Som light to the darkest winter
In the end of January it was snowing very much. It wasn’t good for birding but it brought more light to the scenery. During the week I was only biking in the village on my lunch-hours. I saw the same 3 Starlings, Gold Finches that were already singing but also a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Yläkuja. Here and there I saw some Blackbirds, Fieldfares and Waxwings eating already almost black rowan berries. In Siikalahti I saw a flock of 16 Black Grouses and a Treecreeper and in Melkoniemi I saw quite a few Common Crossbills and a Grey-headed Woodpecker and in Särkisalmi a flock of 6 Long-tailed Tits.
On the last day of January I decided to ski my winter-bird count even though it was not the time yet. I had thought that I could do this every month this year – it could be interesting to walk this also in other time than in winter. In 17 kilometers round I saw a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a Great Spotted Woodpecker, 37 Waxwings, even 161 Fieldfares, 6 Blackbirds, a Goldcrest, 4 Long-tailed Tits, 10 Willow tits, 22 Blue Tits, 85 Great Tits, 2 Jays, 9 Magpiesm 40 Jackdaws, 13 Hooded Crows, 4 Ravens, 2 Starlings, 2 House Sparrows, 10 Tree Sparrows, 16 Green Finches, 15 Gold Finches, 9 Common Crossbills, 14 Bullfinches and a Yellowhammer.
Altogether I had seen 86 species in January, 55 of them in South Karelia and 41 in Parikkala.
February started with Starlings and a Hawfinch in Yläkuja and a family of Whooper Swans in Simpele Kokkolanjoki. In Imatra Vuoksi I saw 14 Cormorants and a Goshawk and in Lappeenranta Pappilanniemi a White-backed Woodpecker and a Treecreeper. On the 2nd day I saw a Rock Dove in Kangaskylä which I hadn’t seen for some time and a Gold Finch was singing on our back-yerd.
On the 4th of February a Goshawk was chasing Jackdaws and Hooded Crows in the village and a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was very noisy in Siikalahti. 2 Haw Finches were much more quiet in the same place. On the 5th day I saw a Siskin and in Simpele I saw a Dipper and a Pygmy Owl in Kangaskoski. But next few days I saw only the same bird in the village.
On the 7th of February we left to do some shopping to Lappeenranta. But before that we stopped in Yläkuja and saw a Hawfinch again, In Rautjärvi Pirttinotko we saw a flock of 20 Pine Grosbeaks while driving and in Vuoksi we saw an adult and a young Herring Gull flying along the river and 18 Cormorants were perched on the ice. In Joutseno Haukilahti we managed to twitch a long-staying Mistle Thrush which I have now seen in every month in Finland – so it’s an ace now. In Lappeenranta Pappilanniemi we still saw a couple of Nuthatches (europaea) and in Toikansuo I still saw at least 7 Starlings and a Chaffinch.
Days started to get longer and it was nice that there was still light after my day at work. Also sun was shining so it really started to feel like spring might come one day. I saw and heard some Siskins that probably were already migrants. Woodpeckers started drumming but during the next days less and less Waxwings and thrushes were seen. I also visited both couples of Jays, other one by skiing and another one by car as the road was good until the place.
J.A.
