Twitching in extreme weather
On the 4th of February I woke up early and went to check the temperature – its -32 degrees! Anyway I have decided to drive south to Lemi to twitch a rare winter-bird a Short-eared Owl! I have some problems with my car but anyway I keep on going. Luckily a Hazel Hen flies over the road soon.
In Joutseno I see a Great Grey Shrike and in Lappeenranta I pick up Pekka Punnonen and Jari Kiljunen and after seeing a Fieldfare in the city we continue towards Lemi. With Rantanen brothers we search for the owl in absolutely cold weather but even though a couple of twitchers have seen in the morning we can’t find it. After about 45 minutes I decide to go to check the place where it had been seen in the morning and there I flush it! The owl flies to the garden nearby and we all managed to get even some photographs of this stunning bird! Batteries and fingers froze too quickly so soon we continue towards Taipalsaari.
In Taipalsaari we try to find a Grey Partridge for more than an hour without luck. We do find footprints and droppings but the bird is hiding either in a dence spruce-fence or under snow in the middle of the fields.
Next we continue to twitch a Jack Snipe that Paavo Rantanen has just found. The bird is wintering in a ditch in the middle of the forest in Lappeenranta. We don’t disturb this amazing bird more than is needed to see it and then continue to Tirilä where we find a Hawfinch after some searching.
On the way back home I still try to find a couple of different Hawk Owls without luck. In Vuoksi River I still see a couple of Cormorants before I continue to Parikkala. It has been a nice but extremely cold winter day!
J.A.
