Stephen's Day Bonus

The weather forecast had been unpleasant for today, however as the sun rose we could see that the predicted sleet and dampness had not materialized, so we scrambled to do a bit of birding near the cabin.

A roving flock of Redpolls first thing outside the cabin door had all 3 varieties, Lesser, Mealy and Arctic, to start us off.

From here we moved via the back roads towards nummi-pusula seeing plenty of Great Grey Shrikes as we went.

Our usual Dipper site had water levels which were too high to accommodate any dippers so we moved on around the fields.

Great Grey Shrikes were again on the menu and it was another one of those days where any bit of suitable habitat seemed to hold one.

Reaching saukkola with not much other than a billion Shrikes to show for it, I decided to make for Savijärvi bird tower. It would be unlikely that the lake would hold anything this time of year, but what the hell, it's a nice area all the same.

As we rounded a corner and saw the tower, we both saw a raptorish shape sitting on the tower itself. Expecting a Sparrowhawk or Gos, we were pleasantly surprised to see a stunning Hawk Owl. A new bird, and a stunning one too!

(Edit: Actually it had been seen 3 weeks ago, but not reported since.)


Hawk Owl - A nice surprise. 


A little bit down from the Hawk Owl, a little pool of open, unfrozen lake held about 20 Whooper Swans toughing it out. Always a great sound to hear, reminding you Spring is not far off. 

Whilst watching these, another Great Grey Shrike popped up right beside the car. This bird was strangely hunting on the frozen lake itself, at times scrabbling around on the ice like a wagtail. No clue what it was catching, but it was catching something. 



Great Grey Shrike - Seems to be an exceptional winter for these.


 


Great Grey Shrike

From Savijärvi we made our way back to the cabin, seeing yet more Great Grey Shrikes on the way, and it was time to pack up and head home to Helsinki. A great few days out at the cabin as usual.

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