May 2008
Busy May
The beginning of May was again good! On the 1st day we saw the 2nd Lesser Spotted Eagle of the week and also a Black-tailed Godwit. Some other better birds were a couple of Yellow Wagtails, a Jack Snipe, 13 Whimbrels, a Redshank and so on. In Vartialahti a couple of Scaups were found.
On the 2nd of May I got a good birthday present when I managed to twitch a Savi’s Warbler in Siikalahti. The bird continued its migration on the next night so it wasn’t heard later.
On the 3rd we had again the traditional bird tower competition. With Hanna, Jarmo Pirhonen, Ilpo Kuusisalo, Matti Lötjönen and Johannes Hänninen we saw altogether 88 species in 8 hours from Siikalahti bird-tower. The best species were a Greylag Goose, 7 Cormorants, 2 Rough-legged Buzzards, a Merlin, 2 Peregrines, a Black-tailed Godwit, altogether 61 migrating Whimbrels, 2 Rooks and a White-backed Woodpecker. In the afternoon we went to check a breeding of a Great Grey Owl in Rautjärvi and to twitch 3 Marsh Sandpipers in Pohjanranta.
On the 4th day I saw 4 Scaups in Härskiinmutka but in other way it was very quiet – it was too nice weather! So the next few days I went to check the owl nest boxes, but unfortunately they had nothing else that Great Tits breeding. A stunning Capercaillie was seen and a Cuckoo and a Wryneck were heard.
On the 9th day I saw a Montagu’s Harrier from our garden! Also a flock of Common Scoters were migrating. And on the next day also 2 Velvet Scoters were found swimming in a flock of Common Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks. In Saari just Ortolan Buntings were found in Akanvaara Tetrisuo and 3 Marsh Sandpipers were still in Pohjanranta. In the evening finally 2 breeding Tengmalm’s Owls were found.
On the 11th day 3700 geese were seen migrating and the 1st Swift was found. At night altogether 23 Water Rails, 9 Spotted Crakes, 17 Sedge Warblers, 5 Thrush Nightingales and a Ural Owl were heard in Siikalahti.
In the mid May only better birds were a couple of Stock Doves in Tetrisuo, but otherwise I was trying to get my car repaired and was watching ice-hockey.
Virolahti
On the 16th of May I drove first to Imatra where I twitched a Moorhen in Immalanjärvi. Also 2 Oystercatchers were seen and a Garden Warbler was heard. In Joutseno Konnunsuo I saw 5 Pink-footed Geese amongst the other geese and in Kotasaari 5 Little Ringed, 3 Ringer Plovers and 12 Temminck’s Stints were found. In Lappeenranta Hanhijärvi an Arctic Tern was flying with a big flock of Common Terns and Little Gulls.
On the 17th of May in very early morning after an hour sleep I woke up in a back of Miika Suojarinne’s – “potu’s” car in Virolahti Lakakallio. Soon we were watching for migration. 100 divers (mostly Black-throated), 2500 Barnacle and 860 Brent Geese, 12 Red Knots and so on were seen. But the migration wasn’t very good so we decided to drive to Hamina Kirkkojärvi to twitch a Penduline Tit. The tit was heard and also a couple of Reed Warblers. In the afternoon we were just going to sleep when we got an information that a flock of 70 Barnacle Geese with a Red-breasted Goose had landed to the sea between us and a couple of island. After some searching I found a flock far in the middle of the sea swimming but soon they went behind the trees. After 2 hours waiting a flock of anser-Geese flew over them and the flock took off and right away I found the Red-breasted Goose from the flock even though they were far!
On the 18th day the migration was still pretty poor. A couple of thousands of Long-tailed Ducks and Barnacle Geese and a twitched male Red-footed Falcon in Ala-Pihlaja were good. In Lintulahti where Hanna was staying with her Dutch group we saw a Bluethroat and heard a Corn Crake. In the evening I started my way home. In Ylämaa Väkevänjärvi I still saw a thousand of Barnacle and 10 Brent Geese and heard a White-backed Woodpecker and a Stock Dove.
On the 19th day I saw a male Gadwall in Siikalahti, in Saari nothing else than a big flock of Yellow Wagtails were found. I still went to check another breeding of a Great Grey Owl.
The next few days I was relaxing but on the 22nd of May I saw a flock of 3 Temminck’s/Little Stints and a Dunlin and heard a Great Reed Warbler in Siikalahti.
On the 23rd day I started my way to Oulu where I participated to a 24-hours bird-rally. I decided to drive through Kajaani and on the way I twitched 2 Dotterel in Pohjasuo. In Otanmäki pools 14 Slavonian Grebes, 2 Scaups and 3 Long-tailed Ducks were found.
Oulu area bird-race
On the 24th morning out team ”Chocolate Moose” me, Harry Nyström, Petri Lampila and Samuli Lehikoinen meet in Oulunsalo Vihiluoto.
We had planned to begin in Liminka Hirvineva but it was too empty, only a Garganey, a couple of Sparrowhawks and a Red-necked Phalarope were found. So we drove to Rantakylä which wasn’t any better but at 11.58 a.m. we had to start, but only better species we saw were a flock of Common Crossbills, a Stock Dove and a Wood Lark. Luckily we saw 2 Grey Partridges while we were driving to Liminka where a Collared Dove and Tree Sparrows were found.
In Virkkula a Honey Buzzard and an Osprey were good ones, also 2 Dunlins, 2 Black-tailed Godwits, a Common Buzzard and the 1st of our 6 Hen Harriers were seen. In Lumijoki Sannanlahti we saw a Shelduck, a stunning Grey Plover and a migrating Broad-billed Sandpiper.
Then we drove to Siikajoki Alhonmäki where again we tried to see some raptors. Soon we had a Sparrowhawk, a Goshawk and a Rough-legged Buzzard in our species-list. The next goal was Karinkanta where all the fields were full of birds! Spotted Flycatchers, Willow Warblers, Yeallow Wagtails and Northern Wheatears were everywhere but also a Whitethroat, a Bluethroat, 2 Red-backed Shrikes and a Wood Warbler were found. From the fields we found the flocks of 12 Dotterels and 20 Golden Plovers. And again we saw quality raptors: 3 Merlins and a Peregrine.
In Savilahti we saw lots of waders but far and the light was really bad. But a stunning male Pallid Harrier flew beautifully very close to us. It was carrying a wader so it was probably breeding somewhere near. Also 2 Barnacle Geese were good to see.
In Munahieta we had many new species as we expected. Lots of Velvet Scoters were migrating but also a flock of Long-tailed Ducks, 11 Red-necked Grebes, an Arctic Skua and a Spotted Redshank were found. In Säikänlahti we found a Pochard and heard a Black Woodpecker.
It was already late when we continued to Raahe Lapaluoto. Many migrating flocks of Common Scoters were seen but we got also something much better. A Mute Swan, 2 migrating Short-eared Owls and a Slavonian Grebe were good but a migrating Long-tailed Skua was really something! We had a funny situation when a skua was migrating between the owl and the grebe in same scope-picture!
In Aittalahti we saw only lots of Little Gulls and the Eagle Owl wasn’t found in its traditional place in sewage dump. So we continued to Pyhäjoki Hanhikivi where we heard a Willow Grouse! After the midnight we continued to Teerelä where a Grey Partridge was seen.
When the night was as quiet as it gets we continued to get the only nest box breeders we had – a Ural and a Great Grey Owl. It took some time to reach the place where the owls were but once we were there they were really close to each other – only 40 metres!
Then we had to hurry because of the morning birds started to wake up. When it is minus 3 Celsius degrees and as dark it gets this north and almost no birds at all the birders that have been woken for 20 hours are not very clever. So every single moment when it is possible it is important to get some action – that’s why every rabbit, hare and moose caused lots of activity in our car. We also had some difficulties to identify a couple of animals: for example I thought a Crane was a Badger and also a fox or a cow was seen.
The first morning stop in Karjala was productive: a Blackcap and a couple of Two-barred Crossbills were found. In Merikylä we had a singing Hazel Hen and an amazing lecking Capercaillie that was attacking to us very aggressively. In Kaasa a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and some divers were seen. In Sääri a Pheasant was a big surprise and in Lumijoki Varjakka we finally saw our first 2 White-tailed Eagles – and very close! Also 2 Chiff-chaffs and 3 Three-toed Woodpeckers were good.
We were already late from our schedule so we didn’t stop too many times in Oulunsalo Letto road but we managed to hear a Wryneck already from the moving car. In Akionlahti we finally found a Gadwall and in Mustaniemi a Bar-tailed Godwit and a flock of Parrot Crossbills were found.
Then we had to drive to Oulu where we had more places to visit than we had time. So we drove to Pyykösjärvi where Samuli was left while the rest of us went to try to find a Coal Tit. The tit wasn’t found but Samuli called that he had found a Lesser Black-backed Gull. So we drove back and Samuli had a big surprise for us he hadn’t only a Heuglin’s Gull (a subspecies of a Lesser Black-backed Gull in Finland) but also a Glauscous Gull!
We still drove to Hietasaari where a Little Stint (and many Lesser-Black-backed Gulls) was found. We still dreamed about Hawfinches and Goldfinches but the 24 hours was full soon.
After all we had got 163 species and we won clearly. We had 11 species more than the second teams in this rally where altogether 14 teams were participating.
After the meeting where the results were given I still had the hardest part of the trip to go. I had been awaken already for 30 hours and I still had to drive back home. Anyway I still went to twitch a Terek Sandpiper before I started driving. The only stop was made in Piippola Kortteinen where only big flocks of Black-headed and Little Gulls and 6 Red-necked Phalaropes were seen. At 10 p.m. I was back in Parikkala.
The end of May
On the 26th of May we went to ring the owl-nestlings with Hanna and Tero Linjama that had come to do some recording to Parikkala. The first Ural Owl family ringing went fine but the on the second nest the mother owl attacked a couple of times very aggressively. The recording that Tero got. Luckily our helmets are very good – stupid-looking, but good, so neither I was hurt nor the owl. On the second Tengmalm’s Owl nest the mother was surprisingly still incubating!
On the 28th day Hanna left to Georgia to lead a Kontiki-tours bird-tour in Kazbegi and Chachuna, but I stayed in Parikkala. We went to record some night birds with Tero and Spotted Crake, Water Rail and Blyth’s Reed Warbler were recorded. We also heard an Ural Owl, a Great Reed Warbler and White-backed Woodpeckers. On the 29th of May I birded a couple of hours on the way to Lappeenranta. A couple of Oystercatchers were found in Ruokolahti Laurinniemi, a Red-necked Phalarope in Joutseno Korvenkylä, 3 Broad-billed Sandpipers in Kotasaari and in Konnunsuo a Short-eared Owl and a Hen Harrier were fighting together. On the way back home I checked that everything was still fine with Great Grey Owl and in same place I heard a Nightjar. On the 30th day I saw 2 Nutcrackers in Punkaharju Lusto.
On the last day of May we birded together with Harri Orenius. Plenty of Water Rails, Spotted Crakes, Corn Crakes and Blyth’s Reed Warblers and a couple of Nightjars and Golden Orioles were heard. Also another Great Grey Owl was still fine and a Ural Owl was found accidentally. Later in the morning I still continued to Niemennurkka where I found a Greenish Warbler. And still I went to the forests to find a Hazel Hen, Wrens, Common Crossbills and a young fledling of White-backed Woodpecker.