Checking owl nest-boxes
On the 22nd of April I spent my lunch-hour in Siikalahti and saw 2 White-tailed Eagles, 5 Wood Sandpipers, a Redshank and an early Spotted Redshank. In the afternoon I did a couple of short biking trips and tested that my cyclocross was working well. I saw a Woodcock. At night we biked to Siikalahti and heard a Savi’s Warbler and a Jack Snipe with Harri Partanen. Spotted Crakes and Water Rails were active too and I heard once a Red-necked Grebe.
On the 23rd fay we went to check more owl nest-boxes with Jari Kiljunen and we also climbed one artificial nest for a Great Grey Owl to a tree. In 3 hours we saw 2 Capercaillies, heard a Wren and finally found some owls too: a Pygmy Owl was incubating 10 and Tengmalm’s Owl 4 eggs.
On the 24th day the northern wind was very cold so I kept on checking the nest-boxes. In the afternoon we climbed one Ural Owl nest-box to a tree and later went to check the rest of nest-boxes in Melkoniemi and all nest-boxes in Punkaharju. Again we saw a Capercaillie, a Hazel Hen and many Black Grouses and heard a Wren. We also found one more Pygmy Owl that was same that had been breeding in another nest-box about 3 kilometers from this one last year. It had 9 eggs now.
On the 25th day I visited Siikalahti briefly but only bird to mention was a Willow Warbler which was a year-tick. After work I drove to Rautjärvi to check 4 owl nest-boxes that we have there and surprisingly there was a Tengmalm’s Owl with 4 owlets in one of them. Then I continued to Lappeenranta from where we left to Jyväskylä to a rinkball tournament that was on Saturday.
On Saturday evening when I got back home, our old friend Ilkka Jarva had came to us and after a few of hours sleep we left birding at 5:30 a.m. 4 Gadwalls, 4 Little Gulls, quite a few migrating Tree Pipits, a Ruff, a migrating Black-tailed Godwit and a female Pallid Harrier were seen from the tower. During the mid-day we stayed on dam-road and saw a Hobby, a Whimbrel, 3 more Ruffs, another Black-tailed Godwit, 51 Greenshanks, a Spotted Redshank, a White-backed Woodpecker and a Hen Harrier were seen and Savi’s Warbler was of course heard again.
After we had eaten, we continued to Saari where in Pohjanranta we saw a Redshank and a Spotted Redshank, 4 Little Gulls and 6 Waxwings. In Akanvaara Tetrisuo we saw a Hen Harrier and in Suurenjärvenliete 260 White-fronted, 140 Bean and 53 Barnacle Geese, In Jyrkilä we saw a Peregrine and in Rautalahti 138 Whooper Swans, a Bewick’s Swan, 10 Common Scoters and a Northern Wheatear.
On the 28th day I saw 3 Long-tailed Ducks in Härskiinmutka and in Siikalahti I saw a Sand Martin and a couple of Garganeys. In the evening I went to ring the Pygmy Owl that had escaped already a couple of times from the nest-box. On the way I saw a female Capercaillie. On the 29th day I saw some Common Terns, heard a Sedge Warbler and Savi’s Warbler and saw a couple of Gadwalls, 8 House Martins and 2 Hobbies in Siikalahti and again a couple of female Capercaillies now in Kolmikanta.
On the 30th of April I saw 8 Common Scoters in Härskiinmutka, 3 Smews, already 35 Swallows, a Whinchat, Lesser Whitethroat and a Pied Flycatcher on a short trip to Siikalahti.
J.A.