun started to rise: Mute Swans, Whooper Swans, Goldeneyes, Jackdaws, Hooded Crows, a Black Woodpecker, Blackbirds, Blue Tits and Great Tits. We stopped a couple of times in Jomala Gottby and Common Crossbills, Bullfinches, Willow Tits, Magpies, Ravens, Yellowhammers, Tree Sparrows, House Sparrows, a Fieldfare, Greenfinches and the first of many White-tailed Eagles were seen. A flock of Waxwings was seen by only me and Mikko so it wasn’t countable yet.

Hammarudda was our first real bird place. We had planned to get there to watch “seabirds”, because we had guessed that most of the other teams would start from Eckerö Styrningsudden. And luckily we were there alone with a flock of Redpolls, Goosanders, a couple of Smews, Herring Gulls, Great Black-backed Gulls, Long-tailed Ducks, Black Guillemots, Mallards, Cormorants, Red-breasted Mergansers, Common Gulls, a couple of Common Scoters, a Red-throated Diver, 13 Razorbills and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. So we had a perfect start! And even though we heard there had been a White-billed Diver in Styrningsudden and 5 teams had seen it, we were happy to be alone.

But then it continued worse. We had an hour without new ticks but finally in Torpfjärden we got a Goldcrest, a Sparrowhawk and a Coal Tit and at Svibyviken we saw the first Tufted Ducks.

At Maarianhamina city we tried to find Collared Doves without luck but we found a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a Chaffinch. The fish-harbour had a flock of 1500 Tufted Ducks with some Scaups and a female Steller’s Eider! Also Coots were seen.

Next 2 hours were really bad – we tried to find good feeding places, good forests or anything. Finally we decided we had to move on and we drove to Saltvik Haga fields to find raptors. We had hardly found the fields when I found a Golden Eagle soaring with a White-tailed Eagle far over the fields. And soon we found also a male Goshawk, but no buzzards or a Great Grey Shrike. We were really on a hurry because we had the best area Eckerö to go.

First we drove to twitch Little Grebes to Västerön, but we never found the right place. We just lost an hour and saw just a Smew – again. Then we drove to Degersand to try Purple Sandpipers and a couple of other still lacking species. On the parking place we heard a Crested Tit but the Purple Sandpipers had flewn just 10 minutes before to the other side of one small island. We waited for an hour but couldn’t see the sandpipers, but a Velvet Scoter was found as our last species. We also saw a big diver flying, but it was far too far to identify.

After all we got 51 species and we were on 8th position from 20 teams altogether. So we had done well! We won many experienced teams that had been in Ahvenanmaa many times!

During the next day we tried to twitch some of the species we hadn’t found in a rally. But first we drove to Styrningsudden (the place we hadn’t been) to watch to the sea. But there was no migration, just a flock of Common Scoters and some Black Guillemots. So we decided to leave even though many other teams were staying.

We decided to go to Degersand to try Purple Sandpipers again. And this time we were lucky! After 20 minutes we saw a flock of 40 sandpipers flying far over a small island.

The only Feral Doves of the whole Ahvenanmaa were found at Storby and then we twitched a Little Grebe that was hiding extremely well under the ice and reeds. On the way we found a Reed Bunting and a couple of Parrot Crossbills too.

At Storby we twitched two Steller’s Eiders which were closer than the bird we had found a day before. And when we were trying to find a Wren we found a better bird, a Water Rail!

At Hammarland Bosta we twitched a Dipper which we now found after some hundreds of meters walking. Then we had to drive to Maarianhamina harbour where we had a ferry 2.30 p.m.

From the harbour we saw now about 3000 Tufted Ducks and 10 Scaups. On a ferry we walked straight to the deck and scoped to the sea as long as the sea was open (not frozen). In an hour or so we saw 9 Eiders, 9 Smews, 8 Common Scoters, 2 Great Crested Grebes and 60 Steller’s Eiders! I think we had better time than everyone else in Finland, because in the same time Sweden beat Finland in olympic icehockey final.

In Turku we dropped Mikko and Antti to the railway station and then continued to Kirkkonummi where we were at my parents at 11 p.m.

On 27th of April we started our way home at 10 a.m. Our only good observation was made after a couple of minutes driving when we saw a Common Buzzard. Even though we drove around the south-eastern coast and along the eastern border to Parikkala we couldn’t find anything else.

After all, the trip to Ahvenanmaa had been successful – I had 4 new winter ticks and 16 new February ticks and many good year ticks! But even more important, we had had really good time!

New Year – new year ticks

In New Years day we woke up early. I had been too tired because of last day’s winter bird counts so we had been sleeping before other people started to clebrate the New Year. It was still dark when we were getting away all the ice and snow that was covering our car. Somewhere near were a Hooded Crow and a Redpoll calling, so they were the first yearticks.

We drove towards the south and a Magpie became the 3rd species and in Simpele on the Kokkola River there were the 4th species, Mallards. At Korjontie and its feeder was our first target and there we had Tits in unusual order: Coal, Willow, Marsh, Great and Blue. Bullfinches were also eating from the feeder.

At Lakkakuja it was pretty quiet but Yellowhammers, Green Finches and a couple of Bramblings were near the feeding place.

At Kokkola River we found no Dippers but a Jay was calling. When we continued towards Imatra we saw a flock of Waxwings and in Imatra Vuoksenniska we saw some common city birds – Rock (Feral) Pigeons and Jackdaws.

Then we checked the Vuoksi River very carefully and with Mallards, Goldeneyes and Goosanders there were 4 Smews, 3 Velvet Scoters, 3 Tufted Ducks and 13 Cormorants. A Goshawk flew over us and a Dipper was found at Mellonlahti. At Vellamonkatu a Great Spotted woodpecker was drumming and 5 Haw Finches were found from the flocks of Green Finches. Tree Sparrows, which are more common than House Sparrows here nowadays, were calling in the bushes. A surprise was a female Chaffinch that flew over us.

This time of year the day is really short here so soon it became dark. The first bird trip of the year and 29 species was found.

On the 3rd of January I walked to the closest feeder from our house and ticked the House Sparrows but the real observation of the day was made at night when I saw 2 Lynxes walking over the road when I was driving by car on the main road 6.

On the 6th day the ticks were a Raven and a Crested Tit and on the 8th day we heard a Goldcrest on our skiing trip, the Siberian Jays weren’t found.

On the 10th of January I saw a Great Grey Shrike in Siikalahti but the trip ended soon because I got a lot of muddy water inside my boots. It had been so warm winter that Siikalahti bay wasn’t fully frozen! A couple of days later I did a short trip to Siikalahti and saw a White-backed Woodpecker and 2 Hawfinches which is rare there and on the 15th day I found a male Mallard there – it really should be somewhere else! There was a small ditch which wasn’t fully frozen and this poor Mallard thought it could stay there for whole winter; unfortunately it was still coming cold! A flock of Black Grouses was also seen and in Melkoniemi I twitched a Grey-headed Woodpecker and a Pheasant as a year tick.

But then came the real winter! More than a week it was about -30 degrees! So there was no way to go out at all! Only bird which gets more common in the weather like that is a Dipper so it wasn’t a surprise I saw a Dipper on he Joensuu river mouth. This bird comes more south when it is too cold.

So after all I saw 38 species in January. If you compare the result to my friend Oriol’s close to 200 species in January in Catalonia it is really easy to guess do I like the winter here in Finland! Some beautiful day I will be living somewhere where only ice is in my drink.

December – Winter rally starts

December started and all birders in South-Karelia started to collect winter rally ticks. The 1st day was Thursday so I had to work but on lunch-hour I managed to do some birding. Lake Simpele wasn’t frozen so I could see some Whooper Swans, Goosanders and Common Gulls. A short drive around the Siikalahti was productive, a Pygmy Owl and a flock of Waxwings were seen. Three Starlings were also still staying in the village.

At weekend I birded more. On Saturday I started from Simpele where I saw again a Pygmy Owl, Chaffinches and a Brambling. Then I got a message there was a Gannet in Kesälahti! While driving I saw a Fieldfare and a Goshawk but my goal was a lifer!

I was in a hurry because I had a rink bandy game in afternoon in Imatra, so I had to be quick! Luckily I saw the Gannet already from the car! After that it moved really farto the other side of the lake so it was visible only short periods, so I could continue towards Imatra.

On the way I twitched a Scaup and at Immolanjärvi I found Long-tailed Ducks and Common and Velvet Scoters. At Vuoksi I still found Tufted Ducks before I had to hurry to the ice hall to win the game.

Next day wasn’t bad either. In the morning I drove south to Lappeenranta where I picked up Pekka Punnonen. Piiluvanselkä and Sammonlahti offered some good winter ticks – Great Crested Grebes and Red- and Black-throated Divers. Later we continued to the forests and fields where we found a couple of Great Grey Shrikes and Hawk Owls and a Common Buzzard. And in the evening we had again a rink bandy game to win.

Easily! On the next day we started our way towards southern Finland. First we twitched a Marsh Tit in Simpele and then in Imatra Vuoksi (Smews) before we continued to Kirkkonummi to my parents. On the way we still saw a Common Buzzard and I got a text message that I had got the permanent job from the Health Centre.

On the next day we flight via Frankfurt and Mumbai to India Goa (The whole trip story) to do bird watching for more than 2 weeks. (Look at the Gallery too, where are hundreds of pictures from the trip).

November – Work with owl nestboxes!

November started with a couple of minus degrees, so Siikalahti got frozen. A hundred of Coots and 20 Smews were swimming in small water areas in the middle of ice. The almost old White-tailed Eagle was still there too. In Tiviänlampi there were also 30 Smews and a flock of 19 Tufted Ducks but soon it got frozen too.

I still did a duck counts in Saari on 4th of November. And there were still quite a few birds: 60 Mallards, a Teal, a Long-tailed Duck, 2 Wigeons and some Great Crested Grebes and of course Whooper Swans.

On the 5th day I did winter bird counts. I started from our backyards and walked around the Siikalahti – 18 kilometres. In Lake Simpele I saw some Great Crested Grebes, Goosanders, a Smew, Herring and Common Gulls and also 4 Black-throated Divers. 6 Starlings were still in Kangaskylä and White-tailed Eagle in Siikalahti where I also saw a family of Whooper Swans, 2 Wigeons and Mallards, some Goldeneyes, a Sparrowhawk and a White-backed Woodpecker. Forests were almost empty, only better species were Long-tailed Tits but after all I saw in total of 36 species, which is quite a lot!

The big thing in November was the owl nest boxes! We worked hard to get 63 owl nest boxes to forests in Parikkala. First Hanna did a huge work and contacted the forest owners. And once we knew which forests we can put the boxes, we had to find good places.

It was really a huge work and took all our free time and weekends. It was bad weather almost every time we were in forest but the work had to be done.

We saw some nice birds in the forests but no owls at all. Capercaillie, Hazel Hens and Black Grouses, Siberian Jays, 6 Pheasants and a White-tailed Eagle were seen.

On the 12th day I found a Crane when I was sitting in a bus in Hausjärvi. It was clearly the latest I have ever seen.

In the end of month I was sick for 2 weeks. So I couldn’t do anything. Even though the weather was still mild there weren’t many birds around anymore. 3 Starlings, some Whooper Swans and some flocks of Fieldfares were still around! But there will sure be some good species for the winter rally. Anyway I don’t have many days in the beginning of the rally because we are leaving to India Goa on 6th of December. Yeah!