Migration watching and the first of May
The first days of the week on the 19th and 20th of April it was raining so I didn’t do much birding. In Särkisalmi I counted 56 Great Crested Grebes and 42 Black-throated Divers and a couple of Red-breasted Merganser and the first Red-necked Grebe were seen too, another Red-necked Grebe was in Siikalahti where were also 3 Gadwalls .
In the end of the week I started to check owl nest-boxes. In Tyrjä I heard a Wren and a Grey-headed Woodpecker and finally the first Ural Owl was found hatching 3 ggs. In a trip to Saari I saw already a couple of hundreds of Barnacle Geese but only better observation was a Short-eared Owl.
On Saturday the 23rd of April was the migration watching day. So I stayed in Siikalahti for 10 hours from 5 a.m. It was very cold day and it was snowing in every hour. Luckily in the afternoon it was very warm when they sun came out behind the clouds. Best birds were 10 Bewick’s Swans, 2 Red-throated Divers, 13 Black-throated Divers, Pallid/Montagu’s Harrier female, a White-tailed Eagle, 6 Rough-legged Buzzards, 60 Curlews, a Whimbrel, 6 Greenshanks, 4 Little Gulls, 2 Chiffchaffs, 27 migrating Jays, 7 Brambling and a Lapland Bunting. The best bird of the day was a Ring Ouzel that Matti Lötjönen found in Kangaskylä. I managed to twitch it and after all I was photographing it from our balcony while it was singing on the top of the nearest perch.
On the 24th day the weather was much better but the migration still the same. I stayed in Siikalahti from 8 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. and saw 2 Cormorants, a Grey Heron, 2 White-tailed Eagles, 7 Whimbrels, a Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Little Gulls, a Barn Swallow, 18 Jays and a Linnet.
On the 25th day I saw a Red-throated Diver in Härskiinmutka, and on my lunch-hour I saw a Stock Dove and a Gold Finch in Siikalahti. In the afternoon I went to Saari and saw a couple of Garganeys in Pohjanranta, a Black-tailed Godwit in Rantakylä and a Common Tern in Rautalahti.
On the 26th day I had to go to Lappeenranta and on the way I checked the nest-boxes in Simpele and Rautjärvi, but they were also empty. In Lappeenranta I saw an Oystercatcher and a couple of Little Ringed Plovers.
And on the way back I got a message that there was a Green-winged Teal in Joutseno Suokumaanjärvi so I went to twitch it. The teal was still there and also a Wood Sanpdpiper and a Redstart were seen. I continued birding with Karri Kuitunen who had found the teal and we drove to Kotasaari. It was raining pretty much but we saw 5 Ruffs, 4 Little Ringed Plovers, 5 Slavonian Grebes and when the rain stopped for a while 2 Black Kites were migrating together! But then it started to rain again and soon I had to continue to Imatra where I had the last match of the season.
On the 27th day I did a trip to Saari again but found only 2 Black-tailed Godwits, 1 in Suurenjärvenliete and 1 in Rantakylä. Black Grouses were active on a couple of fields.
On the 28th of April several flocks of Steller’s Eiders were reported around South-Karelia so on my lunch-hour I decided to go to Oravaniemi to see the Lake Simpele. Once I got there I immediately found 7 Steller’s Eiders flying low over the lake and after some 20 seconds the disappeared to the haze. After my work I had to go twitching to Saari Pohjanranta where a male and maybe also a female American Wigeon had been seen, but I couldn’t find it even though I stayed there for a couple of hours. 2 Bewick’s Swans were with 104 Whooper Swans and in Suuri Rautjärvi I saw 3 Common Scoters and 2 Long-tailed Ducks.
On the 29th day it was raining again so went to check the nearest owl nest-boxes. In Kirkonkylä I surprisingly heard a Cuckoo which was my first ever in April. In the afternoon we went to check the furthermost nest-boxes in Melkoniemi ad there we heard 2 more Cuckoos but no owls were found. In Tarvaslampi we saw 15 Lesser Black-backed Gulls and in Härskiinmutka a Cormorant.
On the 30th day I was in Siikalahti with many friends from 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and the weather was amazingly warm! Of course the first hours it was still cold but in the afternoon it was almost too hot! The migration was still not very good: a flock of 27 Bewick’s Swans, 2 Cormorants, 2 Hen Harriers, 3 Rough-legged Buzzards, a Little Ringed Plover, a Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Ruffs, a Spotted Redshank, a Wood Sandpiper, a Redshank, 2 Common Terns, a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Tree Pipits, a Yellow Wagtail, a 2 Willow Warblers, 28 Jays, 200 Bramblings, the earliest Bluethroat for me ever and the best bird was a Greater Spotted Eagle ever that came to soar right over us! From the pictures we could see that there wasn’t everything OK with the bird and it has some Lesser Spotted Eagle genes.
On Sunday the first of May I went by bike to Siikalahti again and again with almost the same people we stayed there from 7:30 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. The weather was still very warm and we saw about 600 geese, 2 Cormorants, 2 Grey Herons, a White-tailed Eagle, 2 Hen Harriers, a Hobby, a Peregrine, 17 Golden Plovers, 14 Ruffs, a Spotted Redshank, 18 Greenshanks, a Redshank, a Cuckoo, a White-backed Woodpecker, 3 Barn Swallows, 2 Yellow Wagtails, 10 Waxwings, the same Bluethroat again and a Whinchat. While biking back home I still heard a Wryneck and after an empty evening nest-box round we still heard a Common Sandpiper and a flock of Common Scoters from our garden.
J.A.