September 2006
September
The beginning of September was very warm. I tried to do some birding every day and mostly I went to Siikalahti because of it takes only 6 minutes to get there.
On the first day nothing interesting was found – the same old White-tailed Eagle was still disturbing the ducks. But on the 2nd day we found several good birds with Hanna: a Red-breasted Flycatcher, a Bluethroat, a couple of Rustic Buntings, a Red-throated Pipit, a couple of White-backed Woodpeckers, Temminck’s Stints, 10 Bean Geese and so on.
On the 3rd day the best birds were 4 migrating Cormorants, a Cuckoo, a Spotted Redshank and there were still many migrants everywhere. On Lake Simpele there were still 25 young Little Gulls flying around.
During the next 2 days I saw a Little Stint and a Golden Eagle but the weather was finally worse – rainy and windy. After several months dry weather some rains were welcome.
On the 6th day 12 Marsh Harriers were still soaring above the redbuds and the duck counts told that almost all duck species were still present. And the numbers of ducks were big – 570 Wigeons and 414 Mallards.
On the 8th of September 6 Hobbies were still catching dragonflies and there were 470 Coots in one flock in the middle of the bay.
The best day of the beginning of the month was on the 12th day. I managed to do only 2 short visits to Siikalahti but they were worthy. First I went to twitch a Greater Spotted Eagle that Jari Kontiokorpi had found. I managed to see it quite well. After an hour I went back and Jari had managed to attract many good migrants to the bushes next to the tower with mp3-player. But once I arrived only a Bluethroat and a Sedge Warbler were still there. But soon we found a Reed Warbler and a rare Yellow-browed Warbler! It was a lifer for Jari and a really good Siikalahti tick for both of us!
From 13th to 15th day I was studying in Oulu but at the weekend we went to birding to Hailuoto with Petri Lampila, Aappo Luukkonen and Samuli Lehikoinen. Hailuoto had never been that empty -in Itänenä we saw a couple of late Spotted Flycatchers and a Slavonian Grebe. At Virpiniemi we found a Bluethroat, a Bar-tailed Godwit, 2 Grey Plovers and a Greenshank, Kirkkosalmi had several White-tailed Eagles, a Marsh Harrier, 2 Grey Herons, 2 Lapwings, 15 Little Stints, 6 Dunlins, a Curlew Sandpiper and a Greenshank. Ulkokarvo had 4 Slavonian Grebes and a Shelduck in a huge flock of ducks. And at Pökönnokka we found 10 Shelducks.
On Sunday I drove back home and on the way I visited Ilkka Jarva in Sotkamo. We did some birding there together but nothing interesting was found. Later in Valtimo I found a Hawk Owl.
The autumn had arrived at Siikalahti. On the 18th day there were big flocks of thrushes and Chaffinches everywhere. The only interesting observation was made at night when I heard an Eagle Owl calling in Melkoniemi.
On the 21st of September I saw the first arctic migrants when a flock of 600 Brent Geese flew over our house. Only a couple of Swallows were still in Siikalahti and an Osprey was migrating fast towards the south.
On 23rd day I counted the ducks again. Now there were less species but both Mallards and Wigeons were more than 500. In the evening we tried to catch some owls but we caught only a Pygmy Owl.
On the 24rd day we went to watch arctic migration to Punkaharju Hirvikoski. Once we were there a Wood Lark was seen and a Saimaa Seal was swimming in front of us. Later 520 Barnacle Geese, 3 Brent Geese, 13 Black-throated Divers, 15 Red-throated Divers, a Little Stint and a couple of Cormorants were seen. We continued to Saari where we saw lots of Skylarks and Meadow Pipits but also 40 Whooper Swans, one with a Latvian ring and a Bewick’s Swan and 400 Cranes. In Siikalahti we saw an Osprey, young White-tailed Eagle, a Rough-legged Buzzard, 5 Buzzards and a small flock of Barnacle Geese.
On the next day I was expecting to see a good Crane migration but only a flock of 75 birds was seen. Also 520 Barnacle Geese were migrating on 4 flocks.
On the 28th day I counted 23 Smews and saw a late male Gadwall still swimming with 300 Wigeons and 520 Mallards.
On the 29th of September I started a long way towards Hailuoto and legendary bird-rally. But after 30 kilometres driving I had to stop at Punkasalmi because of the arctic migration had started! In an hour and 20 minutes I saw 7352 geese, 2830 Barnacle, 2020 Brent, 264 White-fronted and 20 Bean Geese 365 Wigeons, 35 Pintails, 12 Long-tailed Ducks (+ 500 duck sp), 110 Common Scoter, 79 Velvet Scoters, 168 divers, 101 Black-throated and 26 Red-throated Divers. Also a Hen Harrier, 2 Rough-legged Buzzards, a Goshawk, Bar-tailed Godwit, Black-backed Gull and a Nutcracker were seen. But I had to keep on driving because I had a long way to Hailuoto. Miika (Potu) Suojarinne was waiting for me in Juva and when we continued our way we saw a big surprise – a Siberian Jay crossed the road in front of us. In Kuopio we saw a late Hobby but after that we saw only several Elks. We were almost in Oulu when Harry Nyström (who was already in Oulu) called and told that he was sick. Luckily Mikko Ala-Kojola was free to join our team. Soon we met my brother Pirkka and after we had had some dinner with my second brother Riku, we continued to Hailuoto. At 10 p.m. we arrived at Ranta-Sumppu where we had a small cottage and soon we were ready to sleep – we would have an early morning.
We started the rally traditionally on the NW part of the island. We walked for a half an hour to our starting place so we could start there at 7 a.m. The beginning was pretty quiet: lots of Redpolls and thrushes were migrating but almost nothing else was in the air. Some Red-necked Grebes, a Smew, Cormorants, a couple of Black-throated Divers and a Red-throated Diver, a flock of 10 Golden Plover and 2 Grey Plover, 4 Dunlins, 2 Ringed Plovers and when we were back near our car we found a Greenshank. Also some flocks of Common Crossbills and a flock of Snow Buntings and a Skylark were seen. A Goshawk was flying around, it was probably trying to catch a Black Grouse – we saw 10 grouses. Marjaniemi was empty but in Kirkkosalmi we saw lot of birds: a Grey Heron, 2 Lapwings, 2 Swallows, 8 Rough-legged Buzzards, 4 Goshawks, 3 Sparrowhawks, a male Peregrine and the best observation was a young Pallid Harrier that flew north! Patelanselkä was more quiet than ever, but in Pöllä we saw a Scaup and in Itänenä a Nutcracker. On the way back from Pöllä we saw a Kestrel and 2 Collared Doves. On Järventakusta fields we saw a White-tailed Eagle and the same 2 Lapwings were now there. Somewhere over Kaara we saw a flock of 100 Cranes and while driving towards Ulkokarvo we saw a Stock Dove. In Ulko-Karvo we saw hundreds of ducks, still 50 Mallards, 25 Smews, 10 Coots, 2 Red-necked Grebes and 4 Slavonian Grebes. As always we ended the rally to Pökönnokka, where we saw 10 Shelducks, a Snow Bunting, a Dunlin, a Ringed Plover and a Bar-tailed Godwit. After the rally we still saw a flock of 8 Rock Doves but they aren’t tickable in Hailuoto. But anyway it was our 4 species of doves!
After all we managed to see 81 species and we were 4th. Totally there were 11 teams and the top 3 were on their own numbers with 88, 87 and 86 species. After all we drove back to Ranta-Sumppu and we saw an owl crossing the road but it was already too dark to identify it. Everyone was too tired so there weren’t real parties – so we went to sleep early, because of we had planned to continue birding in Hailuoto next morning. But the next day was already October, so what we saw I will tell you later.