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!