Estonia 2018

With the Vappu (May holiday) weekend on the horizon, we chose to avoid the mentalness of what is, essentially, the Finland Paddy's day, and take a few days across the gulf in Estonia.

Estonian birding has some noticeable differences to Finland, with some key species, such as White Backed Woodpecker, being much commoner/easier to see, and a number of species which are virtually absent from Finland.

We chose a delightful cabin on Airbnb, near Haeska, on the north side of Matsalu bay.

Cosy

If you have never been to Estonia, go. If you have never been to Matsalu, Go! And if you have never experienced the Arctic migration of wildfowl and other northern birds, at Matsalu, GO! The first couple of weeks of May are often an incredible spectacle.

The ferry leaving Helsinki produced some overdue year ticks in the form of Eider and Common Scoter.

We arrived to the cabin at 6 p.m and after a quick meet and greet with our hosts, being shown all the workings of our rental and their inevitable fawning over Kuura, we three made for Haeska bird tower.

Haeska Bird Tower - simply excellent

The sight we were met with was astounding, with the entire bay being covered in duck of every sort and the entire shore lined with Bewick's swans.

A world of ducks

Wonderful Bewick's

We had intercepted their main passage migration, and Matsalu is one of their most important staging areas. As far as the eye could see, there were Bewick's swans, more than I had ever seen in my entire life to date, and likely numbering several thousand seen over the course of the weekend. Their wonderful "WOW" call, like a hopped up Owen Wilson, could be heard constantly.

Other wildfowl in abundance included hundreds of Pintail and Scaup, Teal and Wigeon, tens of Smew, and dotted around the place, the odd Garganey.

Tens of White Tailed eagles, of various ages, sat on rocks or floated above the wetlands, awaiting easy meals.

Large numbers of multi-coloured Ruff mooched around the pools, and our first Yellow Wagtails of the year, including Blue and Grey headed types shreeped along the shoreline. Our first Lesser Whitethroat rattled from the garden, with a laughing Wryneck also.

Ruff living

Eurasian Whitefronted Geese, Barnacle geese, and both types of Bean Geese were also in abundance, and these were our main focus, as the promise of something rarer was high with these.

Eurasian Whitefronted Geese

After a pleasant evening with the wildfowl we retired to a roaring fire, food and beer, before passing out.

Saturday morning I took Kuura for a run, and this paid off with Hawfinches tzik-ing everywhere on our route, with lots of laughing Wryneck, Lesser Whitethroat and two drumming male White Backed Woodpecker.

After breakfast we returned to Haeska tower, taking in more of the migration spectacle, before walking the grounds of Haeska Manor itself. The target here was the northwards expanding Middle Spotted Woodpecker. These beauties have now reached as far north as Tallinn itself, and likely only a matter of time before they cross to Finland. Until then we make do with our visits south. We found a breeding pair of these stunners, with a male still excavating a nest hole. Excellent birds.

Middle Spotted Woodpecker - sheer class

Marsh tits, another species absent from Finland were also here, as was Nuthatch and our first Pied Flycatcher of the Spring.

We then moved on to the outer bay area of Puise, still hunting after geese. The first open bay produced another of our target species, Avocet, a rarity in Finland, we had some 20 odd birds in view here.

Avocet

The tip of the headland had more laughing Wrynecks and tzik-ing Hawfinches, but little in the way of geese.

Wryneck - always a treat

We made our way to the raptor watchtower at Rannajõe and this quickly produced a range of goodies for us, with a stunning male Montague's Harrier doing a close fly by, followed by several soaring White Stork, dozens of White Tailed Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard and star of the show, a Lesser Spotted Eagle.

Male Marsh Harriers - gems

Stork Symmetry

Back to Haeska, where the geese had gathered on the shore. I picked up a nice Pink Footed Goose, but Hanna picked up one of our top targets of the trip, an absolutely spectacular, stonkingly ridiculous Red Breasted Goose. This bird gave the best views I've ever had of this species and I spent a good hour just absorbing it.

Red Breasted Goose - the phonescoping did not do it justice. The most spectacular of geese.

The late evening was spent as before, fire, food and beer.

Sunday we made our way around to the south side of the bay, starting at Keemu.
A random little flock of White fronts produced another solitary Pink Footed Goose before we moved on to the coast.

Pinky

Lots of duck here, including several Garganey. A nice flock of 10 Great White Egret was also in situ and our first booming Bittern did his thing from the reeds.

Garganey - great to pick these birds up on call. Stunners.

Garganey - Male and Female

Smew - stoned

A pair of Grey Partridge snuck along the shoreline, another bird almost non- existent in Finland and a White-Backed Woodpecker drummed from a nearby copse.

The south side of the bay, compared to previous years, was a tad quiet, though we did have our first Cuckoos and Wood Warbler, so we made our way back around to the north side.

Haeska had a further increase in birds, with obvious newbies being Wood Sandpiper and Little stint as year ticks.
Among the Barnacle geese resided this hybrid type goose. No clue here personally, but he stuck out wherever we encountered him subsequently.

Mudblood

Back at the manor, whilst sorting through another good flock I noticed corvids mobbing something at the back of the field. Scope views revealed a gorgeous 2nd cal Pallid Harrier, which booted through, pursued by the angry mob, never to return.

Monday we started out at Rannajõe. Similar set of raptors on the agenda with a particularly memorable Lesser Spotted Eagle being mobbed by a Calidus Peregrine Falcon, in itself a notable bird here.

We then moved north to Haapsalu. The tower on the town seafront was excellent viewing, with good numbers of White Tailed Eagles, Buzzards, Marsh Harriers and White Storks moving. The town also provided more Hawfinches and a single singing Serin.

Hawfinches - Tsik - monster bill

We made our way further north again to Sutlepa Meri, a gorgeous, reed fringed lake, ideal for fresh water birds.

Here we enjoyed great views of Bearded Reedling, singing Great Reed Warbler and Savi's warbler (rare in Finland) as well as seeing birds such as Red Necked Grebe and Little Gull.

Bearded Reedling - male

Red Necked Grebe

Roadside Storks were a common feature of Estonian birding.

With poorer weather inbound for the evening, we made our way back south, to relax watching geese from the cabin with good food and beer.

Tired puppy - 3 days of constant walks and birds lead to random dog collapse.

On Tuesday morning, the overnight rain had transformed the birding landscape. Suddenly Thrush Nightingales sang from every hedge and scrub patch, often fighting and chasing each other.

Red Backed Shrikes were perched on fences, whilst Whinchats and Redstarts fought at woodland edges.

Wood warblers sang from every copse of trees.

A pair of moose appeared from the mist too, adding to a mammal list of Raccoon dog, Fox and Roe dear.