High Latitude Birder

Whooper Swan The 14th Winter Bird Race of Valkeakoski Birders was held on Saturday the 8th of January. Weather was not too bad, some -10° Celcius, overcast and not too windy. Our race team "Mega-Akaan Nuijamiehet" was the same that we have had for many years; Ville Työppönen , Heikki-Pekka Innala, Jonne Mäkelä and undersigned . In this case "Nuijamiehet" refers not only to ancient Finnish Cudgel War , but also to men who dip out on many birds ;-) The race time was 6:00 - 16:00, basically 10 hours. Sunrise was at 09.32 and sunset at 15:26, so the actual time for race was much shorter. Still, we started at 7:00 and headed to back country forests, in hope of the hooting owls. Forests were silent, only sounds we heard there were some barking dog, distant snow plough and the wind. So we turned back to town, to wait for the first birds to wake up and appear at feeders. But before that we got our first species, at 08:18, still at dark; Ural Ow...

  This calendar is one of the most beautiful bird calendars I've ever seen. It comes with display stand, so it's easy to place in any table or shelf. The price was not bad at all, only $15.99. It contains fourteen 4"x6" glossy photos from top bird photographers around the world. To put it short, I love this calendar! If you're interested in this calendar, go to http://www.birds-of-earth.com/

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

Over 4 months since last blogging - what happened? Well, we bought a house, so I have not had too much time for blogging. The renovation continues still, but I will now write at least short stories every now and then. I hope you will enjoy reading them! P.S. So far 53 species observed in our new backyard :-)

"Ruddy Turnstone is a small, highly-migratory wading bird with a large global range. It breeds in northern latitudes in open tundra habitat often close to water. Outside the breeding season it is found along coastlines, particularly on rocky or stony shores. It is the only species of turnstone in much of its range and is often called Turnstone. "We have been amazed at the feats of Bar-tailed Godwit tracked by satellite from Australia and New Zealand to their breeding grounds in the high Arctic and back", said Dr Clive Minton from the Australasian Wader Studies Group. "Unfortunately the size of the satellite transmitters, and the batteries required to power them, precluded their use on smaller shorebirds like Ruddy Turnstone". “… it was back in south-east Australia having completed a 27,000 -km round trip” —Ken Gosbell , Chairman of the Australasian Wader Studies Group The researchers therefore decided to use new 1 gram light-sensor geolo...

Jukka is coming back, at the moment he is in Croatia. In summer 2009 the project, started in 2007 in collaboration between the Finnish Museum of Natural History, the Osprey Foundation and UPM , continued monitoring the life of a male Osprey with the help of the newest generation of GPS-Argos satellite transmitters. See the whole story at: Satellite Osprey Jukka - Zoological Museum - FMNH Photo copyright Hannu Vainiopekka

I don't really know which one is easier; birding in rain or birding in fog. During last days I have done both. They both have downsides and advantages. In fog, the visibility is really poor and the tiny water particles cover all surfaces. But the birds are active and you can still find them relatively easy. In light rain, the visibility is usually better, but the on the other hand, the birds don't move a lot and all your gears and clothing get wet fast. Still, with proper clothing and gears, birding in in fog or rain is not too difficult - on the contrary, it can be really enjoyable. Migratory birds that usually just fly over your area, may drop down and stay sedentary until weather gets better for migration. Many rarities have been also found during these "bad" weather conditions. As our car broke down on Saturday, I have used my mountain bike for transportation while birding. It was cool to use bike for birding after long winter, and I will continue to use it...