. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On the 1st of December I started winter driving to Lappeenranta to try to twitch a long-staying Hoopoe. It would be the first winter-record of the species ever in South Karelia.

I met Jarmo Koistinen in Peltola and we started searching for the Hoopoe. After some time Jarmo called he had found the bird. I was quite far but luckily the bird stayed on a tree until I got there. We took some pictures and left the bird so it could land somewhere to feed.

I did some shopping in Lappeenranta and then tried to twitch a Shore Lark in Luukkaansalmi without luck. Then I still did shopping in Imatra, checked River Vuoksi on a couple of places and twitched a Blackcap in Kymälahti.

During the week the weather was bad so I saw only a flock of 32 Rock Doves, some Whooper Swans, Mallards, Herring Gulls and Blackbirds.

On the 6th of December we were once again participating Independence Day bird-race in Kouvola. This time we had a team with Hanna and her sister Elissa. We started at 6:30 by searching for a Tawny Owl and then went to search for Wrens on something like that to one wet area. The first species we got were a Blackbird, a Whooper Swan and a Mallard. But then surprisingly a Tawny Owl started calling and we managed to see it briefly.

In Saksanaho we had a White-backed Woodpecker, a Nuthatch and a couple of Long-tailed Tits with some other common species. Then after getting a Dipper we continued to check River Kymi. We had a good start as we found 3 Scaups, 2 Smews, a Goshawk, several Wrens and a Great Grey Shrike but then it went difficult. After some time we got a White-tailed Eagle but once we had started to search for feeder-birds it started snowing. The weather was so bad that we decided to drive to twitch a Greylag Goose but a White-tailed Eagle had scared it away. Luckily on the same place there were a Great Crested Grebe and a Common Scoter.

It seemed that there were good numbers of birds on the river as all the lakes were freezing. So we decided to change our plans and checked the river from a couple of more places and visited one big lake too. But then all the places were completely empty! Only a couple of more White-tailed Eagles were seen – and for sure they were one of the reasons that there were no birds on these places.

So we headed to one village where we had usually seen lots of passerines on feeders but this place was also empty! After all we spent almost a couple of hours without any new species!
Finally in a small forest we had a couple of new tit-species and then on a field nearby saw some Black Grouses. We had then planned to check some bigger fields, but we thought that if there were no birds anywhere else then for sure not on the fields.

So we decided to drive back to the same area where we had been in the morning. In Lappalanjärvi we saw a few Common and a single Herring Gull and then also a Velvet Scoter in small open water are in the middle of the lake.

But it was already getting late. So we went back to Saksanaho and soon heard a Grey-headed Woodpecker calling. Then we decided to try to find Rock Doves under a bridge in Kuusankoski and luckily they were there. When it was dark we tried to find a couple of Hawk Owls without luck. And finally after 10 hours we had found 42 species (and no House Sparrow, Waxwing, Sparrowhawk, Goldfinch, Redpoll and so on)

The other teams had been suffering too and after all the best teams had been on the coastal area of Kymenlaakso. They had got 47, 44 and 43 species. Then Kouvola-competition was tight and our friends Teo and Veikka had found 43 species and with other team we had got 42. Luckily we had more ace-species (species that no other teams had seen) and so we weren’t last. But it wasn’t a bad result as all the other teams were locals and they had been preparing for the race quite a lot. We had decided to participate only a couple of days ago.

On the 7th of December we still visited Saksanaho and Lake Kymi and saw some same species than on the race. Then we drove to Luumäki Huopainen to an old forest where people had been photographing Three-toed Woodpeckers. After some searching we found one male but in dark forest and weather we couldn’t get very good pictures. Then we continued to Lappeenranta and Imatra to do some shopping.

On the 8th day we went to put food to our feeders. Fieldfares were still everywhere and also a couple of Waxbills, a few Blackbirds and then a single Redwing were seen.

On the 9th day on my lunch-hour I saw a White-tailed Eagle while driving to Siikalahti. I went to check our feeders again but saw nothing special. But while driving back to work I saw the same Hawk Owl that hadn’t been seen for a while and then in Huhmarinen I noticed a small raptor on the top of a spruce. It looked promising and when I drove a little bit closer I could identify it as a Merlin. It was my first ever Merlin in winter in Parikkala.

On the 10th day I saw once again a dark-looking shrike in Siikalahti. I hadn’t got my scope or camera with me, but the bird looked similar than a bird that I had seen on last 2 winters too. 2 years ago we had managed to find some pellets and sent then to Rarity committee and Natural Museum so maybe one day someone can tell what these birds are – just aberrant Great Grey Shrikes or Northern Shrikes…

During the week I saw the same Hawk Owl, woodpeckers, nuthatches, a Dipper, Long-tailed Tits and so on. At Saturday the weather was still OK for birding and we saw the same birds again and also a Sparrowhawk and a Great Grey Shrike and a nice Pine Marten. But then it started snowing a lot.

J.A.