New year-ticks coming all the time
On the 25th of April I had time only for a couple of short visits to Siikalahti. A Barn Swallow was seen migrating and soon after that a Hobby – the enemy number one for a Swallow – was migrating too. Also 11 Rough-legged Buzzards and 2 Redshanks were seen. On the 26th day I got the first year-tick already right after midnight when I heard migrating Common Scoters. Then on my lunch-hour I saw a male Gadwall, a Garganey, 3 Slavonian Grebes and 2 Common Sandpipers.
On the 27th of April we started a long drive to Oulu. We had planned to visit my brother’s family, of course do some birding and also visit The Liminganlahti Bird Photography Festival. On the way we saw a Nutcracker in Punkaharju and a Pheasant in Vieremä.
On the 28th of April we started at 6:00 a.m. and drove to Liminganlahti to Lumijoki Sannanlahti bird-tower. I managed to get to the tower first and started to check the ducks that were swimming on a small open water area or perched on the ice. Soon I found something strange – a duck with white on its head and something strange on it’s back, something orange – a Mandarin Duck! Luckily it soon climbed to the ice and started to sleep so Hanna and some biology students managed to see it too even though it was very far. A new self-found tick!
I head a Ringed Plover and a Grey heron was seen in flight, a Little Gull was flying with other gulls, 2 Black-tailed Godwits were in Pitkänokka, a Whimbrel was standing on ice and 2 Caspian Terns were flying around. After a couple of hours in windy Sannanlahti we continued to Tyrnävä to see geese. In Ritokorpi we checked a small flock where were mostly Taiga Bean Geese, but some Pink-footed Geese and 4 White-fronted Geese. Then we saw a harrier landing to a field and it looked interesting. Hanna went to photograph it and flushed it and it was a 3rd c-y Pallid Harrier!
Soon we found amazing big floods on some fields in Jokisilta where were about 2000 ducks but only interesting were 2 Garganeys. We continued to Ängeslevä fields where we found amazing 266 Pink-footed Geese! It probably doubled the number of Pink-footed Geese I’ve ever seen! There were only some 30 Taiga Bean Geese in the flock. In Murto we saw some 25 Pink-feets more and then we continued to Liminka Virkkula.
The parking place was absolutely full and there were 200 metres cars parked along the road too! Luckily there was just a lunch-break so we managed to meet many friends in information centre. The new exhibition was very good and of course we visited a bookstore and camera equipment stores. After we had made some sausages on the fire we walked to a new bird-tower. 4 White-tailed Eagles and 22 Black-tailed Godwits were the best birds. 2 Bewick’s Swans were with a big Whooper Swan flock on the field nearby.
Then we drove towards Oulunsalo. On the way we saw a Collared Dove in flight in Liminka village and huge floods in Temmesjoki. In Koivukari we didn’t see anything special and in Kempeleenlahti we saw 7 Shelducks and 5 Little Gulls. Then we still drove to Oulu Toppila where we didn’t find Ring Ouzels that had been seen there earlier during the day but managed to twitch a nice male Black Redstart. Also Oystercatchers were heard which was another year-tick again.
Then we drove to Heinäpää to see my nephew’s football match. He had been injured for months but was the top goal scorer of the tournament which the won later. The rest of the evening we were with my brother’s family.
On the 29th of April in the afternoon we started a long way back to Parikkala. In Siikalatva Pulkkila we saw a stunning male Pallid Harrier flying across the road. In Vieremä we saw 2 Hen Harriers and in Rantasalmi we stopped in Putkilahti where we heard a Bittern and saw a Red-necked Grebe. We still visited Siikalahti where we heard Bitterns and at least 5 Water Rails but nothing else interesting yet.
J.A.