. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On Friday the 17th of October we could start our autumn-holiday early and already at 11 a.m. we started driving towards west. Our goal was to get to Eurajoki Luvia Verkkokari early enough to see a Whiskered Tern that had stayed there for some days before it leaves somewhere as it had disappeared between 5 and 6 p.m. on the previous evenings.

We didn’t make any stops on the way and at 4:20 we parked to Verkkokari. There were couple of twitchers who soon told us horrible news – the bird had left just 5 minutes earlier.

We waited for some time but the tern wasn’t coming back, so we decided to go to search for it to other places nearby. But of course the bird wasn’t found and it actually never came back to Verkkokari. A couple of days later it was seen on an island nearby but never since. This was already the third time that I missed a Whiskered Tern by minutes – it seems to be my bogey-bird.

We continued our long drive towards south and of course we got one ticket on the way even though we had no hurry anymore. We also had at least one tire leaking but when we stopped to fill it we found out that we had 3 tired a bit too empty. Finally after 800km driving we were in Hanko where we parked to Halias bird-observatory parking place. Luckily other birders were still awake and they had mist-nets open for owls.

We were too tired to do owl-rounds but luckily we were awaken up a couple of times as 4 Long-eared and a Pygmy Owl were caught at night.

On the 18th of October we started working the station-routines. Hanna left to mist-nets early and at sunrise we climbed to “bunker” with Petro Pynnönen. Luca Hasel and Juho Tirkkonen stayed near the station and searched for birds there and visited also the bunker later.

There were some migration but the best number was even 290 Tree Sparrows. 3 Great Egrets were moving and 2 more landed to Gåu. Also raptors were moving so it wasn’t a surprise that Dick Forsman arrived to bunker too. And of course he spotted first a youngish Golden Eagle and then young Greater Spotted Eagle above the Hanko-spit. Luckily the spotted eagle was showing for a long time so everyone managed to see it. We also counted 19 Common Buzzardsm 21 Sparrowhawks and 11 Goshawks. Also a Black, 4 Grey-headed, a Three-toed and even 24 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers were seen. Other good numbers were 185 Mistle Thrushes and 12 local Greater Scaups. Also 7 Barn Swallows and a Wood Lark were seen. Hanna had a couple of busier moment on mist-net but nothing better was caught.

In the evening we saw a comet and auroras that are not common this South.

On the 19th day we spent 4 morning-hours at the bunker again but there weren’t so many migrants. Hanna showed us a Siberian Chiffchaff which she had caught and then Aleksi Mikola who had arrived to the station earlier found a big flock of Purple Sandpipers migrating over the sea. The flock was very far but we estimated about 100 birds, which was easily the biggest flock ever seen in Halias. Also a Great Egret, 4 Gadwalls and a Black Guillemot were seen. During the day Luca, Petro and Taiga had left and Kimi Nurminen and Aki Aintila had arrived.

On the 20th day a Great Egret and a Hawfinch were seen migrating and we also counted 247 Bullfinches and saw 2 Barn Swallows and so on. During the day we had to visit Hanko as one of our tires was really leaking. Luckily Late Mäenpää who was visiting the station had all the equipment we needed to fill the tire. Juho left to a short holiday.

On the 21st day the weather was much worse so nothing much was seen. A couple of thousands of Long-tailed Ducks and 262 Common Eiders were counted and a Common Ringed Plover, a Razorbill and a Peregrine Falcon were also seen.

During the day we visited Hanko again and managed to get a temporary tire to our car. We had to buy 2 new tires which had to be ordered.

In the evening the weather was getting even worse and on the 22st day the wind was so hard that mist-nets weren’t opened at all and the morning seawatch was made from the southern forest. It was pretty quiet on the sea but for example 11 Purple Sandpipers, a Common Guillemot and a Barn Swallow were seen.

In the afternoon we went to count birds on Gåu with Hanna. It was surprisingly sheltered from the wind and we found 2 Shovelers, a Gadwall, 2 Grey Plovers, a Dunlin, 4 Common Snipes and 2 Barn Swallows. And of course we were as far as possible from the station when Kimi called that he had opened some mist-nets around the station and had just caught a Firecrest! So we didn’t see the best bird of the trip even though we of course tried to relocate it in the evening.

On the 23rd of October the weather was better but still there weren’t as many birds as we had hoped. Kimi saved the morning as he caught now 2 Firecrests from the same mist-net. The yesterday’s bird had brought his friend too. Only better bird from the bunker was a Hawfinch.

At midday we hurried to Gåu with Aki and Aleksi as the rain was coming. We managed to check the area well and found 2 Common and 3 Jack Snipes and one more Barn Swallow again.
On the 24th day we counted 7786 Long-tailed Ducks and also tits, Chaffinches, and Bullfinches were moving but it was still quiet on the mist-nets – only surprise was a late Garden Warbler. We saw that there were several Gadwalls on Gåu but otherwise nothing special was seen.

Finally we had to hurry to Hanko to change two new tires and then we still drove back to the station to pack and clean up. Then it was time to say goodbye to everyone.

As we still had weekend free, we decided to book a room from a familiar Skyline hotel near Helsinki-Vantaa airport. We ate well and fell as sleep early.

On Saturday the 25th of October we visited several car-stored in Vantaa as we have planned to do some car-shopping in the near future. It was good to see some models live and not only from internet.

As there was nothing special to twitch around Helsinki, we drove to Järvenpää Tuusulanjärvi Vanhakylänranta where we twitched and photographed a long-staying young Caspian Gull. It was really showing well so it didn’t take too long.

In Kouvola we bought some food for winter-birds and after 30 or so more kilometers I got a message that locals had been twitching a possible Raddes’s Warbler in Kouvola Lappalanjärvi for several hours already. We made a quick U-turn and drove fast to Lappalanjärvi where we soon found Hanna’s sister Elissa, the founder of the bird Antti Vänskä and Teo Ylätalo. The bird had been heard several time but seen only very briefly and there was only one picture which people had different opinions.

We stayed there until the dark and heard a few times very promising calls but couldn’t see the bird at all. It was a little bit too windy so I couldn’t get any recordings either. Anyway we had the feeling that there really was a Raddes’s Warbler so we decide to stay night at Elissa’s apartment and come back early on the next morning.

On the 26th day there were about 20 twitchers in Lappalanjärvi but again the bird was missing. Once we heard a short song, but it was pretty chaotic situation and we couldn’t be absolutely sure if someone had played the song.

Finally we had to leave and start driving to Parikkala where we had planned to do duck-counts in Siikalahti.

After all it is easy to say that our autumn-holiday had been the worst if thinking of luck with rarities but at least we had got some rest from the work.

J.A.