Days are getting short, birds are getting scarce

Days are getting short here in north, currently the sun rises 7:56 and sets 16:20. So the length of day is now 8h 24min. That is the situation in southern Finland, in Tampere. In addition to that it's often either foggy or rainy, or at least the sky is covered with thick clouds. As you may guess, most of us have now very limited time for birding. Except during weekends - and lunch hours.

Yesterday I skipped my lunch and made a short trip to nearby Viinikanlahti bay in Tampere. About an hour earlier I got an SMS from Lintutiedotus, the Finnish rare bird alert system, telling me that there is a Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus). And so it was, standing in the pier. Juvenile bird, nice to see for a while. I met also couple of  local birders, so the social aspect of birding got also some attention.

 

 Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus) in Viinikanlahti, Tampere 1.11.2010