Winterbird-count and November race
After my trip to Azores there weren’t too many birds in Parikkala anymore. On the last days of October I still saw a Great Grey Shrike, 2 Great Crested Grebes, 3 Black-headed Gulls, a Nutcracker and on a trip to the forests 2 Siberian Jays, 15 Common and 2 Parrot Crosbills.
In November we had again a local traditional November bird-race and I started it with even more traditional winterbird-count. It is now my 11th year on this route and it was absolutely my best ever walk around Siikalahti on these counts. It was again a long 18 kilometers and because there were so many birds, mostly thrushes moving, it took the whole daylight. I counted even 481 Fieldfares and also 4 Blackbirds and a Mistle Thrush were seen, and other berry-eaters were 91 Waxwings, but still I didn’t see any Pine Grosbeaks, even though they have been very numerous elsewhere. Lakes were still open and I counted 35 Whooper Swans, 2 Mallards, 16 Goosanders, 3 Red-breasted Mergansers, a Great Crested Grebe, 17 Common and 4 Herring Gulls. But the best bird was a migrating young Pomarine Skua! 3 Rock Pigeons, 5 Great Spotted and a White-backed Woodpecker, 5 Goldcrests, 22 Long-tailed, 11 Willow, 2 Coal, a Crested, 41 Blue and 111 Great Tits, 4 Treecreepers, a Great Grey Shrike, 9 Jays, 20 Magpies, 29 Jackdaws, 26 Hooded Crows, 14 Ravens, 2 House and 20 Tree Sparrows, 28 Greenfinches, 2 Gold Finches, 4 Siskins, 181 Redpolls, 20 Bullfinches, 4 Common Crossbills, 2 Hawfinches and 26 Yellowhammers were also seen. 41 species was a new record and Pom Skua, Mistle Thrush and Hawfinch were new species.
During the next days I saw 7 Canada Geese, a Tufted Duck and a Goldeneye in Rautalahti, a Grey-headed Woodpecer in Kullinsuo, 32 Long-tailed Tits in Moskuunniemi and finally on the 6th day 4 Pine Grosbeaks in Siikalahti and a Velvet Scoter in Härskiinmutka. On the 7th day a Scaup was in Tarvaspohja and in Tyrjä I found my 223rd Parikkala-yeartick a Dipper. On the 8th of November we did a forest-trip with Hanna and her brother Miika and saw 3 Siberian Jays, a Three-toed and a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a Pygmy Owl, and on the lake 21 Canada Geese, a Velvet Scoter, Scaup, a Long-tailed Duck and a Tufted Duck. On the 9th day I twitched the Dipper as my number 201 eco-yeartick. I also saw 4 Coal Tits, which is now more numerous than usually.
On the 11th of November I saw a Black Woodpecker in Koitsanlahdenkangas and on the next day a Wigeon and a Common Scoter in Rautalahti, a Smew and a Velvet Scoter in Haljakanranta and a Great Crested Grebe still in Moskuunniemi. On the 14th day I tried to see a Ural Owl that had been seen in Moskuunniemi but all I found were a couple of White-backed Woodpeckers, a Nuthatch and even 6 Coal Tits.
On the 15th and 16th day we were in Jyväskylä in BirdLife weekend. The bird of the trip was seen during a half-time of the meeting on Sunday when a Glauscous Gull was found in a flock of gulls that was outside the hotel-terrace. Also a Great Black-backed Gull was seen but on the ways we saw only one Great Grey Shrike.
Next days were quiet and nothing much was found: In Siikalahti I counted still 102 Whooper Swans, 23 Canada Geese and saw also a White-backed and Grey-headed Woodpecker. And finally I got a Nutcracker as a race-tick.
On the 22nd day I drove to Helsinki to Bongariliitto meeting and there Roni Väisänen and Markus Lampinen were telling about ringing in Eilat and Jonathan Meyrav about winter-birding in Northern Israel. On the 23rd day I was birding with Sampsa Cairenius and Pekka Punnonen in Lappeenranta and we found a crazy bird – a Bluethroat in Toikansuo! It was probably the second latest ever in Finland! We also saw 2 Blackcaps in Rakuunamäki, 2 Nuthatches in Pappilanniemi, some Goldfinches, a Chaffinch, a flock of 340 Goosanders, 3 Velvet Scoters, a Goshawk, more than 1000 Fieldfares and so on.
On the 24th of November I saw an adult White-tailed Eagle in Moskuunniemi. On the next day I saw a Hazel Hen in Koitsanlahdenkangas and on the 26th day I finally saw the Nuthatch in Moskuunniemi and it was an asiatica, the first asiatica for me since 1999. On the last century all my Nuthatches had been asiaticas. On the 27th day I saw a Chaffinch in Särkisalmi and heard a Black Woodpecker in Tarvaslampi. On the 28th day I birded again on my lunch-hour and I already thought that I won’t see anything at all, but then in Kangaskylä I saw a flock of 4 Starlings. In the afternoon I still found a young Great Black-backed Gull and a Scaup in Vartialahti and a Redwing in Tyrjä. I still saw a few hundreds of Fieldfares eating rowan-berries.
On the 29th day we were shopping in Lappeenranta and saw a flock of 4 Pine Grosbeaks in Hyrymäki. On the last day of November I biked to forests to try to find a Three-toed Woodpecker that I still needed to my eco year-list. I walked there for hours but couldn’t find any, but I did find a Two-barred Crossbill and a Pine Grosbeak so my list is now 203 species by walking or biking in Parikkala. I also saw Siberian Jays again. But I got only 1 new species to my November race so after all got 67 species and I was third after Jari Kontiokorpi who got 69 and Jari Kiljunen, 68 species.
J.A.