Go to sea shore, if you wanna see lot's of birds now

 

Oldsquaws aka Long-tailed ducks were the most abundant waterfowl

In February, it's midwinter in Finland, most of the birds are somewhere far in south. Especially in inland, there's now a very limited number of species to see and during this winter, we don't have much Thrushes, nor Bohemian waxwings, nor Crossbills or Pine grosbeaks. Also Eurasian siskins and Redpolls are very scarce this winter. So, if you wanna see lot's of birds, you should go to sea shore, to outermost peninsulas where is no ice yet.

Last Sunday me and my younger son Roni, drove south to Porkkala peninsula, which is located in Kirkkonummi, about 40 km southwest from our capitol Helsinki. The sea in front of Helsinki is already covered by ice, but in Porkkala there is still mostly open water.

Our trip was long, but it was worth it. When we drove south from Valkeakoski, there was first a thick fog from Hämeenlinna to Hyvinkää, after that a blizzard in Vantaa and Espoo, but soon after we arrived to Porkkala, the clouds moved away and sun started to shine! Woohoo! 

During drive, we saw four Black Grouse in Hyvinkää, the first new species during this trip to my 2021 yearlist. Nice! All the rest of new species were in Porkkala. Below is the list of our observations in Porkkala:

• Oldsquaw aka Long-tailed duck (Clangula hyemalis) 1400
• Common scoter (Melanitta nigra) 12
• Velvet scoter (Melanitta fusca) 130
• Common goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) 50
• Smew (Mergus albellus) 2
• Goosander (Mergus merganser) 30
• Red-breasted merganser (Mergus serrator) 2
• Mallard  (Anas platyrhynchos) 30
• Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula)  3
• Mute swan (Gygnus olor) 7
• Grey heron (Ardea cinerea) 1
• White-tailed Eagle (Haliaetus albicilla) 1
• Common Gull (Larus canus) 3
• European herring gull  (Larus argentatus) 5
• Great black-backed gull  (Larus marinus) 1
• Great spotted woodpecker (Dendrocopos major)  2
• Raven (Corvus corax) 1
• Goldcrest (Regulus regulus) 3
• Snow bunting (Plectrophenax nivalis)  1

Of the above 19 species, Oldsquaw, Common scoter, Smew, Red-breasted merganser and Snow bunting were new to me this year. 

Flock of Common goldeneyes

Half a day in Porkkala was perfect, lot's of birds compared to inland. Sun was shining and we felt the warmth of sun on our faces, even though the temperature was about -10 degrees Celcius. It really felt like an early spring, especially when the Snow bunting flew over!

Grey Seal was also a nice surprise!

View to west

Roni watching birds with my scope

Got to make an other birding trip to sea shore within a month, when spring migration starts. It's nice to see Skylarks, Northern lapwings, Stock doves and other early arrivers weeks before they come to inland.

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Writer

Olli Haukkovaara
Valkeakoski
Finland

Slaty-backed Gull, a MEGA rarity, great surprise in January 2021, thank you Sendari!

 

Four Herring Gulls on the left and Slaty-backed Gull on the right. Photo: Olli Haukkovaara

On January 23rd, Saturday afternoon, Elissa Soikkeli found a promising looking gull from River Kymijoki, in the downtown of Kuusankoski. Soon it was confirmed to be a 2nd ever Slaty-backed Gull (Larus schistisagus) in Finland, and the 9th observation in whole Western Palearctic area. A real MEGA rarity! While writing this, I'm not sure how many different birds have been seen in Westers Palearctic, perhaps 8 as the gulls in Lithuania and Latvia 2008 / 2009 were the same. This gull disappeared soon to south with Herring Gulls and was not found again before sunset.

I had agreed with my friends Risto Vilpas and Ville Työppönen, that we will still try to see the gull on Sunday morning, 24th of January, so we pushed the pedal at 6:00 a.m. and arrived at Kuusankoski at about 8:00 a.m., roughly an hour before sunrise.

We were the first birders there and we immediately spotted the Slaty-backed Gull on the opposite side of the river! Wooohoooo! Lifer for each of us! Thank you Sendari and Elissa! Next the message to Lintutiedotus i.e. the Finnish Rare Bird Alert system; The Slaty-backed Gull is still on the same place as yesterday!

Soon after that lot's of birders, men and women, of all ages, arrived to river bank, approximately about 50 of them. Cheerful yells and Corona-type "handshaking", many of the birders got the lifer even though many had seen the 1st Slaty-backed Gull 8 years ago, in Espoo, Finland.

Slaty-backed Gull on flight. Photo: Olli Haukkovaara

The Slaty-backed Gull was relatively easy to identify, it had broad white trailing edges in the wings, conspicious white "string of pearls" in outerwings, raspberry-pink legs, fine brown head-markings and slaty-colored back, not black.

I wonder what will be the next lifer, this Slaty-backed Gull was really a surpise! Last year I got two lifers, Collared Pratincole and Cackling Goose. This year, well, only Sendari knows....

Thank you Sendari, we will sacrifice to You! Photo: Ville Työppönen

My nemesis bird, Collared Pratincole, is no longer a nemesis bird

Collared Pratincole in Pori. Photo by Jaakko Esama.

Simply put, a nemesis bird is a bird that has eluded a birder after months or years of attempts to see it. One of my nemesis birds is (or rather, was) the Collared Pratincole.

The history of this nemesis bird starts from year 1984, when it was found from Finland for the 1st time. I wasn't able to twitch it that time, as it was simply too far from home, in Kalajoki. During 1985 I visited Spain two times, in May and August. Collared Pratincole was one my target birds, but I did not find it, even though I was birding in their breeding areas. At that time it did not bother me too much, as I got lots of other lifers from Spain.

During August 1989, one Collared Pratincole was seen in southern Finland in four different locations and many birders managed to twitch it. But not me and I don't really remember what happened during that time, why did not I even try to twitch it.

The next Collared Pratincole came to Finland in 1992, when I was unemployed and unable to spend too much money on long drives. Oh well, there will be more of them in future, I thought and yes, in 1998 came the next bird but it stayed such a short time in place, that twitching was impossible.

Ok, I'll see it somewhere abroad then. In 2012 I travelled to Hungary where it should have been rather common in Hortobágy National Park. But... no Collared Pratincole there either, at least when I was there. Gosh.

Again, in 2013, one was found in Finland - but not twitchable.... This bird was really a nemesis bird for me.

And then I waited... and waited... and waited... until on 2nd of May 2020, rare bird alert told that in Pori there was an unidentified Pratincole, probably a Black-winged Pratincole. I did not pay much attention to the alert, until a bit later, a new alert came: the bird was a Collared Pratincole! But... it was too late in the evening, no chance to get Pori before sunset. So, off to bed, wake up at 02:25, picked up my birding friends Risto Vilpas and Ville Työppönen, and then I pushed the pedal and we were in Pori, in Leveäkari beach at 05:00.

But... the bird was not there. Next 10 hours we drove and stomped around the 20 km long Cape of Pori. We and about 100 other birders were looking for the bird from every potential place. Our feelings varied from hope to dillusionment and frustration. Finally, after 7 hours, we gave up and started to drive back to home. We were already at Kullaa, about 60 kilometers away from Pori, when the rare bird alert told that the bird had been rediscovered from the delta of River Kokemäenjoki. Fast U-turn, I pushed the pedal again and we arrived to delta after 35 minutes.

But... the bird was not there. It had disappeared to NW, towards the sea and end of the cape. What now? Will it turn around, should we stay in delta? Lots of doubts and uncertainty. Then we heard that there is a thick fog in point of cape, so the bird must turn around. And so it did, but it it had turned to other side of the cape and it was rediscovered from the original place, in Leveäkari. But... it was not there anymore, it had left Leveäkari soon and flew to east, back towards the delta.

At that time we were in Halssi, which is located northeast from Leveäkari. We had a debate, whether we should stay there, as we had a good visibility to southeast, or should we move to fields of Fleiviiki, which is located straight to east from Leveäkari i.e. to direction to where the Collared Pratincole had departed from Leveäkari. I was almost sure that the bird was there, but the others were not, so we stayed in Halssi. But not for long, as soon the rare bird alert told us that the bird is now in Fleiviiki!

We arrived to Fleiviiki about ten minutes later. Little panic, where's the bird, we were clearly in right location, as there were many cars already in parking lot. It must be closer to river, behind small forest, so we almost ran there and soon we saw birders standing in long line, watching to same direction. The Collared Pratincole had just landed to field, but it was hiding somewhere behind the grass.

Photo by Jaakko Esama.

I was so excited! Finally in right place in right time! And then the bird took off, it started hunting flying insects. It was so amazing and so beautiful, that I forgot everything else and cold shivers went through my body from toes to neck! After few minutes, it landed again for a moment, then it got scared by some fisherman on the other side of the field and it took off again, took more altitude and disappeared to the sun.

And it never came back. But it's no longer a nemesis bird for me!

Perfect twitching trip!

No high fives, due to corona, but a Swedish style "kryssa" to show we all got a lifer!

1.1.2019 - great winter birding trip!

Vivacious Little Grebe is still in Putaanvirta stream 

On January 1, 2019, it was gray, foggy and calm before the approaching winter storm. I went birding with Risto Vilpas, looking for the first birds of the year and at the same time a bit of preparation for the forthcoming winter bird rally next Saturday. Risto and I are in different teams, but who cares? 😉

The mist soon turned to rainfall, but it didn't make it worse when we were properly equipped, or what do you think Risto? 😄. The only trouble was the moisture in the lenses of the binoculars whenever we took them from cold rain to warm car ...

At first we were looking for a White Wagtail in Antinniemi district in Valkeakoski, which was still there on 31st of December. But we didn't found it, and there wasn't either the sick Chaffinch that had been in feeding place a little earlier. So not a very successful start to the year 2019...

The Little Grebe who was wintering in the stream of Putaanvirta was still there, so he hadn't got scared of fireworks from the previous night. The bird was initially far away, but suddenly swam toward us, and eventually became "guided" right next to us until one photographer approached it again. A hint for beginner bird photographers: basically, never approach a bird, let the birds approach you, try to stay hidden. A diving waterfowl can be approached when it is in a dive, but the photographer must stop as soon as the bird comes to the surface.

From Putaanvirta we moved to the Apia Canal, where was on 30th of December the first Dipper of winter. But it wasn't there today, and nothing else. From Apia's channel, the journey continued to Alakanava stream, where an old female Goldeneye was found. From where it had popped there, it hadn't been seen for a long time in Valkeakoski? In Myllypirtti there was a nice flock of 23 Bullfinches, and from Sahanlahti Bay we could hear calls of Whooper Swans.

The trip continued to strait of Lotilansalmi, where a Grey Heron, who was fishing at the mouth of the Tervasaari paper factory condensate pipeline, was found immediately. The Kalatonlahti ruderate was disappointing in its emptiness, and there were just basic birds in the local bird feeding place.

The open water area of Iso-Vuolle strait had expanded far towards Härkökivi islet, but there was no birds. From there we went to the Pastellinpuisto Park to take a peek at Markku Ranta-Eilola's bird feeding place, there were a lot of birds, but nothing else than the basic species. And at the same time came a message from Rare Bird Alert about Steller's Eider in Lempäälä! There then!

Luckily we are close to Lempäälä and soon we were in the "playground". When we got out of the car, the birders in place told it just disappeared behind the behind the tip of the headland, out of sight. We waited for a while if the bird were to appear again, but not. So we decided to go across the river if we could see the bird from there. After a minute of driving, Risto's phone rang - the Steller's Eider came back! U-turn and back. And just as we got out of the car, it was once again swiming behind cape - and no longer appeared.

So we left again across the river. And that's where it swim - no .... now we found a Common Scoter. And the Whooper Swan. But there is no Steller's Eider ...

While looking for Steller's Eider we found the Common Scoter...

...and the Whooper Swan

Since the Steller's Eider was not visible in the direction of Herralankoski rapids - where only some Goldeneyes and a Goosander swim, we concluded that it must be somewhere behind the Salonsaari island. So we headed to the only place where you can easily see, that is, again to the other side of the river, to the Sarvikas. And finally, toughness was rewarded, we found the Steller's Eider!

Twitching of the Steller's Eider, found by Jarmo Koivisto, succeeded finally!

The Lempäälä rapids are a miserable place to look for waterfowls, too many bends and blind spots. However, the positive side is a nice winter bird variety that is not usually found here in inland.

On January 1, 2019, we found no more than 27 species during our trip. Let's see if the approaching winter storm from the Atlantic still offers us some rarities. It would be great to find a new species in our local area, for example a Puffin or Brünnich's Guillemot. Well, a Little Auk or a Black-legged Kittiwake would be good. Sendari, be merciful!

Winter bird census in Kärjenniemi

Spotted Nutcracker, new species in my route

Cloudy Saturday on 12th of November, mild and calm weather, temperature few degrees below 0° C, almost prefect weather for winter bird census. Sunny day would have been even better, but those are rare here in November.

My route is 7 km long and it goes through many biotopes so basically I have a chance to see a nice variety of bird species. But this year the winter came early and lake Kärjenniemenselkä was already covered by ice, so no waterfowls or gulls this autumn. Fortunately there were still some rowan berries left for thrushes and waxwings, also lot's of cones in spruces, so I was pretty confident that I will see many species.

Black Woodpecker

And so I did. 23 species and total 698 birds. Nice surprise were the 3 Spotted Nutcrackers, new species in my route and a new species to my year list! Small surprise was also 3 Black Woodpeckers, it's usually scarce i.e. I don't find it every time. On what comes to berry and cone eating birds, most thrushes and waxwings had already gone south, but I still found a flock 11 Bohemian Waxwings, total 12 Blackbirds, 8 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, two Red Crossbills but surprisingly no Fieldfares. Also the amount of Redpolls and Siskins, which were scarce last winter, was promising, we may get a nice winter on what comes to birding.  All results can be seen here, on the website of Finnish Museum of Natural History.

Next winter bird census will be after Christmas, looking forward to see what I will find from Kärjenniemi that time. Maybe Grey-Headed Woodpecker, or Three-Toed Woodpecker, both would be new in my route. Or some big owl... If you want to join, you're welcome, just contact me and come to do census in Kärjenniemi!