Summer

After what seemed like a mere two days of Spring, we have moved straight into Summer. The real marker of this for me is the arrival of Blyth's Reed warblers. My first came on a morning run with Kuura, singing just a few hundred meters from the house.

But this week we were treated to a four day weekend which gave good opportunities for catching up with the early Summer arrivals..of which there are still surprisingly few.

Thursday was taken up with various dog walking and DIY duties, the good weather being an opportunity to tackle some overdue garden maintenance. But I did manage to get a couple of hours out in the late evening.

I stopped first at Maarintorni, where I was delighted to hear my first Penduline tit of the year. I was hoping to connect with my first Spotted Crake of the year too, but the bulk of these have seemingly been late too. 

A showy Spotted Flycatcher was as close as I got. 

Spotted Flycatcher - They're little charmers if you ask me.

The light was against me on the tower, and with a rather cool evening breeze blowing, I decided trying to pick out backlit Broad-Billed Sandpipers was a waste of time. 5 Red-Necked Phalarope were being reported in Suomenoja, so I opted to see these. 

Suomenoja is an artificial sewage settling pond, which has matured to one of the nicest wildfowl areas you could imagine. It hosts a large Black-headed gull colony and is known as one of the best places to see Slavonian Grebe around the capital. Has a decent amount of habitat for Night-singers too and a good track record for rarities.

I parked at the coastal side and these 5 stunners were instantly visible amongst the Gulls. Beautiful evening light and the sound of singing Thrush Nightingale and Common Rosefinch made for an enjoyable evening.

Group shot

Friday morning I was back here, with Hanna and Kuura, as we set off for a full day's birding. Only one Phalarope was present, likely different to the five the previous evening (five were now being reported in the park near our home, on a 5x5 meter pond of all places).

Again the light was simply beautiful, and every shot I managed to get came out looking like a painting. Red-Necked Phalarope is easily one of the best waders species out there, but I have to say I look forward to the juveniles even more, which I think is an astounding plumage. Red-Necked Phalarope is a treat bird. They aren't rare, but the majority of Lapland breeders tend to go right over on their way north. You can likely see larger flocks if seawatching from some of the island/coastal sites, but it's always worth the effort to see any wetland birds like this when they pop in. Stunning.

Red-Necked Phalarope - Stunning

And so it has come to this. This Cinnamon Teal showed up initially in Kopparnas, an hour's drive west of us, about 6 weeks ago. When there, it kept it's distance in a couple of large pools.

It then reappeared a couple of weeks ago on patch, in Laajalahti. Some shots emerged suggesting either a level of tameness, or ninja-photography skills, but most of the time it again kept it's distance. 

Now it's in Suomenoja...and is being ridiculous. Such behavior does it no favours. Don't get me wrong, I doubt any rarity body would have accepted it anyway (not that I would heed any rarity body anyway). 

But it must be said, that wildfowl DO behave differently here to birds further south in Winter. And that these wildfowl are the very same birds! A walk around Suomenoja will produce Gadwall etc at your feet, that you couldn't hope to get near in Ireland.

Barnacle Geese, a species well known for fecking off if you come within a mile of them  in Ireland, walk around the parks and lawns like pigeons. Who knows.

Gorgeous looking bird regardless.

Disgraceful Cinnamon Teal

From Suomenoja we drove west, headed for Saltfjarden in Kirkkonummi. The weather was warm, and a little on the hazy side, but it felt good for raptors. There was some "discussion" with herself over some potential stops before heading to Saltfjarden, but I vetoed these as the driver, citing lateness of the morning and importance of finding rare birds of prey.

It was a good thing I did this. Within 15 minutes of setting up in the carpark I picked up a falcon rising up over the trees. It was hazy, and distant, but that familiar silvery sheen was glinting off the wings, and there seemed to be a solid blue colouration on the underparts. Structure looked good for Red-Footed Falcon. I called it, and dragged Hanna over to the scope. Being a Finland tick (and another bogey of hers) I left her to watch it, and the bird eventually came closer. A gorgeous 2nd calendar year male. 

Red-Footed Falcon is rare, but regular in Finland, a bit rarer than Black Kite, but to be expected. Their nature of feeding high with the multitude of Hobby probably means they get overlooked a bit. Nonetheless I haven't seen many here, just one autumn juv a few years back, so we took the opportunity to enjoy this one. It spent about two hours hunting, mostly distant in the haze, before a heavy shower came in and seemed to push the bird west ahead of it.

Red-Footed Falcon - 2nd Calendar year male

Adult White Tailed Eagle loafing around Saltfjarden.

A red morph male Ruff was hiding in the grass beside the car park. I then dropped Hanna off at her parents and made my way to Surpelto. This is a nice little area of artificially created Marsh and Reed bed. I have seen some good birds here in the past, and like to keep tabs on it for migrating Great Snipe. Just the usual breeders here today though.

Rufous morph Ruff

One of the variations of Yellow wagtail we get here.

Little Ringed Plover - Surpelto

In the evening we made our way to Iso-huopalahti to check out night singers. 

Fieldfare is an extremely common breeder, and thus a bird you rarely think to photograph. This one was too nice to pass up. 

Killer Bunny - Pass the Holy Hand Grenade

Likewise, hares are everywhere, but I rarely take the time to appreciate them. This one was barring my path Monty-python style.

The various night-singers themselves put on a good showing. Thrush Nightingales were showing well.

Thrush Nightingale - The Finnish name, Satakieli, means "100 tongue"...which is just about right

But at Iso-huopalahti your main target is generally the acros. It's too early for Marsh Warbler, but there were a nice handful of Blyth's Reed warblers to be had. This bird was particularly showy. Blyth's Reed has a reputation for being difficult to view. Again, this is unfounded. Patience often pays off and this bird popped up to sing right next to me.

Adult Blyth's often look bright and clean compared to juvs, with their white throat often particularly evident. One could be forgiven for thinking you had a white-throat on naked eye views.

Blyth's Reed Warbler - Not a banana in sight

Icterine warblers were also putting on a good show. These tend to sing in constant motion, so I was delighted when one decided to do a bit of evening sun-bathing, allowing some phonescoping. 

Icterine Warbler

Saturday morning I hit Porkkala with the aim of seeing a female Steller's eider which had been present for a week or so. I haven't seen many Steller's in my time here. I have yet to make the effort to visit Varanger in Spring, or indeed Estonia in Winter.  I was half hoping this bird would be in close, but it was not to be, spending it's time out on one of the islands. You will have to trust me on this one.

Shrodinger's Eider

Female common Eider are a bit easier.

She-Eider

My first Red-Breasted Flycatcher of the year was belting out song along the road back from the carpark, but was typically elusive. 

Saltfjarden was dead for raptors so I made my way back to Maarintorni for the evening. Straight out of the car I was greeted by the familiar sound of Hooded Crows losing the plot, as well as Fieldfares joining the melee. It was only ever going to be one thing. A big Goshawk, a 2nd Calendar year female.

Fear me...If you dare

On the tower itself I enjoyed watching 10 Broad-Billed Sandpipers. Like Red-Necked Phalarope, these are simply stunning little beasts, a species I never get tired of. Most years you only get a couple of weeks as the adults migrate through to Lapland. Some years however, one or two non-breeders decide to stay on patch for the bulk of the summer. Hopefully this year will have a few stragglers.

Broad-Billed Sandpipery goodness

Sunday I headed for an early morning walk with Kuura at Haltiala, in search of singing Greenish warblers and Red-Breasted Flycatcher. It wasn't difficult to find some, both species singing well in what is prime habitat. Unfortunately... it's prime habitat, which means dense woods, tall trees and very hard to see birds. Though I had no trouble finding several singing birds of both Greenish and Red-Breasted, views were limited and brief. 

The rest of the day was spent on the balcony scanning for raptors, but nothing was moving save for a couple of local Goshawk and Hobby.... and some nice beers.

I'll end with this Phalarope shot. Cos I love it.

I'll just leave this here.