Birding without surprises
After Azores pelagic trip on the 4th of September I did a short afternoon trip in Kirkkonummi where I had been sleeping and resting after night-traveling. In Saltfjärden there had been both Greater and Lesser Spotted Eagles, Pallid Harriers, a Peregrine, a Great white Egret and so on, but I saw only a too brief eagle, that might have been a Greater Spotted Eagle, 2 Hen Harriers and a Bar-tailed Godwit. I also visited Espoo Laajalahti where were lots of birds as almost always. I counted quickly 15 Dunlins and found also a Little Stint, before I had start a long drive back to Parikkala.
It seemed that many birds had left to south already and some northern species were on the move. On the next days I saw in Siikalahti and its surroundings still some Lesser White-throats, Hobbies and Ospreys and so on and some Hen Harriers, a Merlin, some Lapland Buntings and Bluethroats and every day more and more Bramblings and Chiffchaffs.
On the 9th of September the first flocks of Barnacle Geese started to migrate and there were already 348 birds in Särkisalmi with the first strange looking hybrid of the year. A couple of days later the flock was a little bit bigger and then there was also a nice leucistic Barnacle Goose.
On the 10th day we finally went to catch 2 Nuthatches. We had planned to color-ring the local birds already for some years, but finally we had time to do it. We had always been wondering if these birds were breeding successfully, but now we found out that one of the birds was an adult male and another one was a young female. And already a couple of days later we got the information we had hoped. 2 unringed birds were visiting a feeder only a couple of hundred meters from these birds. We had always thought that they were the same birds visiting these feeders! So a couple of days later we managed to ring another young birds which probably was a male. But another was more tricky and we are still trying to catch it.
I did quite a few trips to fields and I tried to find any better species while walking a lot, but once again I had to disappoint. Parikkala is a really bad birding are in autumns! I do understand that huge Lake Ladoga is the reason why we can’t find any eastern rarities, but why on earth I can’t find any single Red-throated Pipit or any northern candy either!?
I visited also Saari a couple of times and walked a lot on the fields, but the best birds I saw were a migrating flock of 8 Grey Plovers, 19 Dunlins and one single a Jack Snipe.
After a couple of Quiet days on the 14th of September the Barnacle Geese migration started really. I a couple of visits to Siikalahti I saw already more than 4000 of them, also 100 Brent Geese, one some kind of Snow Goose hybrid or strange looking Blue Goose was seen a bit too distant and already 4 Rough-legged Buzzards were migrating too.
On the 15th day I finally had something better when early in the morning I found a Rustic Bunting in Siikalahti. It wasn’t a good bird in the past but in recent years it had become a true rarity in South Karelia too.
On the 16th in Saari we had already more than 10000 Barnacle Geese, but nothing else really. During my lunch-hour I had seen already 3000 migrating in Siikalahti with 800 Brent and 50 Bean Geese too, but then it had started to rain and I actually expected to find even more birds landed to fields in Saari. The first Great Grey Shrike of the autumn was seen and soon they were found in several places.
On the 17th day I stayed in Siikalahti for whole morning and day and counted about 10000 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti only and 3000 more were seen migrating. Again 2 flocks of Brent Geese were seen, 784 birds altogether. 4 White-tailed Eagles were chasing the geese together with a young Goshawk. 6 Rough-legged Buzzards and a Peregrine were also seen.
During the night we tried to catch migrating owls and got 2 Tengmalm’s Owls in Tarvaslampi.
On the 18th day we were again in Siikalahti for whole morning but there was almost no migration. I saw a late Honey Buzzard and also a Bewick’s Swan, a Grey Heron, 5 Rough-legged Buzzards, a stunning Golden Eagle were seen and 32 Waxwings were seen and another Rustic Bunting type of bird was heard calling but unfortunately it wasn’t seen at all.
On the 19th day there were about 11000 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti and in the evening we tried to catch owls again but only a Pygmy Owl was heard calling back to the tape.
During the next days there was almost no migration, so we tried to catch the unringed Nuthatch but still without luck. We have to wait for colder days, so it will visit the feeder more often. There were about 15000 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti and there was a probable Cackling Goose seen but I couldn’t find it even though I tried pretty much. It’s not easy to find one bird in a mess like that. Geese are flying to fields and back all the time and Goshawks and White-tailed Eagles are chasing them time to time.
Only interesting observations were a Bittern on the 22nd day, 2 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers and a Grey-headed Woodpecker on the 24th day in Siikalahti and 2 Nutcrackers in our own garden.
On the 25th of September there were still 14000 Barnacle Geese in Siikalahti. Also 80 Brent Geese, a Scaup, 2 White-tailed Eagles, an Osprey, 98 Cranes, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, 15 Waxwings, a Bluethroat, 12 Chiffchaffs and 3 Parrot Crossbills were seen and a Tree/Olive-backed Pipit was heard. In the afternoon we went to Saari and after checking all fields and lakes we estimated that we had seen 51500 Barnacle Geese! 40000 of them arrived to Lake Pien Rautjärvi in the late evening. Only very few other geese were seen and only other birds to mention were a Marsh Harrier in Kirjavala and a Long-eared Owl in Pohjanranta.
During the week the low depression made birds to stay where they were so there were mostly Barnacle Geese to see, but I started to get bored to them. Only other birds to mention were a Grey Plover that I heard from a cloudy sky in Siikalahti on the 28th day and the flock of 29 Canada Geese on the next day. In the end of the week there started to be also Tundra Bean and White-fronted Geese by tens and even a few Pink-footed Geese were found.
J.A.