Nice surprise today evening

Nice surprise today evening in Viidennumero. I was driving to Hämeenlinna to take my younger son to swimming school. In Viidennumero we saw a big flock of gulls, standing in the edge of ice and open water. Mostly European Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus), about 100 of them. There was also some 17 Great Black-backed Gulls (Larus marinus). And when I was about to leave, I saw it: a 2nd year Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus), a small rarity from Arctic seas. Very nice, it's always cool to find rarities by myself.

About half an hour later I checked also the gulls of Hämeenlinna, but nothing special there, just on a rough calculation 800 Herring Gulls and 3 Great Black-backed Gulls.

Snow has started to melt today - it's really wet outside, and warm. I can't wait for the next week, I'm sure that many migratory birds will arrive now!

The photos in this article are from the same location, Viidennumero, but from year 2001.

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Author

Olli Haukkovaara

email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me

Valkeakoski, Finland

Second last day of this winter ?

 

It's still a real winter out there and the nesting box is waiting for the new residents, I wonder who will reserve it this year, Great Tits (Parus major), European Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) or Pied Flycathers (Ficedula hypoleuca)?

Well, we'll see. But this is probably the second last day of this winter, as day after the tomorrow the winds turn to south and temperature starts to rise. The weathermen have promised so warm and lots of rain, that all or at least most of the snow will be gone. 

Bye bye winter, and welcome spring!

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Author

Olli Haukkovaara

email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me

Valkeakoski, Finland

Crested Lark

 

I drove today to East Finland, because of a work trip to Lappeenranta. It's a pretty long drive from home to Lappeenranta, about 3 hours / 250 kilometers, so I decided to take a short break in Lahti. Not for a coffee, but for a quick twitching - as there has been a Crested Lark (Galerida cristata) wintering in Lahti. It was really nice to see this species for a long time - last time I saw a Crested Lark was in May 1985 in Cañaveral, Spain. This individual was very tame, I got several nice photos of it.

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Author

Olli Haukkovaara

email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me

Valkeakoski, Finland

First steps of the spring 2008

 

Today I drove with my sons around Ikaalinen and Hämeenkyrö in northwestern parts of Pirkanmaa county.

We tried to find Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis), but had no luck with them. Instead we found two flocks of Whooper Swans 

(Cygnys cygnus),11 in the fields of Kilvakkala in Ikaalinen and 48 in the fields of Sarkkila in Hämeenkyrö.



One of them had a neckring "7S34", an old bird that I have met already couple of times during years. If I remember right, that bird is already 12 years old. In addition to Swans, we found one male Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) from lake Kirkkojärvi in Hämeenkyrö.

This winter has been odd - very warm indeed, thanks to La Niña. Currently it looks like it's April outside, but something is missing - most of the birds are still somewhere south. Well, if the weather stays this warm, we'll get lots of records during this spring!

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Author

Olli Haukkovaara

email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me

Valkeakoski, Finland

The Day Of The Cranes

 

Today thousands of Common Cranes (Grus grus) migrated over Pirkanmaa to south. Unfortunately I had no time to climb to some observation tower nor any hill to watch the whole show, but anyway I was lucky enough to see several hundreds of Cranes right in the middle of the City of Tampere - and had my camera in my backpack. I just have to count now from the photos how many Cranes I really saw, I guess the final count is close to thousand.

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Author

Olli Haukkovaara

email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me

Valkeakoski, Finland

A colorful bird new to science has been discovered in a remote Andean cloud forest

A colorful bird new to science has been discovered in a remote Andean cloud forest, spurring efforts to protect the area, conservation groups have announced.

The bright yellow and red-crowned Yariguies brush-finch was named for the indigenous tribe that once inhabited the mountainous area where it was discovered and which committed mass suicide instead of submitting to Spanish colonial rule.

The discovery, published in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club, comes at a crucial time for conservationists. Thanks in part to the discovery, the government has decided to set aside 500 acres (200 hectares) of the pristine cloud forest where it lives to create a national park.

Read more from Herald Tribune 

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Author

Olli Haukkovaara

email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me

Valkeakoski, Finland

Tame European Honey Buzzard

 

European Honey Buzzards (Pernis apivorus) are often surprisingly tame. You can see them sometimes even in the middle of towns and you can get very close to them. 

This individual was today in Alkkulanlammi ponds in Viiala and I digiscoped it from the distance of about 50 meters.

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Author

Olli Haukkovaara

email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me

Valkeakoski, Finland