. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

My brother Pirkka came once again to spend traditional Bird Tower competition weekend in Parikkala. He has came from Lapland to get some spring-feeling every year since 2013. We started the 1st of May in cold Siikalahti where we saw nothing special but Pirkka of course got plenty of year-ticks. The best bird was a Peregrine Falcon but also a Gadwall, a Garganey, a Whimbrel and a Whinchat were seen. Funny observation was an Elk that was wading in the middle of the bay. In Kangaskylä we visited one Nuthatch.

During the day we were birding in Saari where weren’t many birds as there is no floods at all this spring. In Akonpohja we saw a Gadwall couple, in Pohjanranta a Black Kite and a Little Ringed Plover, in Jyrkilä a Short-eared Owl and in Valkialampi a Slavonia Grebe couple. Late in the evening we still went to Siikalahti where a Spotted Crake was calling.

On the 2nd of May, on my birthday, we started in Moskuunniemi where a Wood Warbler was singing and then saw a flock of Red-breasted Mergansers in Särkisalmi. Then we continued to Saari where we saw a Black Kite in Jyrkilä before we continued to new platform to Kuposenmäki. Finally it was southern wind but it was probably too strong and nothing really was seen. I saw a couple of Yellow Wagtails. After we had made some sausages on the fire we continued to Ala-Ollukka where we checked one more flock of geese and found one Red-breasted Goose. But then we saw nothing else really. In the evening we again visited Siikalahti and saw a couple of Common Redshanks.

3.5. On the 3rd day was the Bird Tower competition. And once again we were in Siikalahti main-tower with # x Aalto and Matti Lötjönen, Miika Soikkeli and Erkko Elonen. When we walked to the tower before 5 a.m. it was raining heavily, so we were soon completely wet.

And it kept on raining whole morning so the beginning was pretty bad but slowly we started to gather good number of species. Some better ones were a couple of calling Spotted Crakes, a couple of Whimbrels, a couple of distant flocks of Common Scoters with at least one Velvet Scoter, a Red-throated Diver, a Red-breasted Merganser, a Gadwall, some Garganeys, a Common Redshank, a Ringed Plover, a Stock Dove, a Sand Martin, a flock of Waxwings, a Gold Finch, a Linnet, a Long-tailed Tit, a Lapland longspur and so on. It started to feel like we were really doing well.

We were really freezing but as there were all the time something new, it was easy to stay focused. But we were really hoping to see something better too and then finally saw some strange-looking bird flying right over us and it was a Nuthatch!

Finally the rain stopped but in same time it started to blow from west. Of course we didin’t get som many new species anymore as at 9 a.m. we had already got 93 species! But still we saw a Greylag Goose couple, a small flock of Cormorants, several White-tailed Eagles, a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Hen Harrier, 2 Merlins, a Goshawk and a Spotted Redshank. But there were still many common species missing like several raptors, woodpeckers, waders and especially passerines. And unfortunately our best observation had been a Beawer – and of course the Nuthatch. When it was 1 p.m. we knew we had got a really good species-list but it started to rain again, so we decided to count our list at home.

At home we counted that we had got 101 species which was our new record by one species. And after all we were the 6th best tower in whole Finland which was clearly the best position ever! But anyway at least I felt very disappointed as we could have got several more species with some more luck. And of course it didn’t help that Team Tarassiinlahti had got 102 species and now got the all time inland-record.

With Pirkka we went to eat to Iloinen Pässi and then decided to visit Simpele Kokkolanjoki where we easily saw 3 Grey Wagtails. And in the evening we went to try to ring a Ural Owl mama on one of our nest-boxes. But surprisingly there weren’t any adults at home but 4 big young owls. So we decided to ring them.

On the 4th of May we visited Siikalahti briefly and then went to twitch a couple of Red-breasted Geese that Harri Hölttä had found in Järvenpää. Then we continued to Saari where we saw a Black Kite in Kanavalampi, Common Scoters and a Long-tailed Duck and heard a Lesser Whitethroat in Tarassiinlahti, but then we had to drive to Särkisalmi to eat and Pirkka had to start a long drive back to Kemijärvi. And he really had a long way as there was a snow-storm in Kuusamo and he had summer-tires. So he had to drive via Oulu and Rovaniemi.

With Hanna we still went to check some owl nest-boxed and finally found on Tengmalm’s Owl with 3 very small nestlings and 3 eggs.

The next days the weather was bad so I didn’t do much else than rested. On the 6th of May I saw a Citrine Wagtail flying over me in Siikalahti. It looked like an adult male but later a 2nd year male was found in the same place.

In the evening we did duck-counts and managed to see this Citrine Wagtail very well and while photographing it, we found also 3 Rustic Buntings. It was nice to hear one of the buntings to sing shortly. On the count we saw nothing special.

On the 8th day I checked some more nest-boxes and I was just driving towards the dam-road when Arttu messaged that he had found a Savi’s Warbler. It took some time but finally I heard it singing shortly.

On the 9th day I also started mapping counts in Siikalahti which Hanna had already started on the previous morning. It was much easier than ever to walk in Siikalahti as it was so dry – and overgrown. I could do the counts wearing only rubber-boots.

During the morning I found a nest of a White-backed Woodpecker and a couple of pairs of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and Long-tailed Tits. I also saw a Blackcap of the year and heard a Common Whitethroat.

On the 10th day we did night-counts and mapped altogether 28 Water Rails, 6 Spotted Crakes, 8 Great Bitterns and 10 Sedge Warblers and so on. I also heard a Thrush Nightingale briefly. The night was very cold and we thought that it was the reason why we didn’t hear neither of the Savi’s Warblers but then they weren’t heard later either. We still continued with mapping-counts too but didn’t find anything better.

On the 11th day we still had some mapping to do and found one very nice bird but I have to keep it as a secret so it can breed without any disturbance. After the counts we still went to the bird-tower where we saw a Greater Scaup, a Slavonian Grebe, 4 male Gadwalls and nice flock of 8 migrating Bar-tailed Godwits.

In the evening we made a good tour in Saari but as there are no floods at all it is really not so good this spring. On the 12th the only better observation on my lunch hour was a migrating 3cy Golden Eagle. And on the 13th day we went to check Tengmalm’s Olw nest and it wasn’t a surprise that only 2 young birds had survived until ringing age. But even bigger surprise was that Tawny Owl had still only 1 very tiny nestling and 3 eggs so we have to still wait for them to grow up.

It really starts to feel like this is the worst spring ever – at least around here…

J.A.