Beginning of May
On the 1st of May I woke up early, saw a Redstart and a flock of Common Scoters on the lake and then biked to Siikalahti. A couple of Garganeys and Gadwalls were seen right away and on migration I saw a Cormorant, a Hen Harrier and 15 Whimbrels. About after 4 hours, at 11 a.m. my brother Pirkka and his friend Allan Hamari woke up in the information center and soon they came to dam-road too. They had been driving a long way last evening and night, but now they had rested enough and of course they got plenty of year-ticks right away. A Jack Snipe was seen in flight, a Grey-headed woodpecker was calling a couple of times and a Savi’s Warbler was still singing, but Pirkka found the best bird when he noticed a male Pallid Harrier migrating low over the reeds towards north. We all saw it very well! Soon after that we still saw a Peregrine but then in more than an hour we saw nothing new anymore. At 2 p.m. we picked up Hanna and went to eat and then continued to Saari.
In Rautalahti we saw a Common Sandpiper and 900 geese, in Akanpelto 156 Golden Plovers, in Akanvaara Tetrisuo a Northern Wheatear, in Pohjasuo some hundreds of grey geese with 210 Barnacle Geese and in Pohjanranta 2 Redshanks and 25 Swallows and 26 House Martrins. In Suurenjärvenliete we saw a Lapland Bunting and in Tarassiinlahti a Pheasant and a Redstart and in Kanavalampi a Hen Harrier. Then we still walked in a forest in Myllyjoki and found a Three-toed Woodpecker. But overall Saari was pretty quiet, it was too dry.
On the 2nd of May I biked to dam-road at 7 a.m. and soon Pirkka and Allu came there too. On the way I heard a Wryneck. We watched to the sky for next 4 hours but there was almost no migration at all. It had been even -6 degrees at night, so summer-birds had no hurry to come. A Black Kite was seen well and other goodies were 60 Swallows, 16 Yellow Wagtails, a Blackcap, a Lesser Whitethroat, a Grey-headed Woodpecker, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, a Wren and a couple of Long-tailed Tits. When the weather turned worse we went to check some other places nearby. We checked Vartialahti, Kontiolampi, Kullinsuo, Lahdensuo and Sammallampi but only 3 Lapland Buntings, a flock of 23 Pintails and a Blackcap were seen. In the afternoon we still visited Siikalahti bird-tower where we checked that all ducks were still present but soon we were ready to go to rest as on the next day was a big day!
3rdd of May – Bird-tower competition
It was again a cold night but anyway I biked to Siikalahti after 4 a.m. On the way I heard a Wren and a Coal Tit and a Savi’s Warbler from the dam-road. Soon I met with the rest of the team Hanna, Pirkka, “Allu”, Jari Kiljunen, Matti Lötjönen and Ilpo Kuusisalo and soon we were walking towards the bird-tower. It took again some time to make everything ready in the tower and soon it was 5 a.m. and the race started and only 11 seconds after 5 a male Garganey flew in front of the tower. Soon we had seen all the ducks that included some good ones like Slavonian Grebes, Smews, Pintails, Shovelers and of course Gadwalls. Chaffinches and thrushes were migrating in good numbers so soon we had seen also a Brambling and all 5 thrushes. Black Grouses were displaying, a Water Rail was heard once, 2 Great Spotted Woodpeckers were seen and several Bitters heard. While I was watching only to the sky the rest of our team were also checking the fields, bushes and reedbeds – but also watching to the sky. 8 Black-throated and 2 Red-throated divers, 3 Hobbies, a Little Ringed Plover, 10 Whimbrels, 5 Spotted Redshanks, 5 Lesser Black-backed Gulls, a Cuckoo, 2 Sand Martins, a Waxwing and 2 Whinchat were good. Even Jay was easy this year. At 8:24 a.m. a Marsh Sandpiper flew over us and continued towards south and at 8:34 I found a Black Kite migrating towards north. Then we hadn’t got many species before at 10:36 we heard a familiar call and found a caller flying over us – a female Citrine Wagtail!
But then it went boring. The weather was ok but there were no other raptors than the common ones. Finally a male Hen Harrier was seen but then it was quiet again. In a last hour we still heard a Thrush Nightingale calling, found a Redstart and finally saw a flock of 150 Golden Plovers but then it was at 1 p.m. and the race ended.
But when we counted our species, we found out that we had beaten our record and got even 96 species!
I biked back home and still saw a couple of Long-tailed Tits and Bullfinches and so on, so I had seen even 103 species in Siikalahti!
While we were eating, I got a message that there was a Green-winged Teal in Saari Kanavalampi. So soon we were driving towards Saari with Pirkka and Allu. The light was awful but after 30 minues we saw a good-looking teal landing to the reeds with a female teal. After some more waiting I finally found the Green-winged Teal and Allu got a lifer and I got my 300th May-tick. We still checked Pohjanranta but saw only 2 Redshanks, a Little Ringed Plover, a Sand Martin and a Lapland Bunting. Back at home we found out that we had been 8th best tower in the whole country and once again the best inland tower. Then it was time to go to sleep again.
On the 4th of May Pirkka and Allu had left early towards north. I slept a little bit later but at 8 a.m. I was again on the dam-road. There were quite a few other birders too and even though the weather looked really bad everywhere around us, we had pretty good weather all the time. Savi’s Warbler was singing almost all the time, a Spotted Crake was still calling and we saw a Jack Snipe displaying – maybe the night had been so cold that these birds were still active during the day? A Wryneck was calling too, so there were even 4 species that I had never had on the bird-tower competition from the tower.
At 10:28 a.m. we heard again a familiar call and saw a male Citrine Wagtail landing to the reeds. Soon we found a Peregrine from the sky, a Bewick’s Swan migrated over us in a Whooper Swan flock and also a White-backed Woodpecker was seen. Savi’s Warbler kept on singing so people were very happy! Then 11:20 a.m. we noticed a raptor just above us and immediately realized that it was a spotted eagle. We got it to our scopes and it was easy to identify as a Lesser Spotted Eagle! Very nice! After 1 p.m. the weather turned worse so I gave up. I still biked a longer trip to Melkoniemi where I checked everything was OK with one of the Pygmy Owls. Ib the eveing it was raining so I just relaxed. 
Next morning the ground was covered by snow and more was still snowing until the afternoon. There was no reason to do anything. So the only birds of the day were a twitched Black Redstart in Särkisalmi, a Jack Snipe that was found from the pool and a Common Sandpiper on the way there. The snow melted before the evening, but still on the next day the northern wind was so cold that all I did was a drive around Siikalahti. In Peltola I stopped to check the flock of geese and I found a Pink-footed Goose.
J.A.