Again a Pacific Golden Plover
On the 4th of July I had been just resting after work. The last weekend had been so hard that I was still extremely tired. At 8:10 p.m. I go a message that there was a Pacific or American Golden Plover in Lappeenranta Joutseno Konnunsuo. I decided to leave immediately even though I had just 2 weeks ago got a Pacific Golden Plover as a lifer in the same place and this bird was thought to be also Pacific.
After an hour driving I was there in Konnunsuo and the bird was already been identified as a Pacific Golden Plover. There were already some twitcher in the bird-tower and I also saw the bird right away. The founders of the bird were a little bit closer on the field so I decided to go there too to get some pictures. The bird was still a bit too far, in 300 metres, but I managed to get some kind of pictures and videos of it.
After some watching the bird flew a little bit and showed its grey axillaries and even called. There were also 10 Golden Plovers and this bird was surprisingly easy to pick up from them. Soon the bird moved to a place where it was visible only from the tower so we moved there. There were now more twitchers in the tower and after an hour or so talking with them, I decided to continue to twitch a Quail as a year-tick.
I drove to Tuohimäki where after some 15 minutes waiting I heard a Quail calling. Then I started a way back home. I still stopped a couple of times in Parikkala where I heard several Corn Crakes, 6 Blyth’s Reed Warblers, a Grasshopper Warbler and a Nightjar. I was back at home at 1 a.m.
J.A.