. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

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!

October – Finally some time to relax

In the beginning of October I still had to do duck-counts in Siikalahti twice a week and then counts in Saari once in 10 days, but in the end of the month there was no need to do the counts so often because most of the birds left. So I had time to do mapping and all the computer work.

A Couple of first counts in Siikalahti were still quite good: there were lots of ducks, even some Scaups and a late Gadwall, but also I saw a Three-toed Woodpecker and some Parrot Crossbills. Some flocks of Barnacle Geese were migrating even though it was a strong southern wind for weeks.

I tried to see some arctic migration in Tähtiniemi but nothing much were seen. Of course some flocks of Barnacle and Brent Geese and a Peregrine Falcon but there were much more to come.

Even the ducks in Siikalahti were waiting for the wind to turn to north. The old White-tailed Eagle was still there and a flock of Bewick’s Swans was seen to my 196th species in Siikalahti this year.

At last on 16th day the wind changed and all the birds that had been waiting started their migration. We went to Punkaharju Hirvikoski but it was a mistake. The wind was much stronger than we expected so it was really cold there.

The morning was quiet but then in mid-day we saw lots of flocks of geese but they were mostly really far. We were almost freezing when I got a message: There was a Red-breasted Goose in Saari Kuposenmäki! We were happy to leave the too arctic migration watching point and after a half an hour we were in Kuposenmäki.

Finding the Red-breasted Goose wasn’t easy. There was a feeding flock of 4000 Barnacle Geese and mostly they were behind the trees. But after a half an hour searching the whole flock did a short flight and we managed to see the Red-breasted shortly. It was a lifer!

During the next 2 hours the Geese were again feeding and nobody saw the Red-breasted, but there was amazing migration going above us all the time! Thousands and thousands of Barnacle and Brent Geese and some White-fronted and Bean Geese and some big flocks of Bewick’s Swans!

Then 4 o’clock all the local geese got afraid again something and some 400 geese decided to leave and the Red-breasted Goose was with them. So not all twitchers managed to see the bird.

The migration continued the whole day and even whole night! In the evening most of the geese were White-fronted Geese, but many Barnacle and Brent Geese were still migrating too.

After all we saw almost 50000 migrating geese, 168 Bewick’s Swans, a couple of White-tailed Eagles and then we had got a lifer – it had been a perfect day!

It felt like almost all migrating birds had gone in one day. Siikalahti was almost empty, so I could rest a couple of days before the next trip. In 19th day after I had counted the few ducks in Siikalahti I started my way to Helsinki. There I met Matti Lötjönen, Jari (Konza) Kontiokorpi and Esko Veijalainen and we continued to Lithuania.

First we took a ferry to Tallinn and then we drove all night to Lithuania. In early morning we arrived at Curonian Spit. Esko and Matti who had been driving went to sleep to a tent but I and Konza started to watch to the Baltic Sea and to the coast and wait for the morning migration to begin.

In early morning the migration was quite poor, so Konza slept for one hour so I was birding alone. But then in 10 o’clock the migration really started. The passerines (mostly Chaffinches, Bramblings, Redpolls, Siskins, Twites, Greenfinches and Starlings) were migrating all the time. I managed to see a Grey Wagtail (a big rarity) alone and a Serin with Esko. Also 2 Shore Larks, some Razorbills, Bewick’s Swans, Stock Doves, Sparrowhawks, a Pochard, a Hen Harrier and so on were seen.

About 1 p.m. we drove to Nida because of it was a better place to see raptor migration. It was interesting to notice that all Common and Rough-legged Buzzards and the only Hen Harrier were moving north while the Sparrowhawks were moving normally south.

In the evening we met the two other Finnish rally teams and we had a good time in local restaurant.

On 21st day we drove to the coast and started to explore the bird places because it was the day before the rally. Everything went perfect! We found a couple of good places, one good duck-place with Little Grebes and Pochards and even Bearded Tits and then a small but good forest with Middle and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a Wren and Marsh and Crested Tits. Then all the other known places were really good! There were huge numbers of birds almost everywhere! The Rusne and the Kintai pools were totally full of birds: 8 Great White Egrets, 100 Gadwalls, 800 Snipes, a couple of thousand Golden Plovers and hundreds of Lapwings – and then White-tailed Eagles. Other good observations were Black Redstarts, Serins and a Collared Dove and so on.

On the rally day everything went perfect – even the weather was really good. The morning was pretty misty and windy so the migration wasn’t that good. Bullfinches were on their way but Konza and Esko managed to see for example Hawfinches, a Shore Lark, a Wood Lark, a Peregrine Falcon while me and Matti found a Redshank, at least 60 Spotted Redshanks, Ringed Plovers, Dunlins, Grey Plovers and so on from Kintai pools. We also saw a White Wagtail, big flocks of Bewick’s Swans and a about 30 White-tailed Eagles there.

Then we went to see the Black Redstarts we had found the day before, and after finding one we had to hurry to Palanga where was a rally check point.

Palanga offered both divers, Long-tailed Ducks, Common Crossbills, Caspian Gull and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. Next we hurried to Klaipeda rubbish tip where we found Grey Partridges, Dunnocks and then we went to the secret places. At the small pool we saw a Little Grebe and Pochards but no Bearded Tits, but we heard Crested Tits, then on the forest we found the both woodpeckers, Marsh Tits and a Nuthatch!

On the way south we saw again Collared Doves in same place than the day before. While we were driving a highway I saw a big raptor which just landed behind the small hill. We ran after it but only Konza managed to see it shortly. It was probably a Greater Spotted Eagle but the observations were too short. A pity we couldn’t get it as a rally tick.

But soon we got a good tick when we found a Moorhen. Then we drove quickly south to Rusne where split again to two. Esko and Konza managed to see Pintails and a Chiffchaff, we all saw Great White Storks, Smews, Goosanders and a Peregrine, but only me and Matti saw a very weird looking shrike! Even today I have no idea what it was! I managed to get some pictures of the shrike even it was already pretty dark. The bird was small, big-headed and short-tailed like a Lesser Grey Shrike. The underparts were darkish with some reddish colouration. There was a little white on the forehead but hardly any above the eyes. But then the upperparts were quite pale grey and there was even paler in rump. So it couldn’t have been a Southern Grey Shrike even though I really think it never was a Great Grey Shrike either.

Well anyway we had to hurry to Ventai where all the teams had to be on 6.30 p.m. when the rally ended. On last minute we managed to find a flock of Slavonian Grebes behind the big flocks of Scaups on the hotel beach.

The results of the rally weren’t a surprise: we won clearly! We had seen 110 species while the second had got 99 and third 93 species. We celebrated our victory late in the night but 1 a.m. we really had to go to sleep even though it was nice to talk with all the other rally teams.

On 23rd of October we had to start out way back to Finland early. We drove straight to Latvia Saulkrasti where we did some sea watching and again with luck – we saw a Pomarine Skua! After only a half an hour seawatching we had to continue to Estonia and to Tallinn.

At 7.30 p.m. we took a ferry to Helsinki and I was at home 2 a.m. at night. The trip to Lithuania had been a perfect end for the autumn!

While our trip almost whole Siikalahti had frozen and there were no many birds left! There was snow on the ground – it was a winter!

During the last days of October we had to start a huge work! We had almost 100 nest boxes for owls that we had to get to the forests. But because there was nothing much to do anymore we would have time for whole November!

September – Duck counts and rally in Hailuoto

The beginning of September was boring. Only birding I did were the duck-counts in Siikalahti and Saari. On the evening of 3rd day I saw a Nightjar while I was driving home from a rink-bandy tournament.

Counts were difficult because of hunters in Saari and a single hunter – a White-tailed Eagle in Siikalahti. All the ducks in Siikalahti were hiding and when the eagle flew all the ducks were flying too. So the ducks were changing places all the time! Somehow I managed to do the counts anyway. Only better observations were some Gadwalls. I saw also some Water Rails and one late Spotted Crake. Of course I saw also northern birds on their migration like Red-throated Pipits, Rustic Buntings, Bluethroats and Merlins.

On the 4th day we twitched a Buff-breasted Sandpiper in Joutseno Konnunsuo. It was nice to see this species well this time.

I tried to catch some Tengmalm’s and Pygmy Owls but even everybody else were ringing good numbers I never caught a single owl.

Hanna had a long weekend with other bird painters in Hanko. She photographed some raptors and other flying birds there but she also had a possibility to photograph a Great Snipe in Helsinki.

Meanwhile I was doing the duck-counts. I also tried to find Yellow-browed Warblers but I wasn’t lucky. One weekend when Hanna was in Tarto Estonia I birded around the clock with both Matti and Harry but again I wasn’t lucky. Only good observation was a Raccoon Dog which I managed to photograph somehow.

On Friday 23rd of September we started our way to Hailuoto bird rally with Potu and Harry. It was a long drive to Liminka bay where we had our first real stop. We couldn’t see anything special there but soon we drove to my brother Riku where we met also another brother Pirkka who joined our rally team. Soon we were in a Hailuoto ferry where we met also a couple of other teams.

We had a small cottage in Ranta-Sumppu where we met a couple of more teams having their cold drinks. It was already late and we were tired because of our long drive, so soon we went to sleep – we had an early start next morning.

We woke up half past five and already 6 o’clock we were on our way to northern beaches of the island. Luckily the road was good this time (last autumn we were stuck when we were driving to twitch a Lesser Short-toed Lark).

We reached the Keskiniemi right on time when the rally started 7 a.m. There was no migration on the sea, so the first species were common ones: Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Goldeneyes, Redpolls, Common Gulls etc. Some flocks of Common and Parrot Crossbills were flying over the pine-forest. When we walked on the shore we saw some better species like White-tailed Eagle, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Black-throated Diver, Common Scoters, 4 young Little Gulls, Long-tailed Tits, Wheatear, Dunlins, Ringed Plovers and finally also Sanderling.

We walked back to our car and on the way we saw more Dunlins with 3 Knots and Sanderling but also 2 Golden Plovers.

Then we drove to Marjaniemi where we saw only a Velvet Scoter and briefly one phylloscopus-Warbler. Next species we found were Collared Dove, House Sparrows and Starlings near the village. Soon we saw also first common ducks and Swallows and a small flock of Bean Geese.

Next we drove to the biggest fields where we found a Merlin, Cranes, Kestrel, a flock of Waxwings, more Starlings ans a Great Grey Shrike.

Kirkkosalmi was really good! First we found a Treecreeper and Coots of course, but then a Hen Harrier, Shovelers and Gadwalls. And our half an hour raptor-watching was fabulous: a coupe of Sparrowhawks, an old White-tailed Eagle again, a Peregrine Falcon and a female Goshawk were good ones. One more bonus was a male Black Grouse that passed the bird tower.

A long drive to Rautaletto was almost a waste of time but finally after a long trying we found one new species – a Tree Pipit. And again we saw shortly a phylloscopus but it disappeared.

Usually Kaarannokka has been quite empty but this time it was good: a Grey Heron, Spotted Redshank and Smews were added to our rally list. Unfortunately a harrier was again a Hen Harrier and the flock of Golden Plovers had no Grey Plovers in it. Also an immature White-tailed Eagle and a Peregrine were seen.

Our last place was Pökönnokka. We knew every team had been there but we had to go there too. You never know what you may miss there. We saw a flock of Little Gulls on the sea but no a chlidonias Tern another tram had seen earlier. Skylark, Red-breasted Grebe and Ruff were our last species. So finally we had seen 82 species in 11 hours.

We came 4th in a rally but we were happy. All other teams had at least one local birder in their team. Together there had been more than 100 species in a rally. But this time there was no big rarities, only a Yellow-browed Warbler and that chlidonias Tern.

In the late evening we went by ferry back to Oulu where we left Pirkka and the rest of the team continued to Siikajoki Tauvo ringing station. When we reached the parking place of Tauvo it was already late – an Ural Owl was calling!

In the station there was a Tengmalm’s Owl tape playing but we couldn’t catch any. We only saw one owl on flight before we went to sauna.

We woke up early again and heard Matti Tynjälä (the ringer) had changed a Pygmy Owl tape. And when I went out there was a Pygmy Owl hanging in a mist net!

We made a couple of mist net rounds and caught some Reed Buntings, Robins, Great and Willow Tits, Siskins, Goldcrests, a Blackbird, a Treecreeper and a Yeallowhammer.

Soon we walked to the coast to count all the shorebirds. The round took some 3 hours and we saw 13 Mute Swans, a Peregrine, 170 Dunlins, a Sanderling, 10 Ringed Plovers, a Spotted Redshank, a Great Grey Shrike and a young Marsh Harrier.

Once we were back in the station we said goodbyes for Tynjälä family, and started our way back home. We had planned to make one stop because of searching for Yellow-browed Warblers in Kaasa harbour. Even several birders had already been there in the very same morning we hoped to have some luck .But we were lucky even earlier… On the way we saw two grouses crossing the road, I stopped and we realized there were a flock of 14 Willow Grouses on the side of the road! It was surprising but even bigger surprise was that Harry got a lifer! It was such a surprise I forgot to turn to Kaasa!

So I had to decide where to make the stop for the warblers. I decided to drive to Raahe Yrjänä. After a short drive we had our first stop there, I put the CD on and… we heard an answer! A Yellow-browed Warbler was repeating to our tape! But then it suddenly stopped and we never saw the bird!

So we had to make more stops. Second stop was a waste of time but then on third stop there came a big flock of tits. And then I found a Yellow-browed Warbler just above us on the top of a tree. And we saw it well! The second lifer for Harry and also a lifer for Potu. So finally we could start our long way back to east.

In total we saw 100 species in our trip which is a good number in autumn. But we also drove more than 1300 kilometres! And we were all working on Monday morning!

The last days of month were again busy! I did a couple of duck-counts but nothing special was found. Some arctic ducks were seen like Scaups, Barnacle Geese and White-fronted Geese, but only good thing was a perfect concert of our favourite rock band Dream Theater in Helsinki.

August – Holiday trips

The beginning of August was extremely busy. I had lots of work and we had to prepare everything for our holiday. In first days I hadn’t time to go birding further than to Siikalahti and there were nothing special there.

On the 4th of August right after I had finished my work we drove to Tampere from where we had a flight via London to Corsica and Sardinia (The whole trip story, for example Corsican Nuthatches, Corsican Citril Finches, Marmora’s Warblers, a Lammergaier, Alpine Choughs, Yelkoyan Shearwaters… and even a Roller in Finland.)

When we were back at home I had time only for one visit in Siikalahti (more Grey Herons etc.) and to do the first duck counts in Saari Natura areas (2 young Red-footed Falcons). I also saw a flock of 50 Bar-tailed Godwits migrating over our home but then on 16th of August we were off to Tampere again. We flight again by Ryan Air to London to British Bird watching Fair.

To England and British Birdwatching Fare

We had our flight from Tampere to London at 10.35 and 11.30 (Greenwich Time) we landed again to Stansted airport. We slept again in the airport (at least we tried) and 5.30 a.m. we took a train to Leicester. There we had an English breakfast in our Campanile hotel where we also left our luggage and took a taxi back to the railway-station. We took a train a little bit backwards to Oakham from where was a bus waiting to transport people to Rutland to the Fair.

We bought 3 days tickets to the Fair and then we just enjoyed the great stores and atmosphere of the area. Because of we were a bit working there (Hanna had to explore the quality and the offers of the stands because of we might be having a stand of our own next year, we took also lots of pictures. And then we of course spent some money – there were so many good books and magazines to buy. Also the art-tent was something amazing. Totally there were 5 big tents and some smaller ones and also tents for all the optics. One of the optic-tents had a good view to the Rutland water so we could see also some birds: a couple of Ospreys which were brought from Scotland, Egyptian, Canada and Greylag Geese and some waders.

We really enjoyed the Fair for whole 3 days! We could hardly see everything there because of the Fair were so huge. It was good to see some friends too: from Greece there were Kerkini Lake people, Theodoros Naziridis and Gordon Ramel; from Eilat Reuven Yosef and Lynet then some people we had guided in Siikalahti and of course Finnish birders: Ola and Peltsi (Finnature), Anttu (Alula), people from Inari, Varesvuo with his excellent photographs and some Bird Fair tourists. But the main thing for us was to meet Paul French! Two last days we enjoyed the Fairs with him and when the Fair was closing on third day we continued to Lincolnshire with Paul.

Paul had just started in his new work for RSPB in Freiston Shore near Boston. We drove there to Paul’s huge apartment on Sunday evening. There we were all so tired we soon went to sleep.

On Monday morning on 22nd of August Paul had to do a bird counts in the shore and of course we joined him. It was a high tide so all the birds arrived to small lagoon in short time. In the beginning there were only some waders and 170 Canada Geese, 3 Greylag Geese, hybrids of these, some ducks including the first 2 Garganeys of the area, and so on. But when the tide came high birds started to arrive. We counted 1302 Dunlins, 877 Oystercatchers, 455 Redshanks, 321 Knots, 150 Turnstones, 57 Grey Plovers, 53 Ringed Plovers, 14 Black-tailed and 5 Bar-tailed Godwits, 13 Curlews, 5 Avocets, 2 Common Sandpipers and Lapwings, a Whimbrel and a Green Sandpiper. In an hour all these birds arrived at the lagoon.

Then we still walked and counted the birds on the shore. There were Grey Herons, Little Egrets, more Whimbrels, a couple of Sandwich Terns, lots of Golden Plovers over the fields, a flock of Eiders, Great Crested Grebes and a young Little Tern which was the first youngster of this species for Paul ever in Britain.

The weather had been horr… English, so we all were wet and unfortunately we couldn’t have got many good pictures. We drove via Paul’s office to his apartment to change dry clothes. Paul had to continue to his work and we decided to stay in his apartment because we had to work out which leaflets from the Fair we should take to Finland. We had collected so many things from the Fair that our luggage were too heavy to get to the plain. In the evening we ate in a comfortable English pub, set up a moth-trap to the garden and went to sleep quite early.

Next morning we identified and released the moths from the trap while a Green Woodpecker was and a flock of Long-tailed Tits were calling in the garden. Then Paul drove a little bit longer to the shore where we birded for an hour together before Paul had to go to work. We walked along the shore for three hours and saw Marsh Harriers, Wheatears, a couple of Spotted Redshanks, Whinchats and a Kingfisher. We also heard a Pacific Golden Plover-like call from one of the many Golden Plover flocks but we never found anything like that. Paul picked us up at midday and we had a short look to the fields if we could find the plover. We never found any plovers from the fields but there were a couple of flocks of Grey and Red-legged Partridges.

In the afternoon we walked around the same lagoon again while Paul was cutting grass near the parking place. We found some really good English-ticks like an extremely early Jack Snipe, a Hobby, a Merlin, an Osprey, Black Terns and an Arctic Skua. Even most of these species are common for us they are not too common in England.

In the evening we had a good time with Paul’s work-friend John. We ate hot oriental food, Paul showed us some nostalgic slides from Eilat but also from Fair island. We really enjoyed!

Early morning Paul drove us to Peterborough where we said goodbye for him and took a train to London. We slept all the way to King’s Cross and there we managed to book to a hotel nearby. We took a taxi to our St. George Hotel and left the luggage there and walked to the Oxford Street to do some shopping. We also walked to see the Big Ben (I needed to do some sightseeing) and St. James Park which was full of interesting birds like Pelicans and White-headed Ducks etc.

On the 25th of August we walked through the Hyde Park to Victoria & Albert’s Museum and to the National History Museum. We had a short tour in both museums before we had to take a taxi back to our hotel. Then we took a bus from Marble Arch to Stansted from where we had a flight to Tampere in the afternoon.

At 10 p.m. we started our way from Tampere to Parikkala. Everything was going well until we felt like hitting a rabbit or something. Anyway there was nothing on the road and because of the car felt normal we kept on going. When we turned to a gas-station in Luumäki we felt everything wasn’t ok. The front right shock absorbers spring was fractured. We had to continue to the closest car service to wait it opens. So we slept for 3 hours before the repairman came to work. After a couple of hours he told they had to order that spring from Helsinki, so they couldn’t do it until Monday. Luckily he borrowed us his second car so we could continue to Parikkala.

I slept for one hour and then I had to go to count ducks to Saari. Then I changed our loaned car to Hanna’s fathers Golf and in the afternoon we started our way to Kemijärvi where my brother Pirkka had moved because they had their third child’s christening. We drove in the evening to Vuokatti to Ilkka Jarvas place where we slept and in the early morning we continued another 350 kilometres to Kemijärvi. The boy got his name (Veikka) and on Sunday we did some birding with Pirkka (twitched a Bar-headed Goose and saw a Red-throated Pipit, a Cormorant and then we drove 10 hours back to Parikkala. On the way we saw some Short-eared Owls, Long-eared Owl and 2 Eagle Owls.

When we were again in Parikkala I did some bird watching even I was really tired. There was a huge influx of young Red-footed Falcons in Finland so there were two of them in Siikalahti too. Some Red-throated Pipits were migrating, but otherwise it was really quiet – it was an autumn. After I had wasted one day in Joutseno Konnunsuo (again too good weather for waders) I found the rarity in Siikalahti on the last day of the month – a Lesser Spotted Eagle flew over me when I was doing a duck-count again. I saw the bird from 30 metres! The bird continued south and when it had flown behind the trees I saw another eagle flying towards me – an old White-tailed Eagle was attacking Coots on the bay. It was good to be home again!

July starts with Kesälahti rally

The month changed to July while we where birding in Tyrjä area with Potu. We found Long-eared Owls almost on every stop but we found only one Locustella Warbler and that River Warbler we ringed.

We woke up late in the evening and soon we were driving to Saari Mikkolanniemi with Hanna and Potu. There we met 3 other rally-groups and as the rally county came Kesälahti – the Northern neighbour of “new” Parikkala. This year’s birds in Finland were a Marsh Harrier and a Bittern, so we decided that teams would get extra-points of all Marsh Harriers and Bittern they could find. Soon we were all driving to Kesälahti.

It was nice to explore a totally new area. We had never been birding in Kesälahti before but now we did – for 17 rally-hours. Anyway everything started to go well. We started from the southern border of Kesälahti where we could see to Parikkala’s biggest fields in Tetrisuo and we saw for example Short-eared Owl, Hen Harrier, Red-backed Shrike and so on.

Next good stop was in Kuolemanlampi where we found a family of Whooper Swans, Hobbies and a Greenshank. It started to get dark when we checked the biggest lakes, but anyway we got Black-throated Diver, Red-necked Grebe and Goosander… Young Long-eared Owls were already calling in Sarvisalo and luckily we found a good small lake where were Slavonian Grebes. Also the first nightjar was not only heard but also seen very well.

The night singers were found in Mäntyniemi area: Corn Crakes, Marsh and Blyth’s Reed Warblers, more Nightjars and Long-eared Owls but also a Tawny Owl and a River Warbler. Luckily we heard a Bittern too.

On early morning we headed to Varmonniemi forests. And we got lots of species: Chiffchaff, Wren, Bullfinches, Jays, Common and Parrot Crossbills, Hazel Hen, Common and Honey Buzzard, Red-throated Diver, Crested Tits, Treecreepers, Kestrel and Black Woodpecker…

Then we had a short walk in the centre where we found Pheasants, Tree and House Sparrows and a Lesser Whitethroat before we continued to Poroniemi where we had luck again: A Smew and a Blackcap were both good ticks.

Our main target in this rally was to explore the whole Kesälahti. So we headed north and on the way we found Wood Larks in Särkivaara. But then the northern areas of Kesälahti were absolutely boring. We found only Red-breasted Merganser, Linnet and two Marsh Harriers. After a couple of hours we decided to drive back to south because we felt we could still find something new from these better places.

We had only 40 minutes left when we reached Pellavasniemi but we could get a few ticks: Osprey, Barnacle Goose and Pintail.

Finally we saw 105 species which was a good result in July from the places where we had never been before. Anyway two (maybe more experienced) teams got a couple of species more but we had had fun again. Together 4 teams could find 131 species and that’s a lot!

After the results we all had a good time in Mikkolanniemi, but when we all too tired we decided to drive home. On the way we twitched a Quail in Tyrjä and heard a Bear too.

Working, working, working

After the rally I continued working both in Siikalahti and in Heath centre. It was quiet in Siikalahti: first Grey Heron arrived, Bitterns were flying and sometimes when it was very hot they were climbing up to the reeds to the wind.

Duck-counts showed that Coots and Whooper Swans had had a good summer but rest of the species hadn’t. One night I saw an Eagle Owl but nothing special was found. So I twitched a flock of White Storks in Joutseno, only because there was nothing else around.

Course to North Lappland and Varanger

On 17th day we headed North with Hanna, Hanna’s mother and Marko Vauhkonen, We were going to lead a nature course to Northern Lapland and Varanger. Hanna had planned the course, I was a bird guide and Marko was a plant-specialist. Of course we all three knew the birds well, but I concentrated only birds.

Next day we met all 27 people in Rovaniemi railway station. After the breakfast we drove by bus north to Saariselkä to have lunch. About 6 p.m. we arrived at Kevo National Park where we had cottages. After a long travelling we just had a short look around (Red-throated Diver, Bluethroats and some interesting plants) and went to sleep.

On the 19th day we woke up early. We went by boats to the other side of Kevo Lake to have breakfast to the station and then we had a nice walk to Jesnalvaara hill. On the way we had a Pine Grosbeak, Willow Grouses, Golden Plovers, Siberian Tits and again lots of plants. The weather was beautiful – it was almost too hot to climb.

In the evening the officers of the Kevo research station showed us the places and told about their works. We also had lessons of plants (Marko), birds (Janne) and glacial geology (Hanna).

On the next morning we headed to Karigasniemi Ailigas. The weather had changed radically and now it was windy, raining, foggy and cold. Anyway we climbed up to the top of the mountain to 620 metres and we saw some Ptarmigans, Snow Finches, Golden Plovers and some saw also a Dotterel. We were al a little bit disappointed because of the weather but we had to keep on going. Our next stop was in Utsjoki where we had lunch. After the lunch we had amazing luck – we saw a Gyrfalcon. On the way to Varanger we saw also a Rough-legged Buzzard.

Soon the Arctic sea opened in front of us and we could see lots of new species for the course. The first stop was in Nesseby church where were lots to see for everyone – birds, plants and geologic. Arctic Skuas, a flock of Long-tailed Skuas, Shelducks, Kittiwakes, Red-necked Phalaropes, Bar-tailed Godwits and even a female King Eider were seen before it started to get dark and we had to continue to Vadsö city to our hotel.

On the 21st day after the breakfast we had a short walk in Vadsö (100 Red-necked Phalaropes, 4 Long-tailed Skuas and so on) before we drove to Eckeröya Kittiwake colony. On the way we saw a couple of Shore Larks and in Eckeröya we had not only always so funny Kittiwakes but also a White-billed Diver. But soon we continued to Hamningberg where we had the most horrible salmon soup I have ever had (There was no salmon at all and almost nothing else either). But when we saw the landscape of “the end of the World” in Hamningberg a flock of 52 Beluga Whales and Gannets there was no reason to complain.

On the way back we had a stop in Persfjorden where we found a male King Eider, Long-tailed Ducks, Common Scoters and of course hundreds of Common Eiders. But we were hurry because we had to catch the boats to Hornöya bird island. Two boats had to make two trips before we all were in the island in the middle of thousands of Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins, Shags and Kittiwakes. We had amazing 3 hours in the island and again we found a Fulmar by its hole. I am sure that everyone fell in love with Puffins. We saw also some Red-throated and Rock Pipits.

In the evening we had a short walk in Vardö city before we were to tired. We slept in two different (not so good) hotels in Vardö.

Next morning we started our long way back, but of course we had something planned on the way. We saw a few White-tailed Eagles and had a short stop in Mårtensnes and in Varangerbotn but then we drove to Högholmen where we had a beautiful stop in the delta of Teno River. The landscape was gorgeous but surprisingly there were no new birds but some plants.

Then we had a long drive to Kevo again where we had good Finnish food and slept in same small cottages than before.

On 23rd day we stopped in Inari bear nest stone and in Kaunispää Mountain. The weather was bad again but anyway some managed to find Siberian Jays and Three-toed Woodpeckers. Then we had a short stop in Tankavaara and in Sodankylä Ilmakkiaapa bog. There we could find interesting bog plants but also a Hen Harrier, Smews and a family of Common Scoters. The rest of the trip to Rovaniemi we collected some easy species to the courses trip list and finally we had seen 109 bird species during the trip.

We said goodbyes to all in Rovaniemi railway station and continued to Ounasvaara where we had again a cottage.

Next morning we drove to Oulu where we dropped Hanna to make some studies. Then we continued with Marko and Helka to Liminganlahti where we stopped shortly. It was raining hard so we saw only a White-tailed Eagle and a Sanderling before we continued to Oulainen to see breeding Pallid Harriers. It took a couple of hours before we found a young Pallid Harrier, but we also found the first 5 Mute Swans ever in Oulainen – wow .

It was already late when we started our long way towards Parikkala. We saw some Long-eared Owls but also an Eagle Owl on the way and finally 2 a.m. the trip was over.

Marko stayed a couple of days with me because he had to do some plant works in Siikalahti, but I had to go working to the Health Centre in the next morning.

The end of July

In the end of July there were more Grey Herons in Siikalahti, but even though the southern South-Karelia was full of waders there were almost no waders in Parikkala area. So we went to watch them to Joutseno with Matti Lötjönen on 30th of July. But of course this was the only sunny day so we saw nothing better than a Red-necked Phalarope.

On the last day of July I did the last duck-counts before our holidays. Then it was time to leave Siikalahti for some weeks and go to do birding somewhere else, but I will tell more about those adventures in August picture diary story.