Birding in around the Helsinki area.
An Irish love refugee birding in Finland. Loves migration, raptors and Finnish cinnamon buns.
A Grand Visit
Get link
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Email
Other Apps
The end of July saw a visit from my parents, eager to meet their granddaughter, take place.
Needless to say, getting the new Grandda a few nice birds was a bit of a priority too, and at the top of the agenda were our local Eagle Owls, a long overdue lifer for the old man.
A family outing ensued, and 3 generations of birder spent a rather pleasant, if intensely hot evening, enjoying a monstrous juvenile Eagle Owl, good food, and beers in the intensely urban and picturesque setting above.
There are some birds, which, whilst being truly awesome to watch, instill a feeling of reverence at the same time.
Eagle owl is one such species. If ever a Tiger took bird form it would be that of an Eagle Owl. Those eyes. Those talons. Those fluffy, cuddly paws of death.
This pair have been successful here for many years now, though only one youngster seems to be present this year. Hopefully it goes on to live a happy life decimating the city's rabbit population.
Eagle Owl - Hail to the king
Easy summer birding at it's best, washed down with a few cold beers.
Refreshments
The entirety of the visit was, however, insanely hot, with most days between 28 and 31°C, making birding fairly difficult.
We did manage to nip out here and there for a few choice morsels, however.
Dawn at Laajalahti
A very early, dawn start at Laajalahti at least allowed us to bird for a few hours in manageable temperatures. The usual fare was here, plenty of Caspian Terns, Wood Sands, Green Sands, Spotted Redshank, Temmincks stint, Little ringed plover, Hobby, Marsh Harrier etc. Alas no luck with any of the resident Spotted Crake, needed by his decrepitness.
Wood Sandpiper
Caspian Terns
We carried on to Suomenoja in the hopes of said crakes, but were again disappointed, instead settling for some juv/winter plumaged Slavonian Grebe.
Slav
We then carried on to Porkkala, where the woodlands offered some slight relief from the strength of the sun.
A party of extremely fresh fledged Red Breasted Flycatchers were a real treat here, me personally having never seen birds quite this young before.
Juv Red Breasted Flycatcher - barely recognizable and downright grotty. Hard to believe in just a few weeks these beauties will be clean and crisp, maybe on a headland in Ireland.
A quick stop at Sundsin produced a large family party of Red Backed Shrike, the adults looking particularly grotty after having produced so many young.
Red Backed Shrike
We also nipped out to take a quick look at the nearby Red-Necked Grebes, another good, rarely encountered bird in Ireland, and certainly never in Juv plumage.
Red Necked Grebe - juvenile - Don Foley
Otherwise it was just about enjoying common garden birds like Icterine warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Osprey etc. And frequently cooling off with beers or dips in the lake.
Icterine warbler - Don Foley
Hopefully it won't be too long before their next visit.
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
People often ask me why "I care about what's going on back in Ireland." I imagine many Irish people who've left to live in other countries, especially better countries, care what happens back home. That's why we want the ability to vote abroad. So we can have our say in making our country better, often with first hand experience of systems working better in our new country of residence. Now, don't get me wrong. Finland isn't perfect. No country is. It has it's scandals and dodgy politicians too. But it does seem to be on a smaller scale, it has to be said. Or maybe I just don't connect with them on the same level. Currently, the biggest long running scandal seems to be when the new metro will open between Espoo and Helsinki. Somewhat of a different level than, oh...I dunno...mass graves of babies around potatoland, like. There's no handing over the new maternity hospital to the nuns. There's no nnnyaaardeee rackin
The Longest Winter in my memory has (hopefully) ended. It was a pretty cold one to boot. It started out with two major life events, the birth of our second daughter, Freya, and a big move to our new home, which I am calling Stately Foley Manor. Stately Foley Manor - lots of space. Hopefully lots of birds. The very first species onto the garden list? Stunning Nutcrackers! Nutcrackers - That'll do. We made a quick trip down to Turku to show off Freya to family for the Father's day weekend, where I got to spend some quality time at Topinoja dump with Caspian Gull and Goshawks. Caspian Gull - 1st Winter a really striking looking, classic bird. Goshawk We spent the first few weeks, as you might imagine, unpacking, renovating where we could and adjusting to Freya's routine, before a host of visitors descended on us for the Christmas. It really was great to have the big house full of guests, and of course, meant we could go birding a fair bit. My old friend Ciarán Smyth and his
Comments
Post a Comment