January 2007
Warmest January ever
The New Year started as every year with a bird trip. And the birding was better than ever this time. During the day we saw altogether 43 bird species which is much more than in a normal year. We started with Siberian Jays, Black Grouses, Parrot and Common Crossbills and Crested Tits. In Lake Simpele there were still some Whooper Swans. White-backed Woodpeckers and Long-tailed Tits were also found in the morning. In Simpele we saw a Dipper but soon we had to continue to Imatra Immalanjärvi because of I got a message that there was a Glauscous Gull. After some wait we found the gull and also a Velvet Scoter. In River Vuoksi we saw Goosanders a couple of Smews and a Tufted Duck. In Kupari we twitched a Little Grebe and in Kiurula a beautiful Great Grey Owl; also a Great Grey Shrike was seen. In Joutsenon Pulp we saw 3 Cormorants and somewhere we saw a flying Black Woodpecker. It was already late so it wasn’t a surprise that we couldn’t find the Pine Grosbeaks in Joutseno city even though Fieldfares and Waxwings were still there. We also missed a Blackcap that was found just 5 minutes before we went to Punnanlahti, but we still managed to get our last species of the day, a Blackbird.
The 2nd of January was a workday but on my lunch-hour I found a couple of Hawfinches, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, an Arctic Redpoll and twitched a Nuthatch. The next day was at least as good because of I found a Song Thrush!
On the 5th day I drove to Rautjärvi Torsajärvi where the lake was still open. On the lake only a Cormorant and a family of Whooper Swans was found but in Ruokolahti Ahjärvi I found a Great Grey Owl.
On the 6th day I was birding the whole day again. In Immalanjärvi I saw several Herring and Common Gulls, 2 Velvet Scoters, a Scaup, a Great Crested Grebe and a big surprise a Red-necked Grebe! But even more interesting was a smallish gull – a size of a Black-headed Gull which hadn’t got any white on the leading edge of the wing and Kauko Kauppinen saw the bird earlier closer and he told the bird had wide white areas on the secondaries. But the bird was too far so it was just a possible winter plumage adult Ross’s Gull. It was never found even though several birders were searching for it for the rest of the day. I was almost the rest of the day searching for the gull but I did a short visit to Joutseno where I twitched the Pine Grosbeaks and a Blackcap. It was already dark when I gave up with the gull and started to drive back home. On the way I saw a Three-toed Woodpecker in Ruokolahti Kopsala and twitched a Hawk Owl in Rautjärvi Pitkätsolaset.
On the next morning I drove back to Immalanjärvi to search for the gull. The Red-necked Grebe was still present but the lake was now freezing and only a Common Gull was seen. I also searched River Vuoksi but only the familiar birds were found. So when Jari Kontiokorpi called that he had found a Red-breasted Merganser in Parikkala, I decided to go to twitch it. I found the merganser easily and also 3 Otters were seen. In Haikanniemi I saw a Long-tailed Duck – also a bird that “konza” had found already.
The next better day was the 12th of January when I was birding with my Catalan friend Dani Burgas. It was the first real winter day and the lake Simpele went completely frozen during the morning. We had a good start for the trip in Siikalahti where 2 Hazel Hens, 2 White-backed Woodpeckers, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a couple of Chaffinches and 23 Black Grouses were seen. After one more Hazel Hen we continued to Simpele where a Dipper and a Hawfinch were seen and many Willow and Coal Tits were easy to photograph. In Pitkätsolaset we saw the Hawk Owl again but later in the evening only a flock of 7 Waxwings were seen. But we had a good 4 hours trip!
During the next day we had a bird count rally in Imatra where the city was split to 9 areas and each team was counting all the birds on their own area. We were walking in Saareksiinmäki, Mansikkala, Imatrankoski area. In 5 hours we managed to see 295 Great Tits, 171 Redpolls, 153 Greenfinches, 108 Waxwings, 99 Yellowhammers, 86 Tree Sparrows and 80 Rock Doves and so on. Better observations were a flock of 30 Hawfinches, 6 Long-tailed Tits, an Arctic Redpoll, 4 Fieldfares, a Blackbird, a Goshawk, a White-tailed Eagle, a Cormorant and a couple of Smews. Altogether 9 teams managed to see 12583 birds of 41 species. Ducks weren’t counted (because of all teams hadn’t got any water on their area) but 7 more species were seen.
After the rally we watched videos and pictures and had fun with all the birders. And we also slept in Imatra. But on the next morning I woke up early and drove to do birding in Lappeenranta. In Toikansuo I found 2 Linnets, a Wren which I had found in the beginning of December, a Dipper and a Goshawk. In Laihia I saw a Pheasant but many other places were empty. So I went back to Toikansuo where I now found a Jack Snipe, 2 Teals and saw another Goshawk. In Tykki I still saw a Goldfinch. In the evening we had the first meeting of the government of the local bird association EKLY. Many very important things were decided. After the meeting I went to Toikansuo one more time to twitch an Eagle Owl. Not a bad winter day!
On the 15th day I saw a Great Grey Shrike almost on our backyard and a little bit later in Siikalahti I found a White-backed Woodpecker. I was trying to read the colour-rings of the woodpecker when the bird suddenly stopped moving at all – I looked to the sky and a beautiful Golden Eagle was flying over me (and the White-backed Woodpecker)! Only a couple of minutes later I saw a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a Grey-headed Woodpecker so amazing 5 minutes on my lunch hour!
On the 17th and 18th day I saw the Song Thrush again and on 21st day I went to River Vuoksi to count all the wintering ducks. 365 Mallards, 48/37 Goldeneyes, 12/29 Goosanders, 27 Cormorants, 1/1 Smews and a female Tufted Duck were counted. In Meltola I saw atleast 25 Hawfinches but then a very heavy snowstorm started. So I had nothing else to do that to go twitching – I drove to Lappeenranta Hovinpelto to twitch a Starling which was a winter rally tick. Later I went to Toikasuo where a Teal was seen and to Laiha where were now 2 Pheasants and a Blackbird. On the way back north I stopped (as in morning) in Imatra Korvenkanta and now I managed to find a male Brambling which was also a winter rally tick.
The winter had finally started so there were not many birds around anymore. On the 27th and 28th day we took part to a backyard birding day in our own, Hanna’s parents and Hanna’s grandmothers backyard. Nothing very special was seen, both on our own and Hanna’s parents backyard we could see 14 species in an hour. We also visited Siikalahti where White-backed Woodpeckers and Grey-headed Woodpecker were seen again.
During the end of month nothing much was seen. The winter was now like in normal year so there were more than -10 degrees almost every day and even -25 in some days. So only some White-backed and Grey-headed Woodpeckers were seen. Only surprise was a Goldfinch that we saw in Siikalahti. But then was the time for the most boring month – February.