Weekend at Virolahti
On Friday 11th of May we left to Virolahti. On the way we checked the last owl nest boxes that we have in Rautjärvi. No owls but a Hazel Hen, a Black Grouse and a male Capercaillie were seen.
The weather was getting rainy so we didn’t hurry to Virolahti but drove to Kouvola Junkkarinjärvi where we twitched a Black-necked Grebe in heavy rain. Also a Spotted Flycatcher was seen as a year-tick.
We continued to Hamina Lupinlahti where a Great Reed Warbler was singing in a rain. In Kirkkojärvi Thrush Nightingales were singing even though the rain was extremely heavy! We just sat in a car and listen Finland loosing Canada. When the rain finally stopped we tried to hear Little Crake and also Savi’s Warbler nearby in Savilahti but didn’t hear them. After the rain it started to blow very hard so no wonder the birds weren’t active. Finally we drove to Virolahti Hurppu where we slept in a car.
On the 12th of May I woke up early at 4:30 a.m. Soon I was in Verkkokallio to watch migration. The first 15 minutes were boring but then flocks of Barnacle Geese started to come to horizon and soon many flocks were migrating on the sea and over the land all the time. Mostly they were far and in bad light but some of them flew over me but the wind made them fly very fast. So I really couldn’t do anything else than count them somehow.
At 5:50 a.m. I saw a Pomarine Skua flying close to the shore and soon several Arctic Skuas too. But there were so many flocks of Geese that I really couldn’t check the sea often enough. The wind was so hard that my telescope almost fell down a couple of times. Pekka Saikko and later also Hanna came to watch the migration too and then the flocks started to get bigger. But soon the migration wasn’t so strong anymore and at 9 a.m. we had to do some breakfast. I counted that I had seen 40000 Barnacle Geese, a couple of flocks of Tundra Bean Geese, 6000 sea-ducks (Long-tailed Ducks and Common Scoters but too far), 4 Gadwalls, a Honey Buzzard, some Red and Black-throated Divers and a flock of 13 Bewick’ Swans. Of course I had seen also Arctic Terns and in Heinäluoto there were more than 50 Caspian Terns in a colony, there I had seen also a Dunlin briefly.
Some flocks of Barnacle Geese were still on the sky when we left to Virojoki Rajasali where Hanna had to go to put her paintings to a wall. There was a Arctic Migration in Virolahti – art gallery starting in the afternoon. 
I continued to Kurkela where I tried to see some raptors but because of the wind it wasn’t clever. I saw only 8 local White-tailed Eagles but nothing else. I also visited Lintulahti where I saw 3 Gadwalls before I went to see the opening ceremony of the gallery.
In the afternoon we were sleeping a couple of hours in Lakakallio where we hoped to see some evening migration but the wind was too bad, no birds were migrating at all. So we went to night-trip again. In Heinäluoto we saw a Turnstone and in Lintulahti a Temminck’s Stint, 2 Garganeys and heard a drumming Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Then we drove to Hamina again where the weather had changed and it was now a perfect weather to listen night-singers but no Savi’s Warbler or Little Crake were heard. A Reed Warbler was singing and a Nightjar was perched on the road in Kirkkojärvi so a couple of new year-ticks anyway. After all we drove again to Hurppu to sleep.
On the 12th of May I woke ap after 4 a.m. and at 4:30 I was watching migration again. Or actually there was no migration to watch at all. The wind was now from north which wasn’t good direction. In a couple of hours all I saw was 5 Red-throated Divers. In Heinäluoto I saw 60 Caspian Terns and these amazing terns were nice to watch. Once Hanna had awakened we visited Vilkkiläntura where a Red-breasted Flycatcher was singing. Then we drove back to Hurppu to have breakfast and check that there was still no migration at all.
At 10 a.m. we drove to Kurkela where it was extremely windy. My telescope nearly fell down several times! Only 7 local White-tailed Eagles were seen and a Black Kite.
So after all we left towards South-Karelia much earlier than we had planned.
In Ylämaa Väkevänjärvi we didn’t see anything interesting and in Lappeenranta Haapajärvi we saw only 2 Redshanks. In Nuijamaa Pohjola we twitched a hybrid Collared x Pied Flycatcher which was very interesting looking bird. The collar was just a little bit too thin, the white patch on the wing was a little bit too small and wrong shaped and also the forehead-spot was too small. The bird was calling and also singing both species!
In Hyvättilä we saw a flock of 500 geese (3 common species) and in Kotasaari we saw 3 Temminck’s Stints and a Redshank. In Imatra Immalanjärvi we still counted 63 Little Gulls before we drove home.
On the next 2 days there was really good Barnacle Goose migration both in Virolahti and also in Parikkala but I was working and not able to do much birding. On the 15th of May I saw the first Scaups of the year, a couple in Härskiinmutka and an early River Warbler was singing close to Siikalahti bird-tower. In the afternoon I still heard 2 Wood Warblers and a Common Rosefinch in Moskuunniemi.
J.A.