Because of COVID19 the borders were closed and there was no possibility to make traditional summer trip abroad, we had been planning to go to Lapland. But after busy spring we had been too tired to make any plans. When I surprisingly heard that my nephew was having his confirmation parties in Kemijärvi, we decided to go. There was only one problem, I got the information about the parties less than a week before them and I had no holiday asked. Luckily my boss understood that this was a right time to go to Lapland and I got holiday.

Hanna’s sister Elissa had also planned to go to Lapland to see birds, so we asked her to join us to make the trip of course cheaper but also more fun because of Elissa had never been in Lapland in summer so she had several species to see as lifers there.

So in the 18th of June after I had finished at work, we packed our car, drove to Tarvaslampi to pick up “Elli”. Somehow we managed to squeeze her stuff into the car too and started driving towards north.

It was raining and even stormy but anyway we did a stop in Saari Pohjanranta where only a couple of Ruffs were seen. When we got to North Karelia we started to keep trip-tick list. The weather also cleared and in Kitee we saw a Red-backed Shrike and a Barnacle Goose along the road. Then we stopped in Kontiolahti Linnunsuo for an hour and saw a Spotted Redshank, Long-tailed Tits, Yellow Wagtails and so on.

Red-flanked Bluetails

We drove a long way until Sotkamo Talvivaara where we climbed up along a steep track to the top next to a mast and once we parked and got out from the car, we immediately heard a couple of Red-flanked Bluetails singing. So soon we had gathered our ringing-stuff and were putting up a mist-net into the forest. And it didn’t take long when we had a stunning adult male bluetail in the mist-net. As it seemed to be so easy, we soon tried to catch the other bird too but it had stopped singing and we didn’t see or hear it at all anymore. But the bird with a ring kept on singing all the time.

Soon we had the tents up and after we had eaten we were ready to go to sleep. We had lots of sleep debt with Hanna because of a busy spring and we thought there would be more during this trip.

On the 19th of June we woke up before 1 a.m. and both bluetails were already in full song. Soon we had a mist-net up again and in a minute even more beautiful adult male Red-flanked Bluetail on our hands.

Soon we were walking in Talvivaara forests carrying our ringing-equipment and after some walking we heard again a bluetail. And soon it started to feel that there was always a new bird in every 300 or 400 meters. We tried to catch almost every bluetail we found but only one adult male was hitting the mist-net but escaping. Young males were much more suspicious and they were getting close to the mist-net slowly from the heights so they probably saw the net. We also found one alarming female but after all we couldn’t catch a single bird even though during the whole morning we had heard 13 bluetails.

Other birds we found were 4 Greenish Warblers which 3 of them were singing very close to each others, some Wrens, a Crested Tit, Common Crossbills, Bullfinches and a Green Sandpiper. And there were mosquitoes – enough mosquitoes!

Once we were back in our camp we slept a few hours and then hit the road again.

In Ristijärvi we saw a Honey Buzzard and once we had decided where to go next, we finally turned to Puolanka Kuirivaara and soon were searching a suitable place for camping.

We couldn’t really see the hill and forests from our camp so we didn’t know what to expect. There were amazing numbers of mosquitoes and other bloodsuckers and only bird we saw in the evening was a Common Buzzard.

On the 20th of June we woke up at night again and soon were climbing up towards the forests. It didn’t take long when we heard a familiar song of a Red-flanked Bluetail and soon we were ringing one more adult male.

We walked until the morning was getting too hot to continue and found altogether 9 bluetails and all birds we had seen were young males. And they were really tricky to catch but after all we managed to catch 2 of them.

We also found a Tree-toed Woodpecker, some Chiffchaffs and Bramblings, a Black Woodpecker, a Wood and a Green Sandpiper and a Treecreeper.

Seeing relatives

After sleeping a few hours again we continued to Pudasjärvi Syöte to my brother Riku’s cottage. It was good to see his family for a long time. So the evening was spent while chatting and eating well. We also went jogging with Riku.

On the 21st of June we went to early morning run with Riku’s wife Pirjo. And surprisingly the first bird we heard while running was a Red-flanked Bluetail in Aurinkokallio. It really seemed that there were more bluetails than ever!

During the day we started driving towards north again and most of Riku’s family followed us with their brand new camper. Finally we were in Kemijärvi and my other brother Pirkka’s home. His younger son Veikka was having his confirmation party. Parties were of course because of the situation quite small-scale but it was maybe even more fun for us as there were almost only close relatives.

During the parties we saw some birds too as a Common Rosefinch was visiting the feeder and in the evening a Woodcock was flying over us while we were putting up the tents to the back-yard.

On the 22nd of June we did a short morning trip with Pirkka in Kemijärvi but in mid-summer there weren’t much to see. Some Red-throated Divers and Red-necked Grebes, a Hen Harrier and a Rough-legged Buzzard were the best birds.

After a morning run with Pirkka we started to drive towards north again. The next stop was made in Pelkosenniemi Sokanaapa where some Yellow Wagtails and Waxwings and a Black-throated Diver were seen and then the next stop was made in Sodankylä Ilmakkiaapa where we saw more Yellow Wagtails and an Osprey.

Inari Ivalo Mellanaapa

After a brief stop in Sodankylä Porttipahta we twitched a Grey Wagtail in Inari Laanila. We also saw a Stoat crossing the road and then finally after a long driving day were in Inari Ivalo Mellanaapa. Soon we met Olli Osmonen who had set up a ringing station to wastewater treatment plant. Quite a few ringers have been visiting the site and with fresh ideas the place had became surprisingly working station. Together with Olli we walked around the area to see the mist-net places and as we were the first visitors this year (most ringing is usually done in autumn), there were some work to do with some fallen poles and so on. So after we had seen all the places, Olli left and we began to work. And in hour or so we had all the poles up and mist-nets ready for the next day.

It was already late so soon we had the camp ready and we went to sleep for a couple of hours.

On the 23rd of June we woke up again too early. Soon we had opened the mist-nets with Hanna and as the round to check all nets was very long, we decided that I will check nets around the pools and Hanna and Elli would check nets around the buildings. Then Hanna would ring the birds around the station-building.

Elli had already heard a Jack Snipe into her tent but luckily it was displaying also later during the morning. On the first round we caught some Reed Buntings but the second round was so quiet that we went twitching with Elli. We drove some 10 minutes to Ivalo beach and immediately heard a singing Arctic Warbler from the other side of the river. Surprisingly there was also a 2nd c-y Grey Heron on the beach with a herd of Reindeers. Because of the Arctic Warbler was moving further and it wasn’t easy to hear anymore, we were soon driving back towards Mellanaapa.

Some 400 meters before the gate we stopped and right away heard a Little Bunting singing. We also managed to see the bird briefly on the top of a perch but then it flew further and as there were too many mosquitoes, we decided to keep on going to ringing station. Elli had really had a good morning as in 1.5 hours she had heard her first ever lekking Jack Snipe and got two lifers.

Hanna hadn’t done any rounds so we left to check the nets right away. But as expected it was pretty quiet this time of year. After many round and many walked kilometres I slept an hour or two and finally at midday we closed the mist-nets. We had caught a Yellow and a White Wagtail, 2 Common Redstarts, a Song Thrush, 9+2c Willow Warblers, a Brambling, a Bullfinch and 3r+2c Reed Buntings. We had also heard a Bluethroat, a Broad-billed Sandpiper and seen a Common Ringed Plover, some Waxwings and Common Crossbills and so on. We also had seen a couple of Elks crossing the bog.

After we had slept a few hours we continued towards north again and the next stop was made in Kaamanen 4 tuulen tupa where on the feeder we saw 7 Pine Grosbeaks and also some Tundra Voles. Unfortunately we didn’t see Siberian Jays or Siberian Tits that seemed to visit the feeder more likely in the morning.

In Ahvenjärvi we saw a male Velvet Scoter and in Basijávri a female Smew. Then in Karigasniemi we visited briefly Piesjänkä just to see if there were any good tenting places but decided to continue to Ailigas to our traditional camping place close to the gate. And soon we were putting up the tents to a place where we had really nice views to Ailigas fell.

Piesjänkä and Ailigas

On the 24th day we woke up again at 1 a.m. and after we had seen a Long-tailed Skua flying over our camp we were driving towards Piesjänkä. On the way we saw a Rough-legged Buzzard and soon we were walking towards the big bog-areas.

We found some couples of Long-tailed Skuas right away and on the first pool we saw 16 Red-necked Phalaropes and some more were found later. Also a Temminck’s Stint and a Dunlin were seen by the pool. We walked quite a long way but it was surprisingly quiet. Just some flocks of Common Redpolls were flying over us and at least a couple of them were probably Arctic Redpolls but we didn’t see them well enough. Other passerines were missing and for example not a single Lapland Bunting were seen and only a couple of Bluethroats were found.

We walked until the wet bog where we could scan also a couple of distant lakes with telescope. We found Tufted Ducks and Goldeneyes but also 3 males and a female Long-tailed Duck. As the walking came difficult, we decided to start walking back. We still had plenty of to do during the morning. Luckily Hanna found a female Willow Grouse and a Jack Snipe came to display over us and when we still found a tame Red-necked Phalarope the walk in Piesjänkä had been very good.

Soon we were up at Ailigas and by the gate where we parked the car and soon started to walk up towards the top of the fell. It was a tough climb up to the top but anyway we started immediately to walk around the top and search for birds. But there were only some Golden Plovers – nothing else.

When a couple of Long-tailed Skuas were flying over us, we decided to continue to the next top, Gaskkamusalas. I had briefly seen a Snow Bunting flying against the top, so we wanted to see at least it better.

Some more climbing was worthy as we found several Snow Buntings including a nest with eggs. But still we found no Ptarmigans or Dotterels. After some more walking around the top, we started to walk towards the road and landed lower down between the tops. And surprisingly there much lower down we first heard a Ptarmigan calling and soon saw it flying towards us. It landed quite close so we managed to see it well and got some pictures too.

We also found a couple of Long-tailed Skuas that were alarming when a Rough-legged Buzzard was flying over their territory. And while walking up and down next to the road back towards our camp we found another Ptarmigan, a flock of 20 Golden Plovers and a singing Bluethroat that was already close to our tents. And then it started to rain, so our timing had been perfect – we could go to sleep.

In the afternoon while driving again we saw a Rough-legged Buzzard in Nuoppiniemi and in Dalvadas we saw a Lesser Black-backed Gull along Teno-river on the Norwegian side of the river. It was pale-backed and huge, so it looked more like a grallsii than heuglini. After all we weren’t far from the Norwegian sea-coast. Also a couple of Ruffs were seen before we continued driving.

Nuvvus Ailigas

Finally we took a small road just before Nuvvus and found a suitable place to camp. We agreed to sleep a little bit later – until 3 a.m.

On the 25th of June we were at 4 a.m. next to Nuvvus Ailigas fell and soon started climbing along Cihkagurra towards the top. It was a tough climb along the steep and rocky hill and there weren’t many birds around. We had seen only a Willow Tit and a Bluethroat until we were already above the tree-line when we finally first heard and then saw a distant Ring Ouzel.

Then we heard strange calls that I thought it was a Dotterel but we never saw the caller. All we found visible were Golden Plovers and Whimbrels. The views were amazing to other fells and to Teno-river. And while we were photographing the views we heard a different kind of call that I didn’t identify but now we saw a Dotterel flying past us.

After we had been walking a little bit on the top, we started to walk back down. Again we saw the same Ring Ouzel briefly and when we were much lower down 2 more Ring Ouzels flew over us. We were pretty tired when we were back on our car, but still we went to parking place to listen one more Ring Ouzel singing and we also heard a distant Dunnock.

The weather was getting worse while we were driving towards Utsjoki. So the raptors weren’t flying and it wasn’t a surprise that only a single Rough-legged Buzzard was seen on the way. In Utsjoki we visited a shop and after all decided not to drive any more north towards the northernmost village of Finland, Nuorgam, but turned towards south. We had a tight schedule after all…

Self-found Arctic Warblers

Our next stop was made in Skalluvaara where we walked some time in a boggy area and found a Rough-legged Buzzard, 12 Red-necked Phalaropes, a Spotted Redshank, some Bluethroats, a Great Grey Shrike and finally also a single Lapland Bunting which only I saw well enough to get a trip-tick. I wonder were all buntings were as it should be very common bird.

While driving back towards the main road we heard an Arctic Warbler through open windows. We stopped and found out that there were 2 birds singing. We tried to see the closer bird and saw 2 birds briefly. Maybe there was one more bird that wasn’t singing?

Moving south

We continued towards south and did a couple of stops along rivers close to Kevo and some hills later but saw only a couple of Peregrines that we twitched. Also a Kestrel was seen there and later a Hen Harrier in Inari. Then in 4 Tuulen tupa we saw only a single Pine Grosbeak. When we were driving again we saw a female Smew on the first small pool.

We continued until Toivoniemi bird-tower where we put up the tents into the forest and saw briefly a Willow Tit chasing a Siberian Tit. I visited the tower from where were extremely nice views but soon we had to go to sleep. We agreed to sleep a few hours but after all we were sleeping five hours while Elli had awaken a couple of hours earlier. She had been listening weird high calls for some time until from the tower she saw a Hawk Owl and realized that the callers were Hawk Owl fledlings. Finally we woke up too and together we went to search the young owls that 2 of them were quite easy to find while 3 more were heard.

We visited the tower and photographed the views and I heard a Common Redshank calling in distance. And soon we had packed our car again and started driving.

It was already late when we drove through Ivalo where we saw a Woodcock displaying. In Sodankylä Madetkoski we saw a Short-eared Owl and in Ilmakkiaapa I heard a Broad-billed Sandpiper calling shortly.

Buntings

Finally we stopped in Vuojärvi Kantola where an Ortolan Bunting had been for some time. After some waiting it started to sing and it sounded as weird as it had sounded in Olli’s recording that we had listened in Mellanaapa. It sounded more like a Cretzschmar’s Bunting, but unfortunately there had been good pictures of the bird and it was an Ortolan for sure. Also we saw the bird chasing a couple of Yellowhammers and the identification was straightforward. Later we heard that there are Ortolan Buntings singing like this bird in Northern Sweden.

Then we continued to Kemijärvi where had been a very rare summer visitor – a Yellow-browed Warbler on the previous morning. We were there in good time early in the morning but in an hour we couldn’t hear or see it. And after all nobody found it anymore. We did hear a Lesser Whitethroat there.

Kuusamo

While we were driving towards Kuusamo I got an idea to turn to Salla. After some extra driving we stopped in Ruuhijärvi where a long straight track was going along the lake and there were bushy bog on both sides of the road. Immediately we heard a Rustic Bunting singing and soon we had mist-net up again. The bunting wasn’t interested of the tape so Hanna stayed by the net and I walked a little bit more along the track. I soon found a Little Bunting singing but it stopped and disappeared very soon. When I was walking back I noticed that Hanna had changed the tape to play Little Bunting’s song and there was a Little Bunting hanging on the mist-net.

We stopped about every 200 meters along the road and found several more Little Buntings and managed to ring one more bird. Also one couple was seen. But there were no more Rustic Buntings so after all we turned back and made another try to catch a Rustic Bunting too. After all there were 3 birds flying around but they never came close to the mist-net, maybe because of the wind that was getting quite strong.

We heard a Merlin calling and several Whimbrels and some other bog-species too but then we started to feel too tired to go on. We drove to a small parking place of Termusjärvi bird-tower and soon had tents up. We still walked to the tower which was quite far. So we didn’t bring our scope with us and that’s why we couldn’t identify any of the distant ducks we saw. A tame Three-toed Woodpecker was seen along the path and I still saw a female Willow Grouse before we went to sleep.

We woke up when it was getting too hot in the tents. After we had eaten we started driving towards Kuusamo. It was already midday when we arrived at Oulanka where we first tried to find some orchids. We found some Lady’s Slippers but Fairy Slippers weren’t found, it was probably too late. A couple of Parrot Crossbilles, a Crested Tit and a Chiffchaff were heard. Then we walked to Kiutaköngäs rapid where we photographed the stunning views and also saw 2 males and a female Grey Wagtail. Also a Wren was singing there.

In Käylänkoski we found a young Dipper hiding along a small ditch as the river was flooding. Then we still visited new Oivanki wetland where we heard again a couple of Parrot Crossbills.

Then we started a long drive towards south. I had decided to drive as long as possible to make the last day of our trip easier. We also would have plenty to do on Sunday in Parikkala on my last day of holiday. In Taivalkoski Siltasuo we saw a Short-eared Owl and of course we stopped to see Hiljainen kansa. In Hyrynsalmi Hoikkajärvi a female Capercaillie almost flew against our wind-screen and while Hanna and Elli were sleeping I continued driving. There were lots of Hares along the road! Finally in Sotkamo it seemed that there was very big storm in front of us, so we decided to stop to one parking place to sleep in a car and wait the clouds to move.

I couldn’t sleep at all so after an hour I started driving towards still cloudy south. Luckily we managed to avoid the storms and finally were in Kontiolahti where we turned towards Kolvananuuro which we had decided to be our target-place in the morning. When we had parked, it took some time to find suitable tenting places and once the tents were up, a thunder was coming right over us.

Very good last morning

Anyway we slept very well for several hours and about 8 a.m. we started walking to Kolvananuuro. We soon found a couple of White-backed Woodpeckers and then found passerines alarming in a top of one pine. After some waiting it wasn’t a surprise to see a Pygmy Owl escaping the flock of attacking passerines. And after some more walking we heard Ural Owl youngsters begging for food and soon found one bird visible while 2 more birds were calling around us.

After we had heard a distant Greenish Warbler we started walking down to Kolvananuuro. There we walked along rocky bottom for quite a long time which was very hard because of rocks were still wet and slippery. But there were so many birds around that it really didn’t matter – we heard lots of Wrens, 3 Red-flanked Bluetails, 2 Red-breasted Flycatchers and some Chiffchaffs. There were also lots of Phoxinus fish on the pools between the rocks. Finally the track started to climb back up and after hard climbing we started to walk back towards our car.

We had already walked the whole round when we heard familiar calls which I couldn’t identify first, but then we heard rattling and of course, there was a family of Red-flanked Bluetails, a female and at least 2 fledlings. Hanna managed to get some pictures of a young bird.

Finally we were back at our tents, we packed everything and luckily tents were already dry. And soon we started to drive towards south.

Our last stop was made in Kitee Puhos where had been a female Siberian Stonechat for several days. We found it easily and Hanna managed to get very good pictures of it. We also heard some Common Whitethroats and saw a few Linnets that were our last trip-ticks. Altogether we had seen 144 bird-species without really collecting.

Finally after 1800 driven kilometers we were back in Parikkala and in Tarvaslampi where sauna was ready for us. And after sauna we had good food! It was nice to get clean and well fed before we continued home to sleep. On the next morning we woke up at 2:30 a.m. again and went ringing birds. And in the evening we had water-bird counts in Siikalahti – quite a holiday again…

J.A.

To north

On Friday the 4th of July I finally had a week off from work. We left right away towards north with Hanna. We had a tight schedule as I didn’t want to miss a WC football match, so we drove straight to Pudasjärvi Syöte to my brother Rikus summer-cottage. Riku had left the key for us so 15 minutes before the first match of the evening started, we were ready there.

In Syöte

On the 5th of July we slept long and during late morning we went to walk to Vattukuru, but it was quiet. Only a goshawk with a prey was seen. During the day we slept again until Riku arrived with his daughters. In the evening we were eating, chatting and of course watching football again.

Confirmation

On the 6th of July we left early towards Kemijärvi and one the way in Taivalkoski we saw a couple of female Capercaillies and in Posio a Short-eared Owl. During the day we celebrated my other brother Pirkkas son, our god-children Tuukkas confirmation. There were only most of the closest relatives so the day was very nice. In the evening we put up a tent outside and went to sleep.

Pallas

On the 7th of July we slept long again and didn’t hurry at all as we hadn’t been together with Pirkkas family for too long time. But finally we did some plans and after 10 a.m. left towards Finland’s arm. It was a long drive but finally in Muonio we turned to Pallas. We drove up to the hotel and soon we found a couple of Grey Wagtails! They were probably breeding on the hotel roof?

We ate very well on the restaurant and celebrated our 14th anniversary which was on the next day. The food was really excellent! Hanna had Reindeer and I had a Pallas-steak. Then we left to walk 8 kilometers long track up to Taivaskero. There were surprisingly many insects but we managed to find 4 families of Dotterels, 4 Snow Buntings, 6 Northern Wheatears and 2 Bluethroats. There were also many Reindeers on the top of Taivaskero where was more wind to keep insects away.

After that we still walked a little bit in a forest along Pallas-river but found nothing special; only a couple of orchids were found. We still went to see Pallas-lake but didn’t find a good place to overnight so we continued towards north.

In Muonio Kätkäsuvanto we stopped to twitch a Little Bunting that had been heard a couple of days earlier. Surprisingly the bird started to sing right at midnight and we even managed to see it shortly. We still drove a long way and then finally stopped to a place where we found a good place to put up the tent. Hanna saw a couple of Ring Ouzels briefly but they vanished too soon. But when we were going to sleep a Ring Ouzel started to sing and soon there were 3 of them singing nearby! But there were so many mosquitoes outside our tent that we stayed in and started to sleep.

Twite and Ptarmigan

On the 8th of July we woke up when it started to be too hot inside the tent. We still had some driving to Kilpisjärvi but most of the drive we had something to do as our car was full of mosquitos, even though we tried to get in very quickly. Finally we turned to biologic station and there we soon found the famous feeder where has been a couple of Twites visiting in previous summers and also this summer. We met a worker who told that some birders have been trying to see the Twites for a couple of days and sometimes they have been lucky sometimes not. But only after 30 minutes or so first a couple of Redpolls arrived to the feeder and soon after them one Twite came too!

So soon we were ready to go to try to find an accommodation for the next 2 days as I wanted to see the semi-finals. Luckily we found a nice enough cottage from Arctic Polar.

We slept a couple of hours and then went to walk to Saana. First we walked on the willow-forest on under the cliffs but found nothing interesting. Then we started climbing up to Saana. On the way we heard a couple of Ring Ouzels. Hanna of course photographed also some flowers.

Once we got high enough, we walked to the rocky plateau which looked perfect for Ptarmigan. We had to walk quite a lot before we finally found one. When Hanna arrived to take pictures of it, she flushed 4 tiny chicks that probably left from the nest. So we just took a couple of pictures and let the mom collect her babies that luckily had stopped only 1 meter from us.

Once we were back in our cottage I watched the beginning of the first semi-final but there was no need to stay up for too long as Germany really beat Brazil bad.

Malla

On the 9th of July we slept long and then did a short morning trip and saw a Merlin, a Rough-legged Buzzard and heard one more Ring Ouzel. After we had eaten, we left to walk to Malla. We walked 12 kilometers in very hot weather until Kitsi water-fall. The landscape was beautiful but not many birds were found; a Rough-legged Buzzard, a Merlin, a Ring Ouzel and some Bluethroats. In the evening I watched the second semi-final where Argentina won Holland in penalties.

Hiking

On the 10th of July we slept only until 3:45 a.m. and at 5 a.m. we were on the parking place of Halti hiking tracks. We had packed everything with us and soon started a long walk towards the wilderness. Right away we heard some birds calling from the birches and realized that there was a flock of Two-barred Crossbills – 10 birds. Also lots of Redpolls, Bramblings and some Bluethroates were heard while we started to walk in a hard rocky path. Once we were walking pass the first small lakes we found 2 Redshanks, 2 Greenshanks and heard a Wood Sandpiper. After 2 hours walking we found the first Lapland Buntings and soon there were quite a few of them around. After one more hour we found a couple of small pools and found a Red-necked Phalarope and soon after that we found 3 Long-tailed Skuas which at least a couple seemed to be breeding.

After one more hour walking we started to follow very faint patches that were mostly made by Reindeers. Unfortunately we had chosen to go under one mountain and close to one lake which was a mistake. The ground was extremely wet from the water that was coming down the hillside where still was quite a lot of snow. After an hour we somehow managed to get through without getting our shoes completely wet.

Then we still climbed a little bit higher and finally after 7 hours and 15 kilometers walking we decided to put up our tent. We cooked and while eating we saw a Dotterel in flight. Soon we were ready to go to sleep.

Purpe Sandpiper

We woke up about at 8 p.m. and ate again. Then we packed only something to eat and drink into our back-backs and left to another long walk to the mountains. We still had a long way to walk to our main destination.

After some walking we found a Dotterel that had nest very close to us. So we continued soon. After a couple of hours walking we had found a Ringed Plover, 2 Dunlins, a Temminck Stint and 7 Whooper Swans. Finally we climbed up to the top of mountain where we found 2 small lakes. We first checked the rockier one but there were only 3 Long-tailed Ducks swimming. Then we walked to the shore of another one and right away we heard some strange wader calls. There it was – a Purple Sandpiper! Not many birders have seen this species in its breeding grounds in Finland! It was clearly having its nest nearby so we just took some photographs and left it. We had planned to stay along the lake for some time, but there were so amazing numbers of mosquitos that we had to start walking back right away.

Soon we found a flock of 21 Long-tailed Skuas but then only 1 new Ringed Plover was seen later. Somehow we managed to walk the way back to our tent very fast, so about at 2 a.m. we were going to sleep again.

Hard walking

We had been sleeping only a few hours when we woke up to a thunder-storm that was coming straight over us. When the lightning was getting too close to our tent we had to rush out as we were afraid of the lightning hit the tent. Of course we were soaking wet soon but luckily the storm moved away soon and it stopped raining. Anyway we had no idea if there were more rains coming as there was no phone or internet connection. So we decided to eat just a little and then wait for some time to get our clothes and tent dry and then packed everything and started a long way back at 8:15 a.m.

We decided to climb up to the mountain tops to get the connection and to avoid the wet part. Luckily it seemed that there were no more rains coming soon so it was ok to go high to the open tops. We heard a Dotterel calling somewhere and then ate well before started to walk down to the valley. There we heard the same breeding Long-tailed Skuas again and later we saw 3 Ringed Plovers and a Dunlin. After a couple of hours walking our feet started to hurt a lot! Sols were really in pain! The ground was so hard and rocky all the time that we really suffered so we had to start having breaks after every walked kilometer and I also did put my feet to extremely cold streams.

So after all it took much longer to come back even though we were walking quite a lot downhill. We saw one Redshank again and then once we got to the birch-forest there were some Bluethroats again. Finally we were back to our car after 4 p.m.

We did some shopping and soon started to drive towards south. On the way it started to rain very hard so we stopped to sleep in a cooler car for a couple of hours. In Hietajänkä we saw a female Peregrine hunting and then in Vähäniva we saw a completely wet Hawk Owl on the electric-wire. We stopped in Sotkajärvi but it was still raining and all the ducks were so far that we couldn’t identify most of them. There were also so many mosquitos that we really wanted to keep on going soon.

We had great pizzas in Olos in Restaurant Kammari and after all we drove until Sodankylä where we stopped to the driest-looking forest to put up the tent. Anyway there were so many mosquitos that we had to be quick to get in and soon we were asleep.

Peregrine ringing

On the 12th of July we continued driving at 7 a.m. and at 9 a.m. we met Pirkka in Kemijärvi. With Pirkkas car we continued to a bog-area where we saw a Black Woodpecker before we stopped. We walked for some time into the middle of the bog and soon had a Peregrine alarming over us. It really looked good that it was breeding! After some more walking we realized that there were even 3 adult Peregrines on the sky but one of them was chased away. After some searching we finally found the nest and there were even 4 white furry nestlings! Pirkka ringed them while we were helping him – what a great moment!

We were happy when we drove back to Kemijärvi where we ate, chatted for some time and then we had to start driving again. We drove to Kuusamo where Hanna realized that there might be some orchids flowering in Oulanka. So we drove there and managed to find several species! Of course we visited Kiutaköngäs rapid too and saw a Siberian Jay and a Short-eared Owl before continued towards south.

While listening to the bronze-medal match we drove until Sotkamo where we decided to drive to Losonvaara to sleep. There had been even 6 Red-flanked Bluetails in spring but still one singing one week earlier. So after some time we had the tent up in the middle of nice spruce-forests and were ready to sleep.

Back to home

On the 13th of July we woke up at 5 a.m. when a Red-flanked Bluetail started to sing just over us. Anyway we were too tired to get out so we continued sleeping until 10 a.m. when the forest was quiet already. We cooked some food and saw and heard a Rustic Bunting while eating. Soon we were ready to start the last drive of the trip.

In the afternoon we were finally back at home after 2700 driven kilometers and 75 hiking in the wilderness. We hadn’t got any plans when we had left from home but we had really had a quite amazing trip after all! Our only hope had been to experience something new but after all Purple Sandpipers and a Twite had been species that we had never seen in summer in Finland before and ringing the nestlings of Peregrine had been really nice too. And I must say that we had also seen a Gyr Falcon on its nest but I won’t tell you anything more about it.

J.A.

Group arrives

On Saturday 7th of May in the afternoon we left with Hanna towards Lappeenranta. 4 Scottish birders were landing to Helsinki airport in the same time. One of them was my old friend Ken Shaw that I had met in Scillies. We had been in contact and planned that we would guide him and his 3 friends for a week. Their biggest target was a Wolverine, but also Great Grey Owl and Flying Squirrel had been mentioned to be in their wish-list. Then of course everything else was extra and of course I had thought to make them familiar with many Finnish song-birds that were not common or were very rare in Scotland. Anyway, once we got to Lappeenranta we started to check some of the places. First we managed to twitch a Caspian Gull in Joutseno Kivisaari which was a Finnish-tick for Hanna. Then in Kotasaari we saw 4 Slavonian Grebes and heard a Grey-headed Woodpecker and a Great Reed Warbler. Then we checked Vapo-pools where we saw 8 Barnacle Geese, 17 Spotted Redshanks, 5 Ruffs and a Red-necked Phalarope. But then we finally got a message that 2 of Scots hadn’t got their bags, so they were still in the airport and waiting for the next flight which might have their luggage. So we continued to Lappeenranta and as we already knew that we wouldn’t have time to visit many places, we went to check a field that had got lekking Great Snipes. Then we decided to sleep a little as we were extremely tired. Finally we got another message that the group was 50 kilometers from Lappeenranta, so we still made a short stop in Askola pools, before continued to Lauritsala ABC-service where we soon met the group Ken, Keith Morton, Stuart Benn and Chris Rollie.

After we had eaten and done some shopping we continued to Haapajärvi as we still had some time before the Great Snipes would begin. There we saw some common Finnish species, better ones were Little Gulls, 2 Icterine Warblers and a couple of Gadwalls. After 10 p.m. we continued to Lipiälä where we stayed for a couple of hours but only a couple of us heard Great Snipes and a couple of us saw one or two birds very briefly. Of course several Corn Crakes, Thrush Nightingales and Blyth’s Reed Warblers were heard. After all we had to give up and continue to Parikkala. Scots had been travelling more than 24 hours already!

So we drove straight to Pistonniemi where we had arranged a nice cottage along the Lake Simpele. A Long-eared Owl was seen on the garden and soon everyone was ready to go to sleep – we of course at home.

Easy start

On the 8th of June we slept long and I met the group at 10 a.m. We had planned to start easy and get familiar with common song-birds and birding places nearby. We started in Argusjärvi where we already heard and saw some Blyth’s Reed Warblers and many other song-birds. Then we continued to Siikalahti where a Great Reed Warbler was showing well in dam-road. Many common species like Hobbies, Ospreys, Marsh Harriers and so on where seen and then Ken found a Black Tern flying with Little Gulls on the northern side – a very good bird, only the second this year in Siikalahti. Soon we continued to bird-tower where more common species like Red-necked Grebes were seen, a Garganey was the best one. On the way back some of us saw and heard a Long-tailed Tit.

At 1:30 p.m. I had to go home but Hanna continued with a group. After they had eaten they continued to Saari where many good birding places where visited. Best birds were Ortolan Buntings and a Hen Harrier in Akanvaara Tetrisuo. In the afternoon everyone was very tired again so we let the Scots to relax and enjoy the nice place they were staying.

A bit harder birding

On the 9th of June we met at 3 a.m. A Golden Oriole was singing in Pistonniemi, but soon we drove to Siikalahti. We heard 2 female Little Crakes and a Spotted Crake easily but Savi’s Warbler was quiet, or then we just couldn’t hear it behind numerous Sedge Warblers and a noisy Great Reed Warbler. In Liuharanta we stopped to listen to a Marsh Warbler before we continued to Melkoniemi forests. We walked in the best forests for a couple of hours and found 3 Greenish Warblers, a Red-breasted Flycatcher and many other more common forest-birds. A Black Woodpecker was heard drumming and a Goshawk were seen too. Then we continued to another forest where a female Capercaillie was seen briefly and checked a nest-box where 3 young Pygmy Owls were already so big that they would leave the nest soon. But Siberian Jays weren’t found. After 7 I had to go to work but Hanna still continued with the group and they went to see Black-throated and Red-throated Divers and orchid-bog with butterflies and dragonflies.

After work I had to wake up at 6 p.m. when the lost luggage finally arrived to a bus-station. We of course drove them to the cottage where we also warmed up sauna for Scots. They really enjoyed it!

At 11:30 p.m. we met again and left to a night-trip. Already in Pistonniemi we heard the first River Warbler and soon we were listening to a Tawny Owl family nearby in Kasuri. In Sammallampi we saw a Nightjar and soon we heard another one in Kolmikanta. In Kullinsuo we didn’t hear much but saw 8 Barnacle Geese, 3 Greenshanks, a Green Sandpiper and a Ringed Plover. In Kontiolampi we heard 2 River Warblers, a Grasshopper Warbler and a Marsh Warbler. Of course Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Thrush Nightingales and Corn Crakes had been heard in every place. Also 2 families of Long-eared Owls had been heard. Savi’s Warbler was singing only very shortly so only I heard it, but a Quail was heard in Ristiharju. But then it was time to go to sleep again.

To North Karelia

I was at work during the day but Hanna left with a group towards Lieksa. They drove along the border but hard wind made birding difficult. Anyway many nice places and of course some new common birds were seen. Once they finally arrived to Kitsi there was much to see on the garden and area nearby.

I had also taken the rest of the week off from work so after I had slept a few hours I still went jogging and then left towards Lieksa after 9 p.m. I drove straight to Patvinsuo where I saw a Brown Bear crossing the road! It even stopped to a road-side to watch me but when I opened the window to take a picture, it disappeared into the forest. Soon I stopped in Autiovaara and after I had waited for 30 minutes the sun started to rise and I went to walk around the trek. It was surprisingly quiet. I heard 3 Wrens and a Red-breasted Flycatcher but nothing really good. I had hoped to find a Red-flanked Bluetail. Soon I had to hurry to Kitsi where the others had woke up and at 3 a.m. we left to Hemminvaara for forest-birding. We stopped a couple of times on a good Rustic Bunting habitat, but only I managed to hear one bird ticking as I walked deepest into the bushes. But the bird disappeared too soon. Just a little bit before Hemminvaara we saw 2 Hazel Hens on the road which was very nice as it was a lifer for some of the group.

In Hemminvaara we walked a couple of hours along the roads and then one more hour in the forest and found 4 Greenish Warblers, 3 Red-breasted Buntings, heard at least 2 Black Woodpeckers but otherwise it was again very quiet. There were already lots of mosquitoes, but luckily we had right equipment for them.

Erä-Eero

We had breakfast in Kitsi at 8 a.m. but I was already sleeping then. We all woke up at mid-day to eat well and soon we were driving towards Erä-Eero which was the main target place of the whole trip. At 2 p.m. we met Eero and after some tea and bread and long chatting we left towards the hides at 4 p.m. We went into the bigger hide and 2 Italian photographers went into the small one.

After Eero had hidden lots of meat to the landscape in front of us we started waiting. In the beginning it was very quiet so we were photographing a Great Spotted Woodpecker, a Common Gull, a Herring Gull, a Goldeneye and a strange Mallard family that had a very weird-looking mom and also 3 of the 7 ducklings were darker than normally. When it started to get dark we started to hope the Wolverine arrive soon so we could get some pictures. But then on the best time those stupid Italians started to speak in their hide! After 30 minutes I told them to shut up, but it didn’t help! So it wasn’t a surprise that we didn’t see any mammals when there was any light left.

Finally just before midnight a small Brown Bear arrived in front of us. It really run from the forest so that we could hear its footsteps well. But the Italians started to photograph too soon and the Bear escaped back into the forest. Luckily it soon came back and then it stayed visible for 20 minutes. Once we saw a bigger Bear, maybe its mom visiting it further in the woods but it never came closer. Once the Bears had left we soon saw a Wolverine coming towards us. But it probably got scared of the Bear that was still somewhere near and rushed back to the shadows. I think Italians newer saw the Wolverine at all. But we were delighted as our main target species had been seen!

But after that it came as dark as it gets and when nothing happened we started to sleep so that two of us were all the time awake. But nothing happened before morning when a Red-throated Diver was heard and a Jay and a Lesser Black-backed Gull came in front of us and were of course they were photographed. Finally at 7 a.m. we left towards the Erä-Eero.

After a breakfast we left to visit Patvinsuo bogs. We first checked one hole that unfortunately didn’t have any Tengmalm’s Owls inside anymore. Then we walked some kilometers along Susitaival and saw many bog-species like Whimbrels, Wood Sandpipers, Yellow Wagtails and a flock of geese that had 14 Taiga Bean, 1 Tundra Bean, 1 White-fronted and 2 Barnacle Geese. Also an adult White-tailed Eagle, many butterflies and dragonflies were seen. But soon we had to turn back as we had to get some more sleep as we were still going to stay in the hide for another night.

After some sleeping we ate again and at 4 p.m. left again to the hide. We had chosen to stay in the same hide but now it was only us there. So we knew that now we had better possibilities to get some pictures too. But we were still very tired so soon there was some snoring in our hide. Anyway in the evening we all woke up and tried to be as quiet as possible. So it wasn’t a surprise that at 9:40 p.m. a Wolverine came right in front of us and started to collect meat. And we got really good pictures! It first ate a couple of meats and then took 2 pieces with it and went to a hillside and into one of the holes – it probably took some meat to its family. Soon after that a Brown Bear arrived and really put up an amazing show! It stayed in front of us for almost an hour and it really checked every tree and hollow before it walked back into the forest.

I was absolutely knocked out so I had to start to sleep but anyway I woke up a couple of times when I realized that the Wolverine was back. It visited at least 4 times and we really saw it well! Scots were really happy! Then the morning was very quiet, a Red Fox visited once but after all we all managed to sleep pretty well. Of course at least one of us stayed up all the time. At 8 a.m. we left back to Erä-Eero.

Eero was happy that we had enjoyed our night and after breakfast we were ready to go birding again. After 9 o’clock we met Hannu Lehtoranta with whom we went to check some Great Grey Owl nests. Unfortunately Hannu had already told that in a last visit the nests had been empty. So we walked around in the forests and Hannu even climbed to another of them but no owls were found. Hannu still told us one more place where he had ringed a young Great Grey Owl on the previous day, but it was far in Juuka. Anyway we thought that we might visit the place later on our way back to Parikkala.

Flying Squirrels

After we had said goodbye to Hannu we went to Erä-Eero to sleep some more. At 5 p.m. we said goodbye and thanks to Eero and drove to Lieksa to eat. At 7 p.m. we met Esa Muikku that I had heard first time 3 weeks earlier from my friend and Finnature-guide Antti Vierimaa and now we had managed to get in contact with him by help of Eero. He had found a nest-hole of Flying Squirrels on the previous summer and he had visited the place for many times and even with a couple of groups and he had seen the animals every time. But for some reason he hadn’t got enough groups so he had almost given up with going there. But now he was very happy to get another group and soon we were following him to an open area with a couple of big aspen-trees that had some holes. Soon we knew that the squirrels were living on the closer tree and on the lowest and highest holes. But then we still went to see a nest-box where the squirrels had been staying in winter and to see some droppings of them. Then Esa put up camouflage netting and a roof as it was raining a little. And then we started waiting again.

We hadn’t been there for a long time when I saw a strange looking bird on the sky. I watched it with my binoculars and realized that it was an adult Pomarine Skua! Unfortunately it disappeared behind the aspens before the rest of us saw it. It was migrating towards North-East. Then we waited and waited and waited until finally I saw something moving on the lowest hole. I checked it with my scope and there it was – a Flying Squirrel! It soon climbed out from the hole and disappeared behind the tree and climbed up to the top of the aspen. But soon there was another one coming out, then a third one and then even a fourth one! Two of the Flying Squirrels stopped to the trunk so we managed to get good pictures of them. And one of them was seen flying from the top of the tree into the forest! Amazing! After all we realized from our pictures that there had been a fifth squirrel watching from the highest hole.

Some more ticks in Parikkala

Esa still gave us something to eat and drink and then it was time to say goodbye and thanks and start a long drive. We drove around Lake Pielinen to Juuka and after more than an hour we followed the notes we had got from Hannu and parked to a forest-cut and started to walk to the forest behind it. We soon found the empty nest of a Great Grey Owl, but again there were no adults or young nearby. I walked 200 meters in the forest and finally saw an adult in flight. I called to the rest and soon we found the bird perched in front of us! It was a lifer to all Scots! We soon left the owl and started to drive towards Parikkala where we were finally in Oronmylly at 5 a.m. Group stayed in Myllytupa and we left to home to sleep.

We slept long and after all I met the group at 1 p.m. Hanna had left to Rantasalmi to collect her paintings from an exhibition. But the rest of us, we were soon ringing 8 nestlings of a Pygmy Owl! Then we continued to Melkoniemi forest where we again tried to find Siberian Jays without luck. Well we weren’t completely out of luck as we finally found a Tree-toed Woodpecker. We also put up a fire and had delicious sausages and just enjoyed our time in the forest where weren’t too many insects now as the weather was quite cold and windy.

After all we had to give up and we met Hanna who had managed to get some sleep after coming back from Rantasalmi. Then it was time to say goodbye to our new Scottish friends and they started a long drive to Helsinki. They had really enjoyed Finland and Finnish nature. We hadn’t been very lucky with birds as the summer was too long already and voles and mice had crashed in spring and there were not many owls. But I have always said that it is impossible to see everything in Finland in one or two trips. Anyway we had been extremely lucky with all the most important targets – especially with mammals! And what is most important we had really had fun!

J.A.

After the inner-ear surgery that was made in Wednesday evening on the 26th of June, I stayed in the hospital for the next night. And the next day I was mostly sleeping in my parents’ house. The rest of the time I was getting familiar with my new Nokia phone and Samsung tabloid.

On the 28th day I left towards Parikkala even though I still didn’t feel so good. Anyway I did a short stop in Espoo Laajalahti where I saw some common waders, 5 Dunlins were the best as it was a new year-tick.

The next day I was still taking easy. Hanna was preparing to leave to Georgia where she was leading a tour again. When I started to feel better I started to plan what I could do during my sick-leave. I had been calling earlier to my brother Pirkka and also to my friend “Potu” Suojarinne and as there were a couple of lifers for Potu in Bothnia, we had decided to go twitching there at least.

So on the 30th of June I woke up at 4 a.m. but it was raining so hard that I left towards Mikkeli when the rain stopped at 6 a.m. 2 hours later I parked to Potu’s parking place and soon we were continuing with Potu’s van. In Laukaa we saw a Merlin and in Perho 10 Whimbrels. Then we decided to turn towards Evijärvi, where were the only breeding lakes for Black Terns in Finland. I had never been there so it was interesting to see these places. First we went to Jokisuunlahti bird-tower where we saw Red-throated Divers dance, which was something I had never seen before. After some waiting we saw only 2 Black Terns that were clearly breeding somewhere further. So we continued to Haapajärvi Vasikkaniemi where we saw 10 Black Terns but also they were very far on the other side of the lake. So we didn’t see them very well either.

So finally we continued towards Kokkola where we parked to Lohtaja Lahdenkrooppi tower. We first checked the nearby area from the tower but soon left to walk to huge Vattajanniemi sand beach.

The beach was very long so after all we had to walk several kilometers to find the Kentish Plover, but finally we found it. It was extremely shy and first we saw it only very far. There were also some other twitchers and we helped them to see the bird too.

After some time we started walking back towards our car. The plover was running in front of us and even though we really tried we didn’t manage to go around it. So after all it was going at least 2 kilometers in front of us. Once we thought we had managed to leave it behind but again it was just in front of us. Then I managed to get some better pictures of it. Other birds we saw in Vattajanniemi were 8 Dunlins, a Turn Stone, 4 Whimbrels, 2 Arctic Skuas and a couple of Redpolls.

We still went to see Halkokari which was too crowded so soon we continued towards north. In Kalajoki we turned to Letto and somehow we managed to find Letto bird-tower even though the path to the tower was almost impossible to walk. From the tower we saw a White-tailed Eagle, thousands of Black-headed Gulls and I managed to see a Little Tern briefly. It was already getting late when we continued towards Oulu.

In Oulu we drove to my brother Riku. Potu hadn’t been sleeping well on the previous night so he went soon to sleep. My brother Pirkka came also there and together with my brothers and Riku’s son Eetu we waited until very late night when the Confederations Cup football final Brazil – Spain started. Luckily Brazil crushed Spain and we could go to sleep before the match ended about at 2:30 a.m. And after a couple of hours we were driving towards Lumijoki with Potu and Pirkka.

We had some breakfast in Tupos and once we continued it was raining pretty hard. Anyway we saw 3 Short-eared Owls and soon we turned towards Sannanlahti.
The weather was changing a little bit better and when we parked our car we saw there were already plenty of twitchers. It was the 1st of July and not a single birder had ever seen a Gull-billed Tern in July in Finland. It had been seen still on the previous day, so now there were all serious month-tick listers already in the tower.

But the weather was far from the last week’s weather. It was cold and rainy now. We managed to get good places from the full tower and started to scan the bay and to the sea. The visibility was excellent and we could see the island Lamukari where the terns probably was when it was not catching insects. Anyway the island was too far so we couldn’t identify the gulls and terns that were perched there. So we had to wait and see the tern when it goes hunting. But due the rainy and quite windy weather there were no insects in the air. Dunlins were on the move and during the day I counted 312 of them, I also counted 120 Greylag Geese that were swimming on the sea. 3 White-tailed Eagles, 6 Black-tailed Godwits, 3 Arctic Skuas, 4 Caspian Terns, a Bittern, a Red-necked Phalarope and a female Red-backed Shrike were also seen.

In the afternoon it started to rain very hard and the rest of the birders decided to leave to Kokkola to twitch the Kentish Plover. We went to eat to our car and once we had eaten the sky surprisingly cleared so we quickly walked back to the tower. Little Gulls starts hunting insects soon and it really looked promising. A Peregrine, 3 Bar-tailed Godwits and 5 more Red-necked Phalaropes were seen but the Gull-billed Tern wasn’t. At 4 p.m. it started to rain again constantly so we decided to leave to Oulu.
Pirkka left to Kemijärvi and we went to sleep with Potu. In the evening we watched a movie with Riku and ate well before went to sleep again. The weather forecast wasn’t good for the next day either so we had no other plans than to go again to Sannanlahti to try to see this bloody tern.

On the 2nd of July we woke up at 6 a.m. and at 7 we had again had some breakfast in Tupos and seen a Short-eared Owl and were parking to Sannanlahti parking place. The most serious month-listers were back from Kokkola and they had started already at 4 a.m. again. The weather was not rainy but quite windy now. There were less birds around so nothing new was really seen. A couple of Ospreys, the same Peregrine which was seen much better now and was an adult male, about 30 Greenshanks and so on. Siskins were on the move and also some Chaffinches and even some Bramblings and 3 Parrot Crossbills were seen too. Finally at 10:37 a.m. Mika I. Koskinen found a good looking tern was from the east. It took some time to find it but when I found it I was soon sure that it was the right bird! The wind was pushing the tern towards Lamukari but it was catching something from the water. Luckily everyone managed to find it and all got different kind of ticks – Potu even a lifer! Finally Gull-billed Tern landed to Lamukari and soon after that it started to rain again. So everyone decided to leave.

I had go a phone call from the South-Karelia hospital earlier that I was supposed to go there on the next day’s afternoon, but as the weather forecast was still bad, it didn’t really matter. We still had something to do but we could do it right away. So we continued to Pitkänokka together with some other twitchers. After some walking we managed to find a Lesser Grey Shrike that had stayed there some days. We also saw the same Peregrine again and also a Stock Dove that was breeding in a nest-box there. Then we continued to Liminka Virkkula with Potu but once we got to the tower it started to rain again. So we went to eat into the information center where we met some friends too. When the rain stopped we walked to the tower again and it didn’t take long once we saw a male Pallid Harrier that was chasing a flock of 300 Wood Sandpipers.

We still visited Tyrnävä briefly but saw only a Hen Harrier before it started to rain hard again. So we decided to start a long way back to south-east. We were in Kuopio when we got a message that a Stilt Sandpiper had been found in Pori. We turned towards Suonenjoki which was still towards Mikkeli but also towards Pori. Once we got there the sandpiper had left already so we could continue towards Mikkeli again. We stopped in Haukivuori Hirviniemi where we saw a family of Slavonian Grebes but soon we got a message that the the sandpiper had come back, so once we were in Mikkeli we started to drive towards Pori which was about 450 km away. But after a half an hour the bird had left again. I had been sure it would stay as it was almost midnight already but now when it had left again we decided to give up and turned back to Mikkeli again. We stopped near the airport where we heard some Corn Crakes and 2 River Warblers but soon we continued to Potu to sleep.

On the 3rd of July we had late breakfast in Mikkeli and then I started to drive towards Lappeenranta. In the hospital I did some work things in x-ray department and before 3 p.m. I had a control for the ear-specialist. About a half an hour later I was driving towards Parikkala.

Already on the way I tried to find out the weather forecast for the next week and it looked pretty good. So I called to Potu again. We had been talking that it would be nice to do a trip to Lapland and as I still had 6 days free and I really thought that it was the best way to spend the rest of my sick-leave, we decided to go. So already before I was in Parikkala Potu started to drive to there too. At home I had plenty of things to do and when Potu arrived we still did some planning before we left.

The first stop we made pretty soon to a field where a couple of Booted Warblers had been seen about a month earlier. We walked around the bushes and managed to see one Booted Warbler very briefly. But we couldn’t find out if it had been breeding or not.

Then we continued towards Joensuu and turned to Kontiolahti and soon parked to Kylmäsuo. There we met some birders and soon found the right place where we could se 3 Ruddy Shelducks that had stayed there for a couple of days.

We still saw a couple of Short-eared Owls in Kontiolahti but then continued until Sotkame where we managed to twitch a Quail in Vaarankylä. Then we continued to Ristijärvi Saukkovaara where we were about at 3:30 a.m. We were extremely tired but as the timing was perfect we still decided to walk a little bit. The best forests had been cut down but anyway we managed to find 2 singing Red-flanked Bluetails. It was almost 5 a.m. when we finally went to sleep into Potu’s van.

We slept until 11 a.m. and then we woke up as it was absolutely too hot in the car. We still saw a Hen Harrier before we continued towards north. In Hyrynsalmi we visited Komulanköngäs where we tried to find a Grey Wagtail but there was none. Then we decided to turn towards Puolanka where had been one Grey Wagtail in Hepoköngäs. But we couldn’t find it there either and after all we realized that it had been seen pretty far from the waterfall. So we gave up and continued our way.

In Taivalkoski we saw a Honey Buzzard abd in Suomussalmi we took pictures of the Quiet People. Once we got to Kuusamo we saw an Osprey and in the city we did some shopping. In the rubbish tip of Kuusamo we saw 2 Black Kites but in Peurasuo we didn’t find a Siberian Stonechat nor an Arctic Warbler in Matolampi where only 2 Smews were seen. So pretty soon we were drivig towards Kemijärvi. In Kemijärvi we visited my brother Pirkka’s family. After a relaxed hour we still had to continue as we really wanted to get as north as possible during the night.

After all we managed to drive until Inari Saariselkä where we parked to a parking place to sleep. We woke up after 3 hours and left to walk to a trail to Iisakkipää. There had been reported 3 singing Arctic Warblers along the trail so wanted to be there early. After some walking we heard and saw a Two-barred Crossbill flying over us and soon after that we heard promising tit calls. I whistled a couple of times and soon we were surrounded by Siberian Tits. Later we found some more Siberian and Willow Tits but nothing else was found along the 6 kilometers trail.

We continued to Kaunispää where we met a couple of other birders. Soon Potu found a Dotterel far from the hillside and we walked closer to get some pictures. This beautiful male had 2 youngsters with him so we managed to get pretty good shots. But soon we left the birds and continued towards north.

On Kaamanen we stopped in 4 tuulen tupa where we ate while watching 2 male and 1 female Pine Grosbeaks visiting the feeder just outside the window.

Once we got to Utsjoki the first better bird was a Smew in Basijávre. Finally we got to Karigasniemi where we took a familiar track up towards Ailikas. We drove as long as it was possible and parked our car. We were ready to a good mountain walk. While I was packing my staff Potu found a 2nd calendar year Golden Eagle soaring on the sky. While a family of Bluethroats was feeding next to our car we left to climb towards the top of Ailikas.

First we were walking along the road and saw some Golden Plovers and a couple of Lapland Buntings and soon Potu found a Long-tailed Skua that I managed to see only briefly before it disappeared behind the mountain. Luckily it soon came back and started to attack to another one. They were chasing each other and came shortly right over us – nice!

Later we got out from the road and started to climb straight towards the top along the rocky hillside. We met a couple of butterfly collectors, but they told that the windy weather hadn’t been good for them. They hadn’t seen any Ptarmigans either.

When we were almost on the top we found the first families of Snow Buntings. Altogether we saw at least 10 birds. We also found 3 Dotterels, later one alarming bird and also a flock of 2 more birds. But even though we walked the whole top and around the top once we couldn’t find any Ptarmigans until we were just going to start climbing back down towards our car we flushed one! We had also found the Long-tailed Skua feeding on the groun and we had managed to get some good pictures of it so we had once again had great time in Ailikas!

We climbed down and walked a little bit on the tree-line but found nothing else. After that we put up a fire, had some sausage and talked until we were too tired to continue and went to sleep.

On the 6th of July we woke up early again and drove to Piesjänkä which is very close to Ailikas. There we start walking in a wet bog and saw Bluethroats and a Spotted Redshank right away and Red-necked Phalaropes, Temminck’s Stints, Wood Sandpipers and Ruffs on the first pool and soon also Ringed Plovers, Golden Plovers, Lapland Buntings and after some walk also a Broad-billed Sandpiper that was calling and flying around actively. We walked around there for 3.5 hours and still found an Arctic Redpoll, a Red-throated Diver, Yellow Wagtails and heard a couple of Cranes. Once we were back on the parking place, we found another Arctic Redpoll that was with a flock of Common Redpolls.

Then we start driving again and drove west until Nuvvus where we parked our car next to another Ailikas mountain. It was time for the hardest walk of the trip – maybe too hard for me as I was still on a sick-leave but it’s not a real trip to Lapland without some serious climbing – is it? So we followed the valley and started climbing. First it was a little bit wet in a mountain birch forest but soon it was just rocks. It was very hot so I was really sweating – and it was not allowed to me. So we had to stop many times. After some climbing we heard promising calls in front of us and soon saw a female Ring Ouzel flying over the valley. Soon we saw also a male and it had its bill full of food. So the nest was close. We sat down and waited if the birds would come sp we could get some pictures, but they were very shy. So after some time we decided to continue climbing.

When we were on the steepest place which was only loose rocks a family of three Ptarmigans ran into sight in front of us. So I managed to get pictures of these birds.

Soon we climbed to the highest top where we surprisingly had more mosquitos around us than anywhere during the trip before. Far on the top of the closest mountain we saw a lake and managed to identify 5 Long-tailed and 5 Tufted ducks and a male Scaup from there. But soon the insects forced us to start climbing back down. The Ring Ouzels were still there and now I managed to get some better pictures of them. Once we were down we ate a little bit and enjoyed the beautiful Teno River in beautiful weather.

Soon we continued towards Utsjoki and saw a Great Black-backed Gull in Yläjalve and a Merlin in Kuoppilasvaara. After some shopping in Utsjoki, we turned towards south and soon turned towards Skalluvaara reindeer round-up place. On the pools we saw 2 Little Gulls and a Red-necked Phalarope, but soon we drove a little bit back towards the main road and parked our car and put up a fire. Bluethroats were hiding on the closest bushes while we ate the rest of the sausages and soon we were ready to go to sleep again.

On the 7th of July we woke up at 5 a.m. and soon we were walking on the bog. Meadow Pipit and Yellow Wagtail were common and soon I managed to get some good pictures of a Lapland Bunting too. But we had to walk a long way to find anything better but when we did, we really had a good time: First we found a couple of Red-throated Pipits and while we were photographing them, a Red-necked Phalarope flew over us and a Jack Snipe was calling just over us a couple of times. Again we walked for 3 hours but found nothing else better.

Pretty soon we were driving towards south again. In Mieraslompola we saw a Great Grey Shrike perched on a dead tree and in Inari Lihavakalajärvet (fat fish lakes) we saw a couple of Red-throated Divers, Tufted Ducks, Red-breasted Mergansers and 4 Velvet Scoters and soon after that in Sestjuvieggi we saw a male Pine Grosbeak flying over the road.

While we were driving we planned which way to drive back down to South-East. We decided to make a short Eastern Lapland journey as I had never really been there. After one crepes eating stop, we continued a long way until Pelkosenniemi Kairanaapa. Once we had parked there we heard aloud ticking calls – a family of Rustic Buntings were calling on the nearest bushes. From the bird-tower we saw only several families of Cranes, but nothing else really. On the way back we had to pick up the youngsters of Rustic Bunting safe from the road.

In Mullakkoaapa we tried to find Little Buntings along the main road but again found only some Rustic Buntings. Soon we turned to Sokanaapa where we walked along a really good track to the tower. The scenery was nice but we didn’t see anything special on the bog. We still went to walk a little bit to the other side of the bog but maybe because of it was already a late evening, we found only a family of Smews.

Finally we continued to Savukoski where we tried to see as many species as possible as I had never been there before so we stopped a couple of times but saw nothing interesting. Finally we were in Salla where we drove to Kotola and turned to a small road where we stopped and started to sleep. The last bird we saw there was a Short-eared Owl.

On the 8th of July we woke up very early, again after only about 4 hours sleeping. We went to walk along the main road where we knew some other birders had found plenty of Little Buntings some weeks earlier. Now nothing was singing anymore but we heard at least 4 of them but managed to see only one well.

Soon we continued to Kuusamo where we saw a young Dipper in Kitkajoki where we also heard a Chiffchaff singing. In Peurasuo we still didn’t see a Siberian Stonechat which had probably left, but found again 2 young Rustic Buntings. We started to feel extremely tired so we drove towards Konttainen. But on along the road we found a stunning Hawk Owl which gave us to get really good pictures of itself.

In konttainen we decided that it was far too windy to climb up so we drove down and turned to a small track and parked along it and went to sleep.

We woke up when it was getting too hot inside the van and soon continued towards south. We stopped to eat in the city but then kept on going. In Ristijärvi we saw a Hen Harrier but then in Juuka we turned towards Kaavi and there we turned to Outokumpu. In Outokumpu we drove to Vuonos pools where we found plenty of gulls right away from the first pool. We started scanning the gulls and in 30 seconds I found the bird we were twitching – a 2nd c-y Caspian Gull. My cameras battery died but I tried to use my new phone for phonescoping and after some practicing I managed to get some pretty good pictures and videos.

Once we had continued again we saw a strange looking bird flying across road. First we had no idea what it was, but when I saw it landing I realized it was a Quail! We went to walk to the place where I had seen it landing but it had probably ran to the next, much longer field.

We ate in Joensuu and soon continued to Tohmajärvi Värtsilä Tapiolantie where a Lanceolated Warbler had been heard for several nights. It was very cold, only 9 degrees so it wasn’t a surprise that we didn’t hear it even though we tried for several hours. A couple of Short-eared Owls were flying around the fields and calling. It was already 3:30 a.m. when we left to the last stage towards Parikkala.
We were in Parikkala finally just before 5 a.m. and after a shower we went to sleep. We slept as long as we just could and after some breakfast we visited Siikalahti where we still got some trip-ticks like a Pochard. Then it was time to say goodbye to Potu who had been driving all the time – He wanted to be my patient-driver – but he had also showed me almost every good bird of the trip!

Altogether we had seen 161 bird-species on these 2 trips (120 on the first and 127 on the second). We had got nice pictures, videos and memories! I had even managed to take pretty easy on my sick-leave – I had just been sitting – 4500 kilometers in a car…

J.A.