Mökki - Cabin Fever

Mökki.

In Finland this is more than just a word. It's an existential concept. An entire way of life, bordering on religion. As a foreigner living in Finland you will be constantly exposed to it in one form or another. Whole forms of media are dedicated to it. Magazines crowd the shelves. TV shows clog the airwaves.

What is it?

A mökki is a Finnish "Summer Cabin". A "rustic" retreat in the woods that Finns simply adore.
Many Finns will choose to spend their holidays at their cabin rather than travel abroad.
They choose this. The lack of running water. The mosquitoes. The regular rituals of maintenance and DIY that come with preventing nature from taking the cabin back.

You either love this or hate it.

I love it.

We are lucky to have 2 such getaways, one just a half hour outside the city, the other north of Tampere.

The Tampere one gets visited maybe twice a year, and strictly in Summer. Consequently trips there tend to involve a fair amount of garden and house work, and picking and pressing the apples from the orchard in autumn. Not so much time for birding (though with singing River and Blyth's Reed Warbler in that orchard there's worse places to be).

Our closer mökki, we spend a lot of time at, and for me it's a birding paradise.

Apart from the relaxing atmosphere, the invariably indulgent food we "allow" ourselves on our little mini-breaks and, of course, the sauna, there are the birds.

Set in mixed, lakeside woodland, it has a mix of superb species that would delight any exiled Irish birder. I won't spend long detailing the list, but will spend a little bit of time on some of my favorites.

Grey Headed Woodpecker

Being set in the woods, the cabin naturally gets woodpeckers. 5 species of them in fact, namely Great Spotted, Lesser Spotted, Black, Grey Headed Woodpecker and the migratory Wryneck.

Wryneck is difficult to see on site, but easy to hear singing in the mixed woods to our north.

Grey Headed Woodpecker (above) can be a right pain in the arse in mid summer to be honest, as this particular individual frequently drums right outside the cabin door at Ridiculous O'Clock in the morning. I invariably wake when he does so, or if he gives his whistling call, at which point it's usually a case of "well...I'm awake now. May as well."

He is quite tame and doesn't mind me setting up the scope to phone-scope him in action.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers are little gems, and like to frequent the birches and aspens along the lake shore in front of the cabin. Most mornings the local male can be heard drumming or Kyi-kyi-kyi-ing at some location on the shoreline.

All the woodpeckers seem to have a circuit going on, rounding the bay and island in front of us at regular intervals and often choosing the trees in front of the cabin to sing from. It is truly terrifying when one of these demonic beasts swoops in to do so.

Black Woodpecker

Black Woodpecker is a monster. The audible air movement of their wings when nearby makes you duck whenever you're walking in the woods. Their amazing variety of calls can often be heard for miles, and with an open lake in front of us here, several pairs often play off against eachother, the male's loud PEEEEEEEE call challenging all rivals.

White Tailed Eagle

White Tailed Eagle is another common Finland bird. At the cabin they tend to visit mostly in late autumn and early spring, when they principally hunt the 200 strong migrant flock of Goosander. If the weather is mild enough one will often take up residence for the entirety of the winter.

Pygmy Owl

Pygmy Owl is a breeding bird at the cabin, and another culprit often responsible for waking me up in the early morning, usually later in the summer when they start to sing their crazy whistling song again. I tend not to mind when one of these "grump-tards", as I affectionately call them, goes on an early hour rampage.

Black Throated Diver

Black Troated Diver is a common breeder, and a bird (most) birders should be familiar with from potatoland...but not like this. This plumage is simply stunning and is eclipsed only by their amazing sound which is synonymous with mökki life really. Their superb Kuikka call (which is their onomatopoeic name in Finnish) epitomizes the Finnish summer for many Finns. A bird I am always sad to see go come autumn's end.