Any Chance Of Spring Soon?

Early March in Finland can be a drag. We are a few weeks off any hint of migration, whilst things like Woodpeckers and Owls are going into territorial mode. It's usually not this cold, with temperatures over the last week dipping into the minus 20s (often with a wind chill giving it a "feels like" factor of -28).

I have still been hoping against hope that maybe the Pine Buntings are around, somewhere, in a fragment of the original flock, so have been working the various fields and open tracts around Saltfjarden.

I started out in Saturday, hoping to see the Hawk Owl that was just south of Kirkkonummi last week.


Hawk Owl - owning that spruce.

Unfortunately there was no sign this time around and this guy could well be the last one I see for another winter, as they will soon be moving north to breed.

A couple of Great Grey Shrikes were in their usual spots at Saltfjarden and Mattby, with a few calling Grey Headed and Black Woodpeckers in those same locations. 

A nice flock of Yellowhammer visiting a nearby garden had plenty of Brambling among them but nothing resembling a Pine Bunting. Of course, Bramblings are still stunning in and of themselves. 


Brambling - good winter colour

Today the best on offer was this Dipper just north of Kirkkonummi. 

Topical, considering a bird under discussion in Dublin right now showing very restricted chestnut on the belly.

 

"Black Bellied" Dipper

Despite the monicker, "Black Bellied" Dipper is often not black bellied, showing a wide variation in levels of chestnut below the bib. 

Conversely, it's reportedly the case that Dipper, from British and Irish populations, can show darker bellies akin to "Black Bellied", further complicating matters. (Though I would like to see a robust study on the variation involved).





Black Bellied Dipper - note the irregular patching of chestnut below the bib. (Even more obvious in the video)



Other than these birds, adding Crested Tit to the garden list was the only highlight, with our new feeding station just starting to bring birds in. I have great plans for this feeding station, most of which won't come to fruition this winter, but wait until next winter.


I'm ready for Spring now, however, and hopefully this cold snap moves off soon and allows migrants to start moving north again.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Finnish Focus On...Taiga And Tundra Bean Geese

Image
Have been meaning to write a post on Tundra and Taiga Bean Goose identification for a while now. Wildfowl are my guilty pleasure. I've always enjoyed looking for them. The escape issue turns a lot of people off them. Grey geese can turn people off further still. Since moving to Finland, being able to spend long hours in the field watching both types of Bean Goose has been a joy, especially considering how rare they are in Ireland.  Tundra Bean Geese are the far commoner species to occur here, making them the easier to photograph and so a good place to start. Tundra Bean Goose Tundra Bean Goose - careful assessment of structure is most important when identifying bean geese. Whilst there are size differences between the smaller Tundra and larger Taiga, this plays out most obviously in their structure and shape. Both species, rear on, can be extremely difficult to pick apart without the structural clues visible. The head and bill structure are crucial in Bean Goose identification. Thi...
Read more

How To Be A Rarity Finder

Image
A recent statistic popped up in my various social media memories.  To date I've been birding on 4 continents, Europe, Asia, Africa and North America, and found rare birds on each of them. Pretty happy with that. 😎 So thought a post on how to go about finding rarities and importantly, how to BE a rarity finder was worth throwing up. They may sound like the same thing, but I have different views on both. One is methodology. The other is an outlook. Combine the best of both and you will achieve your goals. First up, the Methodology . 1. KNOW YOUR BIRDS This is an obvious one (though people may have different perceptions on what this takes.)  It stands to reason though, that to find a Lesser Yellowlegs as a vagrant, you're going to have to know what a Redshank looks like (in all plumages)...and Greenshank ...and Wood Sandpiper ...and then...just to be really fecking sure... Greater Yellowlegs, Stilt Sandpiper and Marsh Sandpiper too. Lesser Yellowlegs - I've found 6 Lesser...
Read more

Racism and Bigotry in Birding

Image
It's hard to pick up a newspaper these days and not read about something the new moniker "alt-right" are up to. The rise of racism to more mainstream levels is undeniable. Do we, as birders, need to have this discussion though? Do we know it's out there, among us? I'm pretty sure we do. It's tempting to believe the best about yourself, and this extrapolates to ourselves as a group; as birders. It's tempting to believe that the hobby of birding, taking place in nature, with a holistic, interconnected view of nature, would not harbour backwards, ignorant, scumbag neanderthals, that would discriminate on the basis of colour, creed, ethnicity, sex or sexual preference...over the past two years I've learned, sadly, that this temptation would lead you to the wrong conclusion. Birding, like any other microcosm of humanity, has it's share of these regrettable people. When I say over the past two years, I mean, perhaps, I have been just as ...
Read more