Bird-tower competition weekend
On Friday 4th of May my old friend “potu” Suojarinne came to Parikkala to traditional bird-tower competition weekend. I stopped at 1 p.m. at work and soon we met in Siikalahti. In a couple of hours we saw for example a Sand Martin and 4 Hobbies. The weather was nice so we decidec to go to Saari. On the way we checked if the Steller’s Eiders were still in Särkisalmi but we found only Smews, Red-breasted Merganser and 3 Common Scoters. In Rautalahti we found a flock of 477 Tundra Bean Geese and a Pink-footed Goose. After we had checked one empty Ural Owl nest (there was a nest last year), we continued to Akanvaara Tetrisuo where we saw a flock of 8 Whinchats. In Pohjanranta we saw a couple of Ruffs and 18 Yellow Wagtails.
In Uukuniemi Suurenjärvenliete we saw 55 Greenshanks, 12 Common Sandpipers, a Ringed Plover, a Little Ringed Plover, a nice male Bluethroat and a Short-eared Owl. In Tarassiinlahti we didn’t see anything better even though we knew it would be once again our main competitor in next day’s tower-competition.
In Kaikumäki we saw a House Martin and in Riionsalmi a Common Redstart, 2 Willow Warblers, a Chiffchaff and a Lesser Whitethroat. In Kanavalampi we found a flock of Tundra Bean and White-fronted Geese with a Barnacle Goose and a Greylag Goose. On the way back to Parikkala we still saw 30 Barnacle Geese in Pohjanranta. After we had bought pizzas from ABC, we continued to watch ice-hockey WM match Finland-Belarus.
5th of May – The Bird-tower competition.
We woke at 4:20 a.m. and when we were packing our car it started to rain. We were in Siikalahti bird-tower early but luckily the rain wasn’t too heavy yet. So when the competition started we were all, Janne and Hanna Aalto, Miika Suojarinne, Johannes Hänninen, Ilpo Kuusisalo and Boy Possen, still on the second floor of the tower.
The bay was surprisingly quiet and empty. So in the beginning we didn’t get any better species. Anyway Smews, Slavonian Grebes, Bitterns, a Water Rail, Song Thrushes, Golden Plovers etc. were seen. The rain got heavier so some of us went to the lower floor but a couple of craziest stayed up.
Slowly we got new species and of course some better ones too: Black and Red-throated Divers, a Garganey, a White-fronted Goose, a Rough-legged Buzzard, Whimbrels, a Black Grouse, a Whinchat and so on. The wader migration was good and during the morning we saw at least 500 Wood Sandpipers, 200 Greenshanks, 100 Spotted Redshanks and 100 Ruffs. A couple of times the rain got too heavy so even I had to go to the lower floor because of the optics were geting too wet, clothes had been wet already.
The rain continued until midday but anyway we managed to see or hear a Linnet, a Goldfinch, 4 Rooks, a Little Ringed Plover, Swallows, 2 House Martins, a White-backed Woodpecker, a Hobby, some Bean Geese, 2 Canada Geese and even 2 Swifts!
When the rain finally stopped we tried to see some passerines from the farm-yards and found Tree Sparrows, a Common Redstart, a Yellow Wagtail and then also a nice flock of 40 Bar-tailed Godwits came to fly around the bay! 
On the last hour we still hoped to see new species like House Sparrow, Tree Pipit, Dunnock, Northern Wheatear, Robin, Pied Flycatcher, Sand Martin, Barnacle Goose or anything better but we didn’t get any new species!
Our final count was 87 species which was very close to our average. So we could be very happy to our result, anyway it had been the coldest and second wettest competition ever! We were the best tower in South Karelia (Tarassiinlahti had also 87 species but they had got the last species only 3 minutes before the end). In whole country we were 22nd but of course on the coast there are more species, in inland we were 3rd.
After a short sleep the weather had changed much better. So we went to ring a Tengmalm’s Owl I had found a couple of day earlier and then checked Lake Simpele from a couple of places. In Moskuunniemi we saw a flock of 120 Barnacle Geese and an Oystercatcher migrating. In the late evening we still visited Siikalahti where a Spotted Crake was calling.
On the 6th of May we were out at 6 a.m. A Wryneck was calling close to our parking place and 55 Barnacle Geese were migrating in Härskiinmutka. Soon we were again in Siikalahti bird-tower but the weather was again extremely cold! Some Sand Martins, Tree Pipits, Yellow Wagtails, a Redhank and Barnacle Geese were seen but then at 9:47 a.m. we got a message that there was an American Wigeon in Pohjanranta! We drove there immediately and saw the bird right away! Soon the light turned bad so we continued to scan the sky and saw a White-tailed Eagle, a Hen Harrier and a couple of Rough-legged Buzzards. Soon we continued to other places in Saari.
There weren’t many birds in other places: 2 Ringed and 4 Little Ringed Plovers in Suurenjärvenliet but almost nothing else. So at 3 p.m. we went to see the American Wigeon again but it was still pretty far. On the way back home we saw a flock of 106 Common Scoters and 3 Long-tailed Ducks in Moskuunniemi. The rest of the evening was spent watching Finland won again 1-0 and just relaxing. It started to rain again so we were ready to go to sleep early.
J.A.