Mökki Mega

Another visit to the cabin went down over the weekend. 
Really great weather and atmosphere out there at the moment. 
Misty mornings, sunny days, cool evenings, and the sound of Black Woodpecker, Grey Headed Woodpecker and Black Throated Divers whilst you drink your morning coffee is blissful.
 
Misty Saturday morning with amazing Black Woodpecker calls

I started out, on a misty Saturday morning, by hitting Lohja dump for a couple of hours. Like most dumps in Finland, this site is winding down activities. It does still attract a reasonable number of gulls, however, and of course seems a good prospect for raptors and passerines. Last autumn, like many dumps in Finland, it held one of the Siberian Accentors of that crazy influx, so always potential here. 

Not much on display Saturday morning though. Reasonable count of juv Herring gulls, which were constantly milling about due to the presence of this male Goshawk.

Even when you're dealing with a relatively "small" male, the impression of size and power this species gives off is impressive. It was certainly intimidating even to the Great Black Backed Gulls.


Adult male Goshawk - eye colour suggests a younger bird. No visible traces of subadult plumage left so likely 3CY+ in age.

This bird, like many I have encountered over the years, was highly terrestrial, originally being picked up low on a roadside barrier in the dump. It is often surprising how often Goshawk allows close approach, often remaining invisible on the ground until you accidentally flush from some scrub or a ditch, at which point, when you see this huge brown/grey bird lifting from your feet, your initial impression can often be of a game bird, a grouse or pheasant. Of course then it starts to glide and the universe errupts in blind panic and chaos.

After having sifted through the various gulls, and failing to see any raptor other than the Gos and resident kestrel, I mooched off back through the countryside to the cabin seeing a few nice bits en route, such as Grey Headed Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Red Backed Shrike and Blyth's Reed Warbler.

The evening was spent at a birthday party and generally enjoying food and beer. 
 
Kuura - enjoying the cabin atmosphere

Sunday morning was clear and sunny, and I wanted to get moving before the heat haze got too rough.

After a leisurely breakfast and a couple liters of coffee, I bundled the wife and dog into the car and we set off for nearby nummi-pusula.

I was in the mood for some waders, and the flash-wetland area at nummi, which holds good numbers of geese, duck and waders in Spring was of interest to me.

Jan Södersved had found Finland's 6th Lesser Yellowlegs there a few months back. A bird like that wouldn't get an Irish birder twitchy, but I was in the mood for something along the lines of a juv Marsh Sandpiper or better. Would the site hold any water/waders in the heat of Summer?

The back roads we usually take to get here offers a range of habitat which make it worthwhile. Gardens for Blyth's Reed Warbler. Fields and trees for Grey Headed Woodpecker, Wryneck and Black Grouse. Old forest for Hazel Grouse, Nutcracker etc. 

Coming around a bend in the road, where the forest clears to farmland, I stopped about a 100 meters from an old woodpile, which is usually guaranteed to have a Red Backed Shrike or two sitting on it. With the naked eye I could see the outline of a shrike against the sky.

When I raised my bins the first thing I saw was two large white patches on the back of the bird.

"Punapäälepinkäinen! On the woodpile!"

"Can't be." Said Hanna. 

"Bloody is." Says I.

I jumped out of the car, and plonked the scope down. I managed to get a couple of record shots, despite the distance, and we both had good though brief views. 

 Woodchat Shrike - Abyssmal Phone-scoped record shots

Just as we were about to move closer the bird lifted off the woodpile, possibly getting some agro from the local Red Backeds, and flew up into some pines. 

We never saw it again, despite a couple of hours searching. Other birders, over the course of the entire day, did manage some brief views, but overall this was a hoor of a bird.
The first twitchers after some obtained brief flight views - big sky birding

Apparently this was only the 36th Woodchat for Finland, and only the 2nd for Lohja county, the first of which was 30 years ago. 

 
The local Red Backed Shrikes are a tad more confiding


We got some commentary regarding the fact that both rarities we have found for Lohja, Woodchat shrike and Red Crested Pochard, both have names beginning with "Red Head" in finnish, Punapäälepinkäinen and Punapäänarsku respectively, most likely down to being a half Irish family. 
So whilst the Shrike can't go on the cabin list, obviously, it's another good bird arising from a productive mökki trip. 

Hopefully it won't be too long before we get back out there.

Kuura - Happy with her lifer tickage 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Finnish Focus On...Taiga And Tundra Bean Geese

How To Be A Rarity Finder

Summer's End