. . Lintuharrastajan päiväkirja Birders diary . .

On Friday 24th of April after my work I drove to Oulu. On a long drive I saw a Red-necked Grebe in Punkaharju, a Black Grouse, a Black Woodpecker and a Common Crossbill somewhere, 4 Red-necked Divers in Pyhäntä and Smews in Piippola Kortteinen. I was in Tyrnävä when I noticed that a Demoiselle Crane that had been missing for some days was back! I was only 14 kilometers from it, so I drove there immediately! I finally found the bird from the second big flock of Cranes that I was scanning and luckily it was the closest bird in the flock! But unfortunately my camera-battery died after a couple of photos. I met my friend Petri Lampila and while we were discussing, I tried to warm the battery and luckily I managed to get my camera working so I could get a couple of more pictures in a better light.

I continued to Oulu where I stayed with my brother Riku’s family. We spent the evening following national ice-hockey finals and the result was that legendary game 7 was needed between Tappara from Tampere and our team Kärpät from Oulu.

On the 25th of April I visited Oulunsalo Kempeleenlahti in the morning. I found 4 Shelducks, 2 Redshanks and then when I was already walking bock to my car I saw a male Pallid Harrier flying over me. Then we did some shopping and in the evening I had a meeting with my old high-school fiends that most of them I hadn’t seen for 19 years! It was really fun evening and it came even better when Kärpät won the Championship! Anyway I had to leave the parties already at midnight.

On the 26th day we left birding together with Antti Peuna who was also visiting in Oulu. We headed first to Liminka Hirvineva where we found a Green-winged Teal that Petri Lampila had found on the previous day. It wasn’t the best looking bird I’ve seen but hopefully pure anyway. Unfortunately it was extremely shy so I couldn’t get any better pictures.

We continued to Virkkula where we met our good friends Mikko Ala-Kojola and Harry Nyström. Many other friends were met too as there were Liminka Bird-photo festivals. Anyway we walked to the bird-tower pretty soon and found 2 Grey Herons, 2 Mute Swans, Pink-footed and Great White-fronted Geese, Redshanks, 8 Black-tailed Godwits, a Peregrine, 5 White-tailed Eagles and a migrating flock of 25 Lapland Buntings. There were absolutely too many people, so we left Harry to guide them and continued to Lumijoki Sannanlahti where we found 4 Mute Swans, 4 Bewick’s Swans, a Gadwall and a White-tailed Eagle. Then we still went to twitch a Demoiselle Crane again as it was now in Liminka Ala-Temmes. In the afternoon I still went to play ice-hockey with my brother and it was the first time ever that we played ice-hockey together even though we have both played in team Kärpät. I am much younger which was a big deal then but not anymore In the evening I drove a long way to Parikkala where I did s a stop in Siikalahti where I heard 3 Spotted Crakes calling.

J.A.