. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

April – Spring in Eastern Finland

In April I was still working in Heath Centre, but anyway I tried to do birding as much as possible.

Right away on the 1st day of April I had to hurry, because “konza” saw a glimpse of a possible Green Woodpecker. Unfortunately the bird was not relocated even there were several searchers for a couple of days. Only an early Snipe was seen. At Siikalahti I managed to twitch a migrating Golden Eagle which was new Siikalahti tick for me.

At next morning a flock of 6 Cormorants were migrating in Siikalahti, and in Tyrjä we saw a young Golden Eagle so beautiful we had never seen before. Also a pale “börringe” Buzzard was seen. We also saw a big falcon migrating fast, but unfortunately it was too far to identify. It was more likely Gyr than Peregrine.

On the 4th day a Greylag Goose and Great Black-backed Gulls were flying around in Siikalahti – both good species in Eastern Finland. During the next morning I watching migration again in Siikalahti and I got another Siikalahti tick when a Twite was seen and heard. Also White-tailed Eagle and the first Marsh Harrier of the yoar had arrived at Siikalahti. On the 6h day new species for the year were a Wren, a Dunnock, a Hen Harrier, a Merlin and a Song Thrush.

On the 7th day I had just left Siikalahti and continued to do birding to some fields when I had a call that a Greater Spotted Eagle was migrating over Siikalahti. Luckily I managed to drive that fast back there I could see the bird.

Next day was again good. We saw a nice 2nd year Golden Eagle migrating. Other year-ticks were a Green Sandpiper, a Curlew, a Crane and a couple of Teals – these made my year list up to 100 species.

On the 10th day we drove to Joutseno Konnunsuo fields. There was no water as much as we had hoped, but there were far more people. Luckily there were also some birds: 30 Bean Geese, 4 Greylag Geese, a White-fronted Goose, 2 Bewick’s Swans amongst lots of Whooper Swans, 2 Golden Plovers, a Redshank, a White-tailed Eagle, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Stock Dove and a Mistle Thrush.

In the mid April also Siikalahti started to melt. That meant I had to begin with the duck-counts. Of course in the beginning there were only a few birds but the numbers rose quickly.

At Siikalahti I saw a Greylag Goose, a Moorhen and a Two-barred Crossbill. I also twitched a flock of 11 Shore Larks that ”konza” found at Akavaara Tetrisuo.

On the 16th I went to Konnunsuo again. Now there were lots more Geese. I saw more than 600 Bean Geese and 142 White-fronted Geese and even 5 Pink-Footed Geese.

The 23rd day of April was again a good bird-day. At Särkisalmi we found a couple of Gadwalls with Matti and in Siikalahti I saw a migrating Black Kite and a White-tailed Eagle. On the next day I was driving to Punkaharju to see Nutcrakers with Johannes, but I never found them but we saw a Shelduck and a Black-backed Gull.

On the 26th of April a couple of birders saw a migrating Imperial Eagle in Siikalahti. Unfortunately I couldn’t find it even I tried to drive to its way.

In the end of the month the back-winter came once again. 4 Gadwalls were found during the duck-counts and we also had to begin the map-counts. Harry Nyström came to work with us as a third guide and bird counter. He really had to learn to work fast because we had a lot to do.

When the month changed there was nice snow-layer on the ground.

March – Spring comes and the wildness rally

The March started mild again and the day was getting longer quickly. I birded quite a lot, but nothing much was found in the beginning of the month. The Blackcap was still in Savonlinna and another month-tick was a Jack Snipe. In Siikalahti I saw Grey-headed, White-backed and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Black Grouses and Long-tailed Tits. We went to look at the Siberian Jays again. They weren’t breeding yet, but last years birds weren’t anymore with their parents.

Finally the owls started to call. In Parikkala Melkoniemi we heard a couple of Tengmalm’s Owls and Tawny Owls. We had planned to listen to owls a lot but then started the only colder period in whole winter so we had to forget our plans.

On the 19th and 20th of March we went to Kuopio where was a one kind of bird weekend. It was nice to see lots of old friends.

After the Kuopio trip the spring finally started. First migrants were Herring Gulls which I saw in Imatra Vuoksi River. On 22nd of March there were already 104 gulls. On the 24th day we saw a Snow Finch and some Herring Gulls in Siikalahti. On 25th the first Whooper Swan, a couple of Rooks, a Buzzard and a couple of Starlings were seen in Siikalahti. In Vaaranmäki we saw also a migrating Sparrowhawk.

On 26th day we finally had a different kind of rally that Jari Kontiokorpi had planned. All six teams got their own areas where they had to find the birds. The areas were either in Ruokolahti or in Rautjärvi. The rally time was from 4 a.m. to 4 p.m. All the species were worth of 1 point, but for example each White-backed Woodpecker was worth of 10 points, Grey-headed Woodpecker 6 points, Capercaillie 5 points, Pygmy Owl 4 points, Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 point and so on. The main reason for the rally was to find new White-backed Woodpeckers and that’s why the CD-player was aloud in this rally.

Our area was the SW-part of Ruokolahti. We started at 4 a.m. from Äitsaari. The place was great for the owls – we heard 4 Tengmalm’s Owls, 1 Ural Owl, 1 Eagle Owl and 4 Pygmy Owls in 2 hours. The morning came too early but we continued in Äitsaari, where we still found a Great Grey Shrike, Snow Finch, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and lots of Great Spotted Woodpeckers. Then we continued to the western side of main road 6, where were almost no birds at all. We found only another Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Buzzard and some Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

Finally we managed to find also a White-backed Woodpecker! The couple came to have a look who was calling when we had our CD on. That was about our 50th place where we had been playin the CD.

Because there were almost no birds in other places than Äitsaari we decided to drive back there to finish our rally. Of course we tried to find more White-backed Woodpeckers, but a Capercaillie, a Black Woodpecker and a Sparrowhawk were worth of some points too.

After the rally all teams got together in one cottage in Rautjärvi. All teams were happy to the rules of this new rally and even some teams had no possibility to win the rally because of the poor area everyone had seen new places and some better birds too.

In a whole rally total of 7 White-backed Woodpecker (3 new), 23 Grey-headed, 21 Black, 5 Lesser Spotted, 1 Three-toed and 157 Great Spotted Woodpeckers and 5 Capercaillies were seen. 10 Tengmalm’s Owls, 19 Pygmy, 2 Ural and 3 Eagle Owls were heard. A total of 51 species were found even there had been almost no migration at all. Esko Veijalainen and Jussi Valonen won clearly but the biggest surprise was a number of Grey-headed Woodpeckers that Juho and Jukka Könönen and Kari Kärkkäinen had seen – 12. We were 5th.

In Eastern I saw a White-tailed Eagle in Siikalahti. During the next night we went to Tyrjä to listen to owls. We heard 4 Tengmalm’s, an Ural and an Eagle Owl. In Siikalahti we saw 2 Ural Owls but then we got stuck with our car. Finally a tractor pulled us away from the snow at 1 a.m.

During the next day all other birders saw Eagles. We were some hours in Siikalahti but saw nothing. A calling Pheasant was our best observation.

At the end of month the spring was coming slowly. On the last day I saw again a White-tiled Eagle, some Buzzards, Skylarks, Starlings and a Kestrel. At Joutseno Konnunsuo I saw 11 Lapwings and a Canada Goose. At night on the way back to Parikkala I saw an Ural owl and a Tengmalm’s crossing the road.

February – Last winter bird rally month

In the beginning of February it was still warm. It seemed that there won’t be any freezing days in whole winter. So it was nice to do birding wearing so it was still possible to move.

On the 2nd day of February I saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker while going for shopping. In Siikalahti I saw also a female White-backed Woodpecker and a huge female Goshawk.

On the 5th day I twitched a wintering Blackcap in Savonlinna.

Next week my only bird trip was made for the Siberian Jays. They seemed to be alright. On the 12th of February I and Matti Lötjönen drove to Imatra. On the way we saw a Pygmy Owl.

We couldn’t find a Nuthatch in Ruokolahti but we surprisingly saw a Blackbird which was in the middle of a pine-forest. At Joutseno Kukkuroinmäki we saw a Chaffinch but Merlin wasn’t found.

While driving we saw a Black Woodpecker and we also checked if the wintering Jack Snipe was still alive. Surprisingly we found two Jack Snipes only 5 metres from each others and both were doing well. A Smew and a Tufted Duck were still on the Vuoksi River with also 2 adult and 1 2nd calendar-year Herring Gulls.

On the 18th day we started a long drive to Oulu. We were on our way to a bird-identification meeting to Hailuoto. On the way we stopped at Liperi Viinijärvi where we twitched a Black-throated Thrush. We found the bird easily but it escaped quickly because of the train that passed the feeding place. I managed to get only a couple of pictures.

On the next day we continued from Oulu to Hailuoto. On the way we saw a rare wintering bird – a Stock Dove passing us. In Hailuoto we twitched with Mikko Ala-Kojola a Great Grey Owl. But the bird was the most active Owl I have ever seen. So I managed to get only one picture before it moved on.

The meeting in Hailuoto was great! I told about birding in Cap Verde, and there were lots of good programs, but it was good to see old friends too.

At Sunday evening we drove back to Oulu and on the way we accidently found another Great Grey Owl at Oulunsalo. Later in the night there were three Owls seen on the very same field!

During the next day we planned to go to ring those Owls. I asked my friend Juha Heimovirta to join us and before we went to Oulunsalo we saw 14 Hawfinches in Hietasaari and photographed some Waxwings in Intiö. But finally in the evening we were trying to catch some Owl with Tuomo Jaakkonen and Pekka Suopajärvi. The Owls weren’t doing anything before the dusk, but then they started to hunt. We weren’t lucky. We had a couple of possibilities to catch some of the Owls but maybe partly because of the freezing weather we didn’t made it.

On 22nd day we photographed some skiing and other activities for my brothers coming books. We took some 1000 pictures in 5 hours. Just after we had finished we had a call that Mikko and Tuomo had caught an Great Grey Owl. After 10 minutes we where in Kempele and photographing thi Great Grey Owl on a hand.

On the next day we drove back to Parikkala. We did some birding in Tyrnävä and Liminka. We found a flock of 140 Snow Finches and some Collared Doves but no Grey Partridges, just footsteps. In Liperi we tried again to see the Black-throated Thrush but nobody had seen it anymore after our last observation and neither did we.

On 24th of February I had information about an Ural Owl in Mikkolanniemi and Great Grey Owl in Tyrjä. We still had South-Karelia winter bird rally going on, so I had to go for them. After my day at work, I drove to Mikkolanniemi but I saw only 2 Pygmy Owls. I wasn’t lucky either in Tyrjä where I was just disturbed by much too friendly 50 kilos dog.

On the next day I decided to try again. Now I found the Ural Owl directly sitting on a branch next to a feeding place. I took some pictures of the bird but it was looking to another direction all the time. It was also too close for digiscoping, but anyway I managed to get some better pictures. Later I found also the Great Grey Owl but not so easily. Finally I saw it after playing some it’s favourite music from a CD.

So I had my rally going well. That’s why I had to keep on going. On the next morning we went to see a Capercaillie that Jussi Valonen friendly told us. And we found the bird easily. So I had already 69 species – but I needed more! I had to drive to Vuoksi River and find a Common Scoter which had stayed there for a week. On the way I saw a family of Whooper Swans in Simpele but that was the last observation for me on that day. I never found the Scoter even I really tried. Maybe it had left more South because of the freezing weather.

On the 27th day I did the last winter bird count. I skied around the Siikalahti and the best observations were a couple of White-backed Woodpeckers and flocks of Black Grouses and Gold Finches.

After all I saw 69 species during the winter in South-Karelia. Paavo Rantanen (71) and Kari Kärkkäinen (70) had got more species. I was happy with the result because this was my first winter in South-Karelia ever.

January – New Year – new year ticks!

Even though we had been celebrating a New Year and also new bigger Parikkala (Saari and Uukuniemi joined in Parikkala), we started a traditional bird trip early on 1st of January.

I had planned that we would try to see as many species (new year-ticks) as possible but also to find as many 1st of January -ticks as possible. (Quite a few birders are collecting such ticks.) So we decided to do birding in same places as on Independence Day bird rally. On the way to Ruokolahti Utula we shortly stopped at Suomaankorpi and tried to see a Hawk Owl. Hawk Owl wasn’t there but we surprisingly heard a Long-eared Owl.

Utula was almost empty, so we just got some common year ticks. At Imatra we first saw a Black Woodpecker at Vuoksenniska and then continued to Vuoksi River where we found a pair of Tufted Ducks, Cormorants and a female Long-tailed Duck.

At Meltola we found Siskins, a Hawfinch and a Arctic Redpoll and a t Salo-Issakka we saw easily a female White-backed Woodpecker.

Next we twitched the same Jack Snipe I had seen before on December. We were happy to see this bird again without disturbing it at all.

At Simpele Lakkakuja we sae a Blackbird and a Brambling which were there on a feeding place. A Dipper was easily found at Kokkola River. Now the Hawk Owl was also found at Suomaankorpi so we could continue to Parikkala before the dusk.

We were parking our car in Kangaskylä when a Sparrow Hawk landed next to us to a tree. We were still watching a hawk from the car when a Grey-headed Woodpecker flight to the same tree and staretd to attack to the hawk. The Pheasant wasn’t found, but the last and 36th tick for the day was a lonely Waxwing.

On the 2nd of January we had to go to Savonlinna where we also twitched a Black-throated Diver which was overwintering there. We tried to see also Nutcrackers in Punkaharju but we saw also a flock of Parrot Crossbills. On the next morning I saw a Pheasant in Kangaskylä.

4th of January we drove to Mikkeli to see my grandmother. Pirkka’s family was also there. We couldn’t see any better birds but at least I did photograph a lot of my relatives.

Finally during the mid January I managed to get some bird pictures when I digiscoped a Dipper at Oronmylly. Even I birded a lot I couldn’t find anything better than some Great Grey Shrikes. Bigger surprise was another Pheasant which I got my 221st Siikalahti tick.

On the 15th of January we went to check everything was alright with the famous Siberian Jays. Birds were happy to het something different to eat than normally when we shared our box lunch. We also saw a nice male Three-toed Woodpecker there.

During the next day I birded again at Imatra. First I twitched a Nuthatch at Ruokolahti Huhtasenkylä and then at Vuoksi I saw a couple of new year ticks: a Smew and a Goldfinch. This time I saw a pair of White-backed Woodpeckers at Salo-Issakka, but Joutseno didn’t offer anything else than a Goshawk.

On the 17th we drove again to Helsinki. Hanna had lots of to do there and we both joined to my brother Riku’s book-publishing. I had taken some and Hanna had drawn some pictures to another of these conditioning books. I had also planned to do as much birding as possible, but the weather was awful all the time. Finally only better observations were Common Crossbills at Luumäki, Whooper Swans at Jaala and a Rough-legged Buzzard at Siuntio. On the way we tried to twitch a White-billed Diver at Sysmä and an Iceland Gull at Hämeenlinna but the diver had disappeared and the gull wasn’t seen because of a fog. Actually the gull was identified as a leucistic Herring Gull later.

During the last days of January the weather turned bad again. I did tried to listen for Owls at couple of nights and tried to find some grouses. I heard an Eagle Owl, saw a Tengmalm’s Owl and a Hazel Hen. Also a Grey-headed Woodpecker, Dippers, Sparrow Hawk, an Arctic Redpoll and a flocks of Long-tailed Tits were seen. Some more Owls and a Capercaillie are still missing from my winter-rally list. But I do have still February.

In the end of January I had 60 year-ticks. Usually the February is the worst month for birding, but let’s see!

Winter rally birding

In the beginning of December a traditional winter bird-rally started in South-Karelia. I decided to try for one week how many species I could find. First of December I drove to Lappeenranta, where we birded for whole day with Harry Nyström. We found some Chaffinches, Herring Gulls, Goshawk, Black Grouses, Great Grey Shrike, Common Gull and Fieldfares so the beginning was quite promising.

After we had checked all the places near Lappeenranta I started my way back to Parikkala. Sun was setting but I tried to see a Hawk Owl which had stayed in Suomaankorpi for a while. I had luck the owl was sitting so close to the road that I found it easily even though it was already dark. And I had even better luck, I found also a Long-eared Owl!

Next day I drove to Rautjärvi Lake-Torsa to twitch Red-throated Divers that Jari Kontiokorpi had seen day before. I found one easily and also lots of Whooper Swans. But there was also a surprise – a Little Grebe was swimming with swans. After I had seen a Pygmy Owl too, I continued to Imatra and river Vuoksi. There were lots of Goldeneyes and Goosanders but also a couple of Smews and some Cormorants.

On the third of December I started a longer trip to lake-Saimaa. I had planned to visit my grandmother and do birding in two mornings. So I drove first to Taipalsaari Sarviniemi, where I saw a Great Black-backed Gull but disappointedly nothing else but a flock of Waxwings. In Savitaipale and Suomenniemi I saw a couple of Dippers.

After staying night in Mikkeli I drove to Ruokolahti Utula, where were Chaffinches, a Brambling and a Reed Bunting in a huge flock of Yellowhammers. But Kyläniemi had nothing. So the lake-Saimaa had no ducks or any other winter rally ticks for me.

On the fifth of December I drove again to Imatra where I had only a couple of hour time to do birding before my rinkball match. Anyway I managed to find some Blackbirds, 6 Hawfinches and Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers.

6th of December is an Independence Day in Finland. It is also a traditional day for bird-rallies all around the country. We also had a rally in South-Karelia. Now I had been birding so much that the plans were easy to do. Our team was me, Hanna and Ilkka Jarva. Before the sunrise we picked up Ilkka we went to see Cormorants which were easy to see even it was still dark and continued to Ruokolahti Utula. There we saw a Brambling, Chaffinches, a Reed Bunting and a Great Grey Shrike. Next we checked the Vuoksi quickly and continued to Meltola where we saw a Hawfinch, a Blackbird, Arctic Redpoll, Dipper and a Herring Gull.

At midday we continued to Simpele where we luckily saw a family of Whooper Swans migrating and a Goshawk passing by. Also Goldcrests and Coal Tit were found easily, so we could continue to Parikkala.

At Parikkala we found finally House Sparrows but also a Pheasant! It was already getting dark when we managed to get to Siikalahti. But again we were lucky – we saw a White-backed Woodpecker, Long-tailed Tits and a Treecreeper. So we still had time to drive to Suomaankorpi to see the Hawk Owl which was our last, 41st species. And with that result ee won the rally.

On couple of next days I went to see the Siberian Jays were ok. I also twitched a good winter-tick, Jack Snipe.

had been birding a lot in a beginning of months, so it was time to relax a little. Next bird trip was made on 16th day. I drove again to Vuoksi. Now I found the first Tufted Duck for this winter and twitched a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers that Harry and Pekka Punnonen had found. .

Before the Christmas I still saw a Goshawk and a Sparrowhawk from our window. I also saw a couple of White-backed and Grey-headed Woodpeckers. At Christmas we drove to Kirkkonummi to my parents.

The Christmas was like always: we ate a lot and had a good time. So on 26th day we had to go to do some birding. We went to Porkkala, but just 100 meters before the sea I felt down because of the slippery ice and broke my telescope! So that was the end for that trip.

Luckily the wonderful crew of M-Optics gave me again a new telescope for that time that my scope is in Checks where it is repaired. Thanks again! So I still could do birding.

29th of December I did a winter bird counting again. I walked 15 kilometres around the Siikalahti. The best birds were the same Pheasant, 22 Black Grouses, 2 White-backed Woodpeckers and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

On the last day of the year we went with Hanna to Tyrjä forests were we saw a Dipper, and near Siikalahti a White-backed Woodpecker and a flock of Long-tailed Tits. Happy New Year 2005!

Waiting for a winter

The couple of first weeks of November I was again working in a Health Centre. The birds were gone, so there was not much sense to go birding a lot. Also Siikalahti had frozen in the last days of October.

During the 2nd day of November I did a winter bird counting in Siikalahti. I walked 15 kilometres and counted all the birds I saw or heard on the way. Only a few days earlier there had been couple of hundreds ducks with some Common Scoters, Scaups and so on, but now there was only one poor Mallard in a small area which wasn’t frozen yet. Also a family of Whooper Swans was still standing on ice in the middle of completely frozen bay. I saw an Arctic Redpoll, 3 Black Grouses and a Goshawk and I heard a Hazel Hen. I also watched to the lake Simpele which wasn’t yet frozen and I saw Common and Herring Gulls, 2 Black-headed Gulls, Goosanders and Mallards.

Rest of the month I was working with all the 25000 pictures I have taken during last 1.5 years. I was also playing rink bandy (after lazy 1.5 years) and as a coach of ice-hockey juniors.

One day I decided to go to digiscope a Hawk Owl which has been found from Simpele. It was absolutely beautiful winter morning with some -12 Celsius degrees. I was digiscoping from a small barn and the owl was very co-operative. I managed to get couple of nice shots.

On the 28th of November we went to twitch Siberian Jays with Pekka Punnonen. Pekka got a South-Karelia tick. We had to wait for the birds for an hour because there were some Jays messing around, and they are not the closest friends of Siberian cousins. After all Siberian Jays came to get their snacks. Also Willow and Crested Tits were trying to get their part of cheese and nuts.

We continued to Simpele where our best observations were Chaffinch and Brambling on Rainer Rajakallio’s feeding place. Otherwise it was pretty quiet which wasn’t promising for Independence Day bird rally which is on 6th of December.