An earlier breakfast meant that we were on the road earlier on the way down the Sõrve peninsular. It had been raining hard overnight and it was still spitting as we travelled south but as we reached the pines on the last mile it cleared and as if by some magic signal birds started to move. We could see them either side of us - flocks of bounding finches and tits.
What followed may result in a very short blog post about
quite possibly the most astonishing three hours and 15 minutes of any of our
birding lives. We bundled out of the vans with Tarvo shouting ‘Start counting!!’
Thankfully the crew were onboard with what was needed and why we had to become
part of this very special day.
Waves of birds swept towards us, coming over and through the
garden of the big derelict house before funnelling straight around. The vans had to be moved almost immediately
to be end on to each other as Goldcrests in particular were prone to
bumping. The café took many strikes too
but most were soft bumps and the group brought me stunned Goldcrests that I snuggled
in my palm until they were ready to move on again of their own accord. It was not cold but I think they appreciated
the warmth and shelter provided. In all
the time we were there we only found one dead Goldcrest and Great Tit.
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| Goldcrest - she just needed ten minutes r&r and was then on her way. |
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| Goldcrests - recovery time |
Tarvo took Long-tailed Tits and Siskins and I prioritised Great
Tits and Blue Tits and we sought of split the rest. Occasionally there was a few second pause
when I would shout numbers at Tarvo and keep counting everything while he was
momentarily distracted.
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| Long-tailed Tits |
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| Long-tailed Tits - about 50 in this flock |
It was non-stop. Great Tits were moving in large flocks at various heights but sometimes incredibly high up with finch flocks while when the Blue Tits really started to move they were mostly at very low level like the Goldcrests. Depending on the flock make up you would count a few individuals and then start block off two species at once and I found calling out the odd birds like Coal and Willow Tit, Pipits and Buntings made it easier to remember so many counts at once.
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| Long-tailed Tit - Tarvo Valker |
A couple of Finnish birders told us that the Crested Lark
had been found on the beach by the lighthouse and we collected everyone together
and made our way over but Tarvo and I had to walk backwards to keep up with the
counting. My years of walking backwards
around Rainham came in handy! A Lesser
Spotted Woodpecker bounded through and a Great Grey Shrike circled before
dropping in and I suspect a quick snack before it headed south would have been
an easy option.
The Crested Lark was feeding amongst the tideline seaweed
and we put the scopes up on it and then continued to log Tits and Finches! I will admit to not paying it too much
attention. The number of Siskins was building and as we reached the third hour
Great Tit number slowed a little while Blue Tits and Goldcrests increased dramatically.
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| Crested Lark |
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| Crested Lark - Tarvo Valker |
At one stage a Long-tailed Tit landed in front of us and I
picked it up as the Fox was back. It
seemed fine and sat on my finger for a while but I needed my hands for bins and
so popped it on my hat as it seemed almost ready to go. It stayed there for a few more minutes before
flying up to join some of its buddies as they passed overhead.
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| You can come up with your own caption |
It was exhausting and the crew even supplied us with coffee
but could not help with toilet duties and so counting duties had to be handed
over for a couple of minutes! We had all
spread out and each person was having their own migration experience from Eric
sitting with a coffee and collecting Goldcrests to Barbara quietly sitting as a
wave of over 100 Long-tails surrounded her down near the point.
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| Goldcrest - Tarvo Valker |
The skeins of grey Geese barely got a look in and a brief
Merlin dashed through while a juvenile Hobby hung above us eating some hapless
passerine on the wing.
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| mostly Tundra Bean Geese |
A 12pm deadline had been set as we had to get off the island
and get to Tallinn to catch our evening plane and we used every single minute
to keep counting.
The final figures for our short session was almost
incomprehensible. A staggering 27,576 Tits and 8331 Finches were logged
along with 595 Goldcrests and a host of other species! Even then our
counts were probably on the low side as it was almost too much for just two of
us to count. Tarvo had kept in touch
with the Finnish counters at the tower and although we had more Long-tails and
Blue Tits which had been keeping quite low, they counted over 40,000 Great Tits
during the course of the whole day!
About two miles down the road Tarvo pulled over and released
a Goldcrest that had somehow managed to end up on the inside and I was still
worried that an earlier Blue Tit was still somewhere in my own van! The drive back across the islands gave us the
300 Cranes once again along with two ringtail Hen Harriers, four White-tailed
Eagles and several big Barnacle Geese flocks.
We made the 2pm ferry and enjoyed a smooth ride back to the
mainland counting 650 Long-tailed Ducks heading south in superfast snaky
lines. A small seal popped its head out
of the water and I raised my bins and called Harbour Seal but Tarvo was quick
to point out that if it was of that shape it would be a Ringed Seal out here. Unfortunately it did not come back up for
anyone else.
Near port a White-tailed Eagle was cruising around and the
Scaup flock shone in the lowering sun.
From here the weather turned and we spent the rest of the journey
driving in and out of squally showers.
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| White-tailed Eagle |
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| White-tailed Eagle |
The landscape turned grey but we still managed to see three Great Grey Shrikes and several White-tailed Eagles before Tarvo took us to a friends ‘house’ for dinner. We were greeted warmly and shown around the Käesalu Art Centre in the grounds of the garden where local artists exhibited their eclectic work.
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| The dream renovation for the family |
After a fantastic final dinner we bid our
farewells and after watching a Black Redstart on the new roofed but derelict old
manor house we repacked the bags and made the final short run to Tallinn
airport for a late but painless flight home after one of the most memorable
days birding that I think any of us, including Tarvo, had ever had.
I am writing this two days later and every now and then I am
sure I can still hear those Long-tailed Tit flocks bimbling determinedly overhead
on their way across the sea to Latvia and beyond.
I have named the condition Titinnus.
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