A quick look outside before breakfast at Loona Mois on a
grey and misty morning saw the Northern Bullfinches in fine form with eight
birds moving between the scrub and tops of the tall trees where they were bust
nibbling buds. The vocal range of these
seem so much more than our own but it may be that because the pitch is louder
we are actually hearing more compared to the quietly voiced British birds?
Northern Bullfinch
Northern Bullfinch
Northern Bullfinches
Hawfinches could be heard too and Dickie and Judy both saw
one perched up high and our first trip addition of the day.There was the background song of
Yellowhammers, Stock Doves, Wood and Skylarks and of course the Cranes and two
Foxes and a hind Red Deer watched me from the fields.
Breakfast and then back across the islands to the ferry back
to the mainland with flocks of Lapwings, Cranes, White-tailed Eagles and Tundra
Bean Geese on the way but still not one Great Grey Shrike. An adult Baltic Gull
was on the ice just before the causeway to Muhu. Late yesterday the Hawk Owl
had been re-found near Tallinn and if it had been seen before we got to the
ferry our day would have been very different but it was not and so the plan
remained unchanged. We made it with ages to spare (eight whole minutes) and
from the warmth of the van we could see Smew, Goosander and Goldeneye flying
around and once on board for the 25 minutes crossing we were treated once more
to stunning Long-tailed Ducks in front of the ship with the addition this time
of a single drake Common Scoter and the bobbing head of a Grey Seal.
Wind turbines poking above the fog bank
Long-tailed Ducks and the other ferry widening the channel as it went by
Long-tailed Ducks
Long-tailed Ducks
Common Gull
Common Gull - not sure if this would be 'heinei' out here?
By the time we reached the famous Tuhu bog area it was
starting to drizzle but it was good to find four male Black Grouse from the
super wide runway like main road on the way in.One was in the fields while the others were in a tall Birch and like the
Bulllies, were eating buds.They even
flew across the road for us where they looked even better in flight.
Black Grouse
The main bog viewpoint overlooking the sea of stunted pines
did not actually produce one bird but further along we found the main Black
Grouse lekking area and nearly 30 were seen strutting around the grassy
although most of the time they just peaked a head out or a fluffy white bum
would suddenly flash.
It looks like we were incredibly high and staring across the canopy of some towering pine forest but we were in fact no more than ten feet off the ground...
Honestly, the view was full of Grouse!
A Great Grey Shrike was at last found, first chasing a small bird
energetically and then perched up and glowing in the poor light.Both Larks and Mistle Thrushes were seen and
Cranes bugled. The nearby woods provided us with a speedy set of passerine
additions with a flock containing several frosty Willow Tits and punky Crested
Tits along with both Goldcrest and a surprise Firecrest.We also saw Treecreepers, Nuthatch and a
Great Spotted Woodpecker along with a few finches and a Jay doing the Buzzard
call.The drizzle was getting heavier as
we moved on and soon became light rain.
Four of the numerous Roe Deer we encountered during the day
Roe Deer
I think that this Lichen is a Ramalina or Evernia. Each bit looks like an inverted stag antler
Eyes were kept peeled and 12 Golden Plovers and two big flocks of Lapwing were seen but a further woodland stop failed to produce anything at all.
Golden Plovers
A pastry heavy lunch stop and then a lovely open patch of
woodland at Netrema where a short Woodpecker succession was much more
successful with Grey-headeds bounding around and a female White-backed putting
on a great show and even drumming.Great
Spots also drummed and a calling Middle Spotted Woodpecker was the first Tarvo
had seen here of this fast expanding species.
White-backed Woodpecker
The rain got heavier as we pushed onto Parnu and our last
stop before getting to the hotel was Audru marsh where we saw all the
breeding Citrine Wagtails on the summer trip but this time Geese were the
target and on seeing a large flock in the distance, Tarvo took the ‘interesting
track’ through the middle confidently saying that he had only got stuck
once.Well, for a short while that
became twice but an appropriate push and he was underway again.We walked…
Hundreds of Geese headed off but nothing small could be seen
amongst the throng of White-fronts and Beans but the next flock down did hold a
few Greylags and Barnacles. Perhaps we would find something different on the
morrow?
Sparkling Mallards on ice
A murky throng of grey geese
It was cold and spitty spotty with the rain and a single
Common Snipe was the only new bird so we headed on to our lodgings in the
middle of Parnu, dropped our bags off and then headed back out to the Pikla
fishponds.Fourteen Great Egrets were
feeding in the shallows and many Grey Herons came and went from the large
colony in the pines on the other side of the road and our scans around gave us more
geese totalling 170 White-fronts, 13 Tundra Beans and three Barnacles.
Great Egrets - interestingly they had breeding colour legs but not bills
White-fronts and a White-tailed Eagle
Tundra Beans and two Barnacle Geese
Several good sized flocks of Starlings fed around the edges
of the reedbeds and on an area where over 20 Reed Buntings, some Linnets and
ten Tree Sparrows had gathered.White-tailed Eagles were sat up in the gloomy weather and made occasional
sorties and one seemed to take a fish from a pool spooking Ravens and Hoodies
in the process and I suspect that it was already a deceased dinner.
White-tailed Eagle
Rob found a glowing adult female Goshawk perched up in the
pines a long way off which showed every detail.As usual nothing wet near here and she watched for her dinner
unmolested.We could not find any
Bearded Tits but our second Great Grey Shrike of the day was sat sentinel near
the beach but the weather was closing back in so we called it a day bit not
before Dickie found a huge male Beaver sat at the edge of the reeds right next
to the van! It plopped off as soon as we reversed but was seen well in the
water before submerging.I had always wanted
to see one of these in the wild and it was the perfect end to the day.
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