September 2009
September
In the beginning of September I was birding almost every day in Siikalahti-Lahdensuo-Kullinsuo area. Almost every day I also checked Lake Simpele from Härskiinmutka. On the 3rd of September I found a Gadwall in Siikalahti and a Ringed Plover with 14 Golden Plovers in Lahdensuo. On the 5th day 2 Chiffchaffs were singing in our backyard, a Grey Heron was standing on a rock in the middle of the lake and a flock of 25 Canada Geese were also seen from Härskiinmutka and in Siikalahti I saw a Hazel Hen in parking place first time ever. In Lahdensuo I saw 2 Hen Harriers, a Red-backed Shrike and 2 Lesser Whitethroats and lots of different raptors were still seen in many places. In the evening we tried to catch owls in Tarvaslampi and 2 Tawny Owls came to call near but never came to the mist-net.
On the 6th of September I saw 2 Red-throated Pipits in Siikalahti and in Lahdensuo I saw a strange completely white dove in the middle of the forest. Was most probably a pet? On the 7th day a Water Rail was calling and a White-tailed Eagle chasing ducks in Siikalahti, Common Buzzards were migrating as I saw 12 in 15 minutes before I had to go back to work. Other birders saw much more. After the work I saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker in our backyard.
On the next days it seemed that most of the birds had gone. Last 3 Sand Martins were flying around in Siikalahti and 2 Common Terns were still on the Lake Simpele. On the 10th day in Lahdensuo I saw a Lapwing, 2 Hen Harriers, 3 Lapland Buntings and 3 Red-throated Pipits. In siikalahti I saw 2 Yellow Wagtails, Spotted Flycatcher and a Sedge Warbler and in Lappeenranta Joutseno Konnunsuo a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Rustic Bunting, a Red-backed Shrike, a Lapwing, a Whinchat, 20 Stonechats, in Kotasaari a Little Stint and in Kivisaari a Red-throated Pipit.
Hailuoto bird-race
On the 11th day we left once again to Hailuoto. This time I picked up ”potu” Suojarinne, ”jassi” Kiljunen and ”andy” Lindén from Juva and we drove almost straight to Oulu. On the way we saw only 3 Great Grey Shrikes and a Rough-legged Buzzard. In Oulu we tried to see a Black Kite in Rusko rubbish tip but it was gone. In Oulunsalo harbour we saw 30 Common Terns and an Arctic Tern and together with my brother Pirkka we drove the last 20 kilometres to Hailuoto Pöllä where Harry Nyström, Antti Vierimaa and Miko Ala-Kojola were already.
Harry had bought the biggest pizzas that we had ever seen, at least the biggest one was huge, so the rest of the evening we were eating, chatting and planning the next days rally. On the 12th of September we woke up early, packed the cars and together with Pirkka, andy and potu we went to start our rally from Kirkkosalmi and the another team headed to Riisinnokka. The rally started at 7 a.m. and we had a good start with Gadwall, Marsh Harrier, Coot, Bearded Reedling, Sedge Warbler, Rustic Bunting, Lapland Bunting and Greylag Goose. After 1.5 hours we were heading to Riisinnokka and saw 2 Black Grouses and a Coal Tit on the way. In Riisinnokka we saw Mute Swans, Red-throated Divers, a Common Buzzard, a Merlin, a Golden Plover, 6 Grey Plovers and a Little Gull. Then after seeing a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker we had another stop in Kirkkosalmi and saw a flock of Long-tailed Tits and a Spotted Flycatcher before we drove to Koivukylä where a Skylark, a Tree Sparrow and Starlings were found easily. Järventakusta fields were empty but in Pöllä we found a Grey Heron and a Long-tailed Duck.
After some driving along sandy roads we stopped in Mäntyniemi and luckily found 2 Two-barred Crossbills! In Keskiniemi we walked a lot but found a bigger flock of Dunlins with 8 Sanderlings, 2 Little Stints and a Curlew Sandpiper. Also a young Lesser Black-backed Gull, a Sand Martin, a House Martin, Mistle Thrushes and a Song Thrush were found before we were again on the main road. Ulkokarvo was once again good! We had a special moment when every member of our team had found a new different bird in same time! A Peregrine, a Lapwing, Ruffs and Smews weren’t the only new species but also a Common Tern and amazingly the first Grebe we found was a Red-necked Grebe even though there were also 200 Great Crested Grebes – and they were both new species! The last species was found in Potinlahti when we found a young Shelduck. After all we had seen 95 species and came 4th in the race. Our cottage-mates came 5th with one less species. After the results we drove back to Pöllä where we had sauna and chatted for long time.
On the 13th day We had just a short stop in Ulkokarvo were mostly the same birds were seen, but also a Spotted Redshank, Goshawk, Little Gulls and some Greylag Geese. Of course a Jay flew over the road before the harbour. Pirkka decided to drive back home but rest of us continued to Liminka-bay. In Liminka we saw 2 Collared Doves and a Nutcracker before we drove to Lumijoki Pitkänokka. There we walked for some time in a shore, but the water-level was too high. So we saw only 2 White-tailed Eagles, a Peregrine, a Merlin, a Little Stint, 2 Spotted Redshanks, Bean Geese and a leucistic Pintail. Soon we said goodbyes to our friends from Oulu and continued with jassi, potu and andy to Siikajoki Tauvo bird-station.
In Tauvo we talked for some time with Sami Timonen who the ringer there before we decided to go to walk around Ulkonokka. We counted all the birds there and best ones were 23 Mute Swans, 6 Sanderlings, 4 Bar-tailed Godwits, a Lapland Bunting and a Snow Bunting. We were back in the station when the sun was setting and a Pygmy Owl tape was already playing. At night we managed to catch 5 Tengmalm’s Owl.
On the 14th day morning we caught 2 Pygmy Owls, a Rustic Bunting, a Redstart, a Brambling, a Chaffinch, a Tree Pipit and some more common birds like thrushes and Red Buntings and saw a Peregrine, a Grey Heron, a Tree-toed Woodpecker, a Common Buzzard and a Marsh Harrier on migration. But the came a deep mist and birds stopped moving, only a Willow Warbler was still singing, some Black Grouses calling and a Crested Tit seen.
So soon we had to start our long way to south-east. We still had a short stop in Raahe Yrjänä but didn’t find anything better this time. In Juva potu and jassi continued to home and together with andy we drove until Helsinki from where I still continued to Kirkkonummi to my parents where I was finally at 10 p.m.
To Foula
The rest of the month was spent in Great Britain and mostly in Foula, a remote island in Shetland. There we were birding together with 4 British friends for 2 weeks. The whole trip-report can be read here: Foula trip: 15th of September to 5th of October 2009. (For example a Veery, a Buff-bellied Pipit, a Pechora Pipit, a Taiga Flycatcher, Arctic Redpolls, a Short-toed Lark, a King Eider and so on were seen.)