Blue Eyed Birder: Finland 15th-18th May 2023

I returned home from the epic Spanish adventure on the 13^th May and made my way back to my parents from Heathrow for a day of rest before and early return to the airport to catch a flight with Finnair to Helsinki for a potentially crazy three day blitz of mid-Finland with three New Yorkers…

I arrived at 3pm on the 15^th after a smooth and pleasant flight and after some interesting communications I met up with Ari, Menashe and Hershy outside and headed into the outskirts of town to the local urban nature reserve at Hakalanniemi. The farmland and forests surrounded a huge lake and several marshy pools and was alive with birds which was just great for three Americans who had, for the most part, never set foot in Europe.

Fieldfares greeted us as soon as we got out of the car and it would prove to be a trip of new experiences of familiar birds for me too. Singing Pied Flycatchers, Whitethroats and Willow Warblers were quickly found and having to actually search for calling Blue and Great Tits was a novel experience once again.

Fieldfare

Pied Flycatcher - Menashe Lichtenstein (ML from now on!)

Hooded Crows fed with Nordic Jackdaws, Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves and gleaming Common Gulls in a ploughed field and a Yellowhammer sang from the trees above us while all the time skeins of Barnacle Geese drifted to and from feeding spots.

Hooded Crows with Nordic Jackdaws

Barnacle Geese

Another field had breeding Lapwing, Skylark and Meadow Pipits as well as a pair of Northern Wheatears and dapper Grey-headed Wagtails.

Lapwing

Northern Wheatear

Meadow Pipit

Skylark (ML)

Northern Wheatear (ML)

There were lots of runners and cyclists and just one other birder but the birds were not put off by all this human motion around them. Whooper Swans lounged in a wheat field and Lesser Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler, Blackcap and an obliging Wood Warbler were all found in a Birch copse where two silent Tree Pipits were flushed and another Yellowhammer sang. These birds seemed to have far more olive on the breast that I can ever remember seeing on British ones. Snipe, Redshank, Wood Sandpiper and both Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers were on one of the pools with Teal, Garganey and a female Goldeneye all seen.

House Sparrow

Whooper Swans

Whooper Swan

Wood Warbler

Wood Warbler (ML)

Yellowhammer

Yellowhammer (ML)

Tree Pipits (ML)

Grey-headed Wagtail

Even more Barnacle Geese came in and I did not even see the Osprey that is clearly in the back of one of my pictures!

Barnacle Geese - oh and an Osprey with Hooded Crow

Time was rapidly getting away from us and we needed to have been on the road far earlier in the evening for the four hour drive north to our lodgings but Ari was keen to eek out every minute of daylight and we pressed on around the trails adding Greenfinches, Chaffinches and Siskins and a typically cold Scandinavian Great Spotted Woodpecker.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

There were waders to check through in the lake shallows and amongst the 70 Ruff were many fully fluffed up males in shades of chestnut, brown, black and white with a supporting cast of sooty Spotted Redshanks and Greenshanks and a few more Ringed Plovers. Great White Egret and Grey Heron were in the reedy margins and Baltic, Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls loafed on the edges while Great Crested Grebes engaged in weed displays.

Ruff

Redshank (ML)

Sparrowhawk and Hobby were the only raptors that we actually saw while Brown Hares and Roe Deer ticked the mammal boxes.

Brown Hare

White Wagtail

Wood Anemone

Barnacle Geese

Marsh Marigold

Suddenly it was gone 10pm and we had not actually left Helsinki. There was no way we were going to make it to the lodgings and so opted to drive through the night to our rendezvous at a petrol station to the north of Polvijärvi where we would be meeting Janne and Reima at 4am.

I have to admit that it was all a bit of a blur from here on in. The road was straight and empty and thankfully no Moose tried to impede our passage as I drove us north. We stopped at some services so that I could get something to eat while the lads created their kosher dinner from the bottomless cool bag of wonders that they had somehow brought with them. Stolen ice from Burger King for the bag and some prayers later and we were back on the road.

We stopped briefly for a listen in the dark but heard no Owls of any sort although several Woodcock displayed over the trees. It never really got dark and by 3am we were at the meet point with a pink glow in the sky already and time for them to say their morning prayers while I wandered off and listened to the sound of thousands of Barnacle Geese on the move and the bubbling song of Black Grouse somewhere beyond the tree line. A Cuckoo welcomed in the new day.

What followed with Janne and Reima was quite possibly one of the most memorable days birding I have ever had, partly because my brain kept telling me that it all took place over the course of several days and not just one.

Janne was a magnificent guide who was very much part of the land that he lives and works in. He knew every turn and track, individual trees and nest sites for those species that he protects, rings and studies. There is no point in trying to describe it stop by stop. The seventeen hours of birding would probably take that long to write…

The lads had targets with the Owls being high on the list. Janne did not disappoint and took us to check the box of a Ural Owl who goes by the name of Maria. Now, he did not know if it was actually her in the box so he shimmied up the tree, popped his coat in the nest box hole and gingerly opened the lid and lifted the snapping beauty out. Only when she was back on the ground could he check her ring to see that it was his now 19 year old friend thus affording us with spellbinding views. I had only heard Ural Owl before so this was just a little but special. She was checked out and weighed before being released. Her two chicks were just too small to be ringed and Janne did not want her away from them for too long.

Ural Owl

She silently flew to Birch within the grove and surveyed us before beginning a loop that would take her back to the nest hopefully without the mass attendance of irritated Fieldfares, Redwings and Jackdaws.

Another tree was scaled in seconds (in a pair of green wellies) to check on a home made nest constructed on a bicycle wheel but it was empty save for some Hazel Grouse poo but the massive structure he had built 20m up a large pine tree had been used by Great Grey Owls and the female came off her eggs once Janne was at eyelevel with her. As she had no chicks he came straight back down and we watched this beast of an Owl glaring down at us with her vivid yellow eyes. I am not sure that I had even seen one in a zoo before so it was a real privilege to be able to watch such a wonderous bird at close quarters.

Janne scaling the bicycle nest

Great Grey Owl

Great Grey Owl (ML)

Great Grey Owl - we kept our distance

Pygmy Owl was a little trickier and the next site we visited may actually have been empty but before too long the male appeared calling monotonously from the highest pines as he circled his territory. I last saw this species at the other end of the Owl scale way back in March 2009 on an exploratory few days in snowy Sweden for Swallow Birding. Quite possibly the fiercest glare of any Owl I have seen.

Pygmy Owl

Pygmy Owl (ML)

Woodpeckers were high on the list for our special day with Janne and although Three Toed eluded us at the last Owl spot, we did manage to see Great Spotted, a fine male Black that popped out of its nest hole and clambered around a dead tree and a splendid White-backed that was busy foraging in the canopy before descending to a lower point that gave us all even better views. It even had a good drumming session on a telegraph pole!

White-backed Woodpecker

White-backed Woodpecker (ML)

Black Woodpecker

Black Woodpecker (ML)

Willow Grouse did not like the grey and drizzle at the end of the day and did not show but we got lucky with Capercaille and had at least two males clatter off through the trees as we drove the forest tracks. Another was heard as it invisibly shot away with wings whirring madly making a loud thrumming sound. I doubt I will ever see another Scottish one.

There was lots of Caper evidence with piles of poo along the tracks interspersed with mega Moose pellets. As usual I failed to see this giant of the forest but the tracks and signs were everywhere. Hazel Grouse were very vocal with at least ten whistling males encountered and a couple of brief fly and scuttle views and hopefully one day I will see one for more than a couple of seconds.

Moose

Capercaille

Black Grouse - Janne can tell the difference between ALL the grouse poo!

Black Grouse could be heard at many stops but watching them strut and display in ploughed fields was something new. Wheezing and squelching and puffing and jumping with Common and Black-headed Gulls, Barnacle Geese, Common Cranes and Mountain and Brown Hares for company!

Black Grouse

Black Grouse (ML)

The Willow Grouse bog was amazing

Cuckoo

Leatherleaf - Chamaedaphne calyculata

Cranberries - delicious despite being last seasons fruit

Barnacle Geese

Perhaps the strangest sight was bumping into an immature Golden Eagle on a forest ride. It took flight immediately and flew up and over the trees. Both our guides were very excited by this as they are a very scarce bird in that region. A male Marsh Harrier was noted along with an Osprey that flew over the cars with a fish and a single dashing Hobby but there were no Buzzards.

The fields held small parties of Cranes and bugling echoed across the wooded farmland and Lapwing, Curlews and Greenshanks were out feeding amongst them while in the woods we found Wood and Green Sandpiper on breeding territories around small pools and singing from the tops of the tallest pines while Snipe drummed. As the day waned Woodcock came out to rode across the landscape and both Long-eared and Short-eared Owls were added to the never ending day tally.

Curlew

Crane

Cranes

Cranes (ML)

Green Sandpiper habitat - have wondrous

The small lakes had Red-throated Divers and Whooper Swans with the odd Goldeneye and Bitterns could be heard booming although the lakes they were on must have been in the trees. It was not a sound I was expecting to hear.

Red-throated Divers (ML)

Lunch around the farm of Janne’s parents was a delight with the remnants of the two foot of snow that fell just two weeks before still piled up by the side of the barn. The garden was alive with birds with bit fat tooting Northern Bullfinches, Siskins, gleaming Greenfinches, Chaffinches and Goldfinches all coming down to the feeders while Yellowhammers sang and Pied Flycatchers patrolled around their chosen nest boxes. A Camberwell Beauty was one of my favourite garden visitors and Green Hairstreaks and Brimstones were in the verges.

Pied Flycatcher

Siskin

Northern Bullfinch

Pied Flycatcher

Northern Bullfinch (ML)

Siskin (ML)

Swallow (ML)

Greenfinch (ML)

Northern Bullfinch (ML)

Camberwell Beauty

Green Hairstreak

Brimstone

Wood Ants

Horsetails

The woods alongside held Cuckoos, Tree Pipits, Crossbills, Crested, Blue, Great and Coal Tits along with Goldcrests, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrushes, Redstart, Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Treecreepers and the now expected Fieldfares and Redwings. The Redwing song is particularly variable and very melancholy.

Crested Tit - always high up

Chiffchaff (ML)

Common Crossbill

Our White-backed Woodpecker site gave us a Willow Tit at its excavated nest hole and at least five male Rustic Buntings were heard around one particular site where one eventually gave itself up and gave lovely views as it tilted back its head and proclaimed his chosen patch of pines. Janne said that it was proving to be a very good year for them. We were a little early for Red-breasted Flycatcher and Red-flanked Bluetail and to be honest we needed to be about another 100 miles further north to improve our chances with the latter.

Willow Tit

Willow Tit (ML)

Rustic Bunting

Rustic Bunting (ML)

Eventually our day came to and end. I think that as we left the vast quaking bog where the Willow Grouse were hiding it was well after 9pm. Janne accompanied us back to our lodge on the lake at Saarilan Maatilamatkailu with the sound of teetering Common Sandpipers along its shores, nesting Common and Black-headed Gulls and a pair of Black-throated Divers that serenaded in the twilight of the day approaching its end.

Black-throated Divers

Black-throated Diver (ML)

Volume up and listen hard and you will hear the Divers crooning...

By the time I climbed into my bed I had been up for 41 hours. I am not quite sure what I was running on by that stage but I suspect that it was just pure adrenaline and excitement. I am indebted to Janne and his friend Reima for taking a rather random trip into the unknown and making it feel like a week of top quality birding had been jammed into just 17 hours…

Unsurprisingly I slept well but was very grateful of the coffee at 4am the next morning as we set out by ourselves to see if we could find some more of our target species

We began around the lodge grounds which had a viewing platform and quickly added Gadwall, Shoveler, Kestrel and even a Sand Martin to the trip list while Green Sandpipers sang from the tops and Ravens kronked over.

An off pitch Woodpecker laugh immediately made me think of Grey-headed and we soon had one in view as it fed not far above our heads. I had not ever seen this species well so I was very happy to be able to watch this very open faced bird. The whole body was also greyer than I anticipated. A Bittern boomed as we drove out and the Black-throated Divers were crooning out on the now choppy lake.

Green Sandpiper

Grey-headed Woodpecker

Grey-headed Woodpecker (ML)

We headed west to the village of Värtsilä which sits just a smidgen from the Russian border and we had been given very specific instructions what to do and not do. We spent the next couple of hours walking around the marshland reserve of Uudenkylänlampi. There are no trails as such but the interp boards tantalized us with possibilities. The vast reedbed had quartering Marsh Harriers and booming Bitterns along with squealing Water Rails and a trio of Garganey briefly popped up while a single Common Tern came and went.

Marsh Harrier

Sedge Warblers, both Lesser and Common Whitethroats and Whinchats all chattered from the willow saplings and I think the latter is one of the most beautiful songsters in Europe that we just do not get to hear any more back in the UK.

Whinchat

Whinchat (ML)

Sedge Warbler (ML)

Snipe drummed and Curlew drifted over while small parties of Common Cranes and Whooper Swans could be seen in the surrounding fields but it was the sky that was busiest with tens of thousands of Barnacle Geese heading almost constantly north east into Russia.

Barnacle Geese

Whooper Swans over Russian airspace

Cuckoos were vocal and both Wryneck and Grey-headed Woodpecker were singing too although we could not find Blyth’s Reed Warbler and it may have been just a tad early in the season. However one of the other birds I was after was Common Rosefinch and the sweet notes of ‘pleased to meet you’ wafted from the Birches and five were seen including a couple of crimson males as they all acrobatically hung to feed of the Birch buds. They are normally grovelling on the ground when I see them. Reed Buntings were also found along with a Robin that contrived to show itself eventually.

Common Rosefinch

Common Rosefinch (ML)

After lunch we may have gone down a road that led to the Buffer Zone and we may have had a chat with the nice Border Police. I may have also got out of the car before said border and left the lads to go a little closer.

That saying I did then find a male Smew with some Tufted Ducks followed by Coots and a pair of Red-necked Grebes in full breeding dress engaging in their own version of the weed dance (sans weed). This whole trip was full of new experiences and this was yet another of those. They were not close but that is why I have a telescope. Tree Sparrows were around the houses and Skylarks and Grey-headed Wagtails were out on the fields where Lapwings displayed and House Martins and Swallows hawked and all the while the Barnacle Geese just kept passing overhead.

Red-necked Grebe

Red-necked Grebes (ML)

Car window with Goose reflections and a bullseye deposit from a great height

Brown Hare

Mountain Hare (ML)

Common Sandpiper on a little stream

Pleased to have not got carted off in a Police van we continued south, looking for interesting places to stop on the way.

The journey was not uneventful with fields of Barnacle Geese, random Cranes and a male Hen Harrier that snuck past us. Päätyeenlahden was our destination; a large lake with marshy are at the north end. We had seen six Little Gulls in a field the day before but distantly so being able to watch a small breeding colony amongst the more numerous Black-headed Gulls was a real bonus. Their curious little croaky calls could be heard as we got out of the car. It was a bit choppy and there was nothing to be seen out on the main body of water but we could hear Bitterns booming and Crane parties came in to feed around the edges where Marsh Harriers hunted. A male Wigeon, four Mallard and a male Shoveler were in the reedy margins.

Little Gulls

Little Gull

We spent some time working the lakeside Willows, Birches and Aspen finding Tree Pipit, Lesser Whitethroat and Pied Flycatcher and Kestrel and Hobby both spooked the Fieldfares out collecting worms.

Kestrel (ML)

Hobby (ML)

And all the while the air was full of the sound of Barnacle Geese. They were in-escapable part of the Finnish soundscape. As we left, we found a vast flock grazing in some fields and spent some time scanning through them for anything different but alas everyone was black and white with no browns or reds.

On again and down to another bird reserve at Pohjanranta where a tower hide and screen overlooked another lake. It was now pretty windy and viewing was difficult and the marsh along the edge was a little distant but we still found Ruff, Greenshank, Wood Sandpipers, 16 Teal and 12 Wigeon but best of all two male and a female Garganey that stayed put long enough to get the scope on.

Garganey

Bitterns boomed and Grey-headed and White Wagtails were in the pasture and Swifts and hirundines were blown overhead. There were two new trip birds at opposite ends of the scale with a singing Dunnock in the scrub and up above, a full adult White-tailed Eagle that we were alerted to by four Cranes that came over and kept looking back the way they came! The duck soon spooked too as this beast drifted off over the lake showing the gleaming tail and pale golden head. Needless to say there were Barnacle Geese…

Cranes

Cranes (ML)

White-tailed Eagle

We were intending to stay just up the coast from Helsinki and had time to visit yet another reserve. This one at Siikalahti was the best we found and warranted far more time than we had as well as us being perhaps a week later for there were no Golden Orioles, Blyth’s Reed Warblers or Thrush Nightingales in yet but as soon as we entered the woods with their spring flora, I heard a Wryneck singing and we soon found him. Much longer views than I had in Spain too. It is strange how a bird’s shape changes when it sings and a Wryneck adopts a more Song thrush like posture with head back when in voice. If only they were still part of the British breeding avifauna.

Wryneck

Wryneck (ML)

The lake and surrounding fields were covered in thousands of Barnacle Geese but thankfully amongst them we discovered 65 Tundra Beans and 56 Russian White-fronted Geese along with a few Whooper Swans.

Tundra Beans

Tundra Bean Goose (ML)

Russian White-fronted Geese

Russian White-fronted Goose (ML)

Whooper Swan parting the Barnacle Geese

Tufted Ducks, Pochard and Goldeneye fed in the open water where Great Crested Grebes displayed. Three Red-necked Grebes were also found and Marsh Harriers hunted low in the strong wind. Water Rails squealed and Snipe drummed – it was a magical place. We walked back along the boardwalk listening for warblers but only picked up a couple of Sedge Warblers, Blackcap and Willow Warbler and our attempts to find a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker only gave us a Great Spot.

Black Woodpecker signs with White-backed below?

Great Crested Grebes (ML)

Marsh Harrier with full crop (ML)

Little Gull (ML)

Hepatica nobilis

Herb Paris

Lathyrus vernus

Pulmonaria obscura

Wood Sorrel

With trouble finding a bed for the night we hit the road and drove south once again through yet more fields of Barnacle Geese. We estimated well over 150,000 were seen during the course of our day – quite remarkable. A dark Steppe Buzzard on a roadside post required a quick stop, U-turn and also gave us three Woodlarks on the wires and a Black Grouse in a tree. As the light dropped the odd Woodcock was seen roding across the road and although Moose remained hidden I did find a bit fat and furry Racoon Dog in a field. Much bigger than I expected and not a species I even knew occurred in Europe. Some Googling into the Russian fur trade answered most of the questions…

Racoon Dog (ML)

It was well gone 10pm when we found our Air B&B in the coastal town of Hamina and got out of the car to the chorus of Thrush Nightingales across the village. I last heard one singing so strongly over 20 years ago that I found in the car park at Titchwell although I have had a few snatches of song from Lesvos. Here though, around the scattered houses and rocky inlets, they were the only sound. I just stood outside and soaked it all in. Ari wanted to go and look for them but I persuaded him that it would be better to try in the daylight…

Volume up

I think we went to bed well past midnight.

It was another early rise and a quick look around the lodge while the other surfaced produced singing Thrush Nightingales, Wryneck, Great Spotted Woodpecker, both Whitethroats and Willow Warblers before some eBird searching by the lads had us heading inland a few miles towards Metsänummentie to check out a farmland hot spot.

This simple stretch of farmland was full of Skylarks, Greenfinches and Tree Sparrows and we eventually found a small flock of Linnet which they really wanted to see. There were no Golden Plovers but the fields held breeding Lapwing, Snipe and Curlew and two Cranes and an immature White-tailed Eagle were the ‘big birds’.

Cranes

Snipe

Lapwing

Tree Sparrow

Linnets & Goldfinch (ML)

Tree Sparrow (ML)

Linnets & Goldfinch (ML)

Thrush Nightingales could be heard and we tracked one down to some scrub around an abandoned buildings and with a little patience we got incredible views of this usually most elusive songster.

Thrush Nightingale

Thrush Nightingale (ML)

Not long after we left Ari shouted ‘Hoopoe!’ and we stopped and fell out of the car. Right colours but wrong bird and two Jays put on a great show at last, having heard a couple earlier. We were almost back in the car when a Black Woodpecker started shouting and barrelled down the slope and landed in the small trees not far away – a real bonus close encounter for all of us.

Jay

Black Woodpecker

Black Woodpecker (ML)

Roe Deer (ML)

Janne had worked his magic overnight for us and had arranged for us to rendezvous with friends of his who were intending to ring a brood of Tawny Owls near Yrjölänmäki and we were soon there to me met by Laura and her husband and within a few minutes my New Yorkers had their first Tawny Owl as, like Maria, the mother was checked over and released before the three owlets were processed and fitted with new jewellery. To be honest, I see Tawny Owl so irregularly that to get this close to one was as pleasing for me as the lads. To see two so well in back to back trips was even better.

Tawny Owllets

Tawny Owl

A Great Spotted Woodpecker was seen feeding in the Bilberry on an old stump while Pied Flycatchers and Goldcrests sung just above our heads. When the Tawny Owl was on her circuit back to her box she was followed by chacking Fieldfares and a pair of Jays.

Great Spotted Woodpecker

The last hour and a bit took us down into the heart of Helsinki and then onto the seafront. It was beautiful and we enjoyed a short stroll along the Prom where 14 Goosanders, a female Red-breasted Mergansers, 30 Eider, four Goldeneye and Cormorants were loafing around and both Common and Arctic Terns were fishing within touching distance.

Baltic Gull

Oystercatcher

Arctic Terns

Goosander

'ommisus' yellow-legged Herring Gull

Oystercatchers were amongst the Baltic, Herring, Great Black-backed and Common Gulls on the glacially smoothed islands and Common Sandpipers bobbed around them. It was a good to just chill for a bit!

The adjacent park was teaming with Barnacle Geese including a neck collared individual and Tree Sparrows and House Sparrows fed amongst the Fieldfares while two male Northern Wheatears hinted that migration was still underway.

Tree Sparrow

Barnacle Geese

Tree Sparrow (ML)

Fieldfare (ML)

Barnacle Goose (ML)

We drove back out of the city with thousands more Barnacle Geese heading north offshore while a White-tailed Eagle circled over us while we were stuck in traffic on our final run to the airport.

A few short hours later I was once again back at Heathrow after a truly exhausting but exhilarating mini adventure. Next time it will be at least a week and there will be time for sleep and eating…

Blue Eyed Birder

Sunday 27 August 2023

Finland 15th-18th May 2023

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