Brothers in Åland
After my work-day on Friday the 7th of April I started driving towards Helsinki. On the way I saw a Kestrel in Joutseno and 2 Oystercacthers in Hamina. In Helsinki-Vantaa airport I picked up my brother Pirkka and we continued towards Turku. In Turku we did some shopping and drove to the harbor from where our Viking Grace ferry left to Ahvenanmaa. On the ferry we went straight to eat.
Finally the long ferry-trip was over and we were in Lumparland Långnäs from where we still had 30 minutes driving to Mariehamn Solhem.
On the 8th of April we had the bird-race. The alarm woke us up at 5 a.m. and soon we were having breakfast with other participants who had arrived earlier on the previous day. And soon we were driving towards Eckerö.
We stopped a couple of times but heard only Robins, Blackbirds and Redwings – no owls. In Marsund we also heard some Eiders calling. At 6 a.m. the race started and we heard quite a few Song Thrushes but also a Grey Heron from the dark sky.
Our first real stops were made along Skeppsvik road where we heard several Treecreepers and Coal Tits and a couple of Wrens. An Osprey flew over us even though it was still quite dark. We had hoped to hear some Black Grouses, Black Woodpeckers, Bullfinches or to see a Jay but we weren’t lucky and none of these species were seen later either.
Along the road to Strysingsudden we saw a couple of Parrot Crossbills and heard a couple of Dunnocks. Once we had walked to the shore we saw plenty of Eiders, Common Scoters and Long-tailed Ducks but not much else. A couple of Wigeons flew over us and we couldn’t have guessed that they were the only ones we’ll see. After some time we had seen some Black Guillemots, Razorbills and Velvet Scoters and when a couple of other teams had arrived we found a female Smew migrating. A Green Sandpiper was heard and finally we saw some better species migrating when we saw 4 Red-throated Divers, 2 Red-necked Grebes, some Cormorants, a Shelduck and a Black-throated Diver.
We left from Styrs before the other teams to avoid following other teams to other places nearby and of course they soon saw a Common Guillemot. In Skeppsvik we found a Lesser Black-backed Gull and a Rock Pipit and in Torp village we saw some field-birds. In Sandviken we found a couple of pairs of Slavonian Grebes and a Common Crossbill flew over us.
In Degersand we saw a lonely Purple Sandpiper, a couple of Ringed Plovers and a migrating Arctic Skua. Also the first White-tailed Eagle was seen but later they seemed to be everywhere! Along the road we heard a Willow Tit and soon we were in Storby Postbryggan where we saw a Caspian Tern and luckily found a Black Redstart that had been found on the previous day.
Then we headed to Hammarland and on the way saw some Whooper Swans, Coots and so on. In Lillbolstad we found a Common Buzzard, White-fronted and Bean Geese but unfortunately missed a flock of Twites that was seen on the other side of the field where we saw another team.
In Bodafjärden we found a Redshank, a couple of early Common Terns and a Goshawk. In Ramsholmen we found the traditional Nuthatch immediately and soon we were climbing to Torpfjärden bird-tower. From the tower we saw a couple of Shoveler and a male Garganey and when we were already driving towards Mariehamn, we saw a Great Grey Shrike.
In Mariehamn we tried to find Collared Doves, but none were found, but luckily we saw 3 Rock Doves and from the bay we found 3 Scaups.
Then we headed to Gällaräng fields where we found a flock of Golden Plovers and a Rook and while driving towards Saltvik we saw a flock of Linnets and quite a few Stock Doves in Gölby.
In Satvik Haga we had hoped to see any new raptors but we weren’t lucky. Also the flock of geese had nothing new. Luckily a distant flock of Redpolls were seen and in Lötö we saw Shovelers, Common Terns, 2 Black-throated Divers and 6 Pochard. In Österbyviken we had no new species but a couple of Caspian Terns and 3 Ospreys.
Finally we decided to drive to Jomala Gottby fields where a Ring Ouzel had been seen. The thrush was no found but we found amazing early Whimbrel which was our last species.
After all we came 6th in the race but were only 2 species behind the third. Anyway it was good we had seen exactly 100 species. And it is not so good to have only 2 in a team, 3 or 4 is much better team-size. The winners were overpowering with their 111 species. The best species of the race had been a Gannet that only one team had seen in Styrs in the afternoon. Also we tried to twitch it in Degerand but it had already gone towards Utö where it was seen a couple of hours later,
In the evening we were extremely tired so we went to sleep quite early. And we still had 3 days for birding while other teams were leaving on the next day.
On the 9th of April we headed to Styrs after the breakfast which was at 6 a.m. Surprisingly there was no-one else. There were more birds migrating so we stayed there until mid-day. A couple of other teams visited the place during the morning but soon they had to leave to catch their ferry. Some better species and numbers we saw were 29 Velvet Scoters, 94 Red-breasted Mergansers, 26 Red-throated Divers, 3 Black-throated Divers, 12 Red-necked Grebes, an Arctic Skua, 45 Black Guillemots, 271 Razorbills, 3 Common Guillemots and a local Rock Pipit.
During the day we saw the Black Redstart again in Postbryggan and in Böle we twitched a Moorhen. Then we headed to Lillbolstad again and now managed to see the flock of Twites and there were now even 59 birds in the flock! During the day we saw some more raptors and it seemed that Sparrowhawks were now almost in every place and also a Rough-legged Buzzard was seen.
In Torpfäjrden we now managed to find a couple of Bearded Reedlings and also a new Nuthatch was found. In the afternoon we headed to Jomala Hammaruddan where we walked along the shore and found a Rock Pipit and a flock of 16 Purple Sandpipers. When we were driving back towards Mariehamn, we still stopped in Gottby where the Whimbrel was still present.
On the 10th day we headed again to Styrs but there was much quieter. We saw about 1450 Common Scoters, a couple of Gadwalls, 15 Red-throated Divers, 11 Red-necked Grebes, an Arctic Skua, 10 Black Guillemots, 138 Razorbills and the same Rock Pipit.
We stopped sea-watching earlier and headed to Bodafjärden where we saw the first couple of Pintails of the trip – we really wondered where all the ducks were? Then we did a couple of stops in new lakes but saw only a Marsh Harrier in Bjärströmsträsket.
In Saltby we also saw mostly the same birds than in the racebut in Ödgarbyviken we saw a couple of Gadwalls and in Haga fields we saw a Great Grey Shrike. From the reeds we found again some Bearded Reedlings and also a Pheasant was seen crossing the road.
On the way back we stopped again in Gällaräng and visited also Ytterbyviken but found nothing new. In Storängen the only new species for the trip was a Bullfinch. Then we headed to Gottby again but saw only the Whimbrel again and once we were back in Solhem a Nuthatch was singing in the garden.
On the 11th of April the weather forecast was bad but luckily the weather was much better. In Styrs we were sea-watching together with Rasmus Mäki but there wasn’t much migration. Anyway we stayed until mid-day and saw 2 migrating Purple Sandpipers, a distant Common Guillemot, 22 Red-throated Divers, 4 Black-throated Divers, 2 Red-necked Grebes, a Slavonian Grebe, 3 Arctic Skuas, 17 Black Guillemots, 53 Razorbills and the same Rock Pipit. While we were driving back we still saw a Kestrel along the road to Styrs and the same Nuthatch was singing again in Solhem.
In the afternoon Viking Grace left towards Turku and as the weather was pretty bad we went straight to eat again and stayed in and did some computer-works the rest of the trip.
From Turku we drove to Helsinki where I dropped Pirkka to the airport-hotel and then I continued to Parikkala where I was about 1:30 a.m. and next morning I had an early wake up to work.
J.A.