Hel Hath No Birdies

With Lyra's 1st birthday imminent, my parents arrived in town for a week of festivities and Juhannus relaxation. After feasting and celebrating the first joyous year of our little birder girl being with us, I snuck my old man out at points during the past week for various goodies that Irish birders don't get enough of. We started with Laajalahti, where the Caspian Terns, Cranes and various waders put on a good show. Common Cranes - always a treat for the discerning Irish birder. Caspian Terns - midsummer monsters A number of full summer Spotted Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover and Ruff were also on show. We then moved on in search of the scarcer summer warblers. A short way down the road, not far from our old place in Koivu-Mankka, we encountered Marsh, Blyth's Reed and River Warbler all singing in close proximity. River Warbler - the creme de la creme of summer Nightsingers. Bl...

June and pretty much everything that should be back is back. It was time for me to hit some old forest in search of Red Breasted Flycatcher and Greenish Warbler. I headed south to Porkkala, and an hour or so strolling through the woods produced several of each singing. Being old forest meant that these birds were generally high overhead and flitting actively, but one immature male RB Fly did give good phone-scoping opportunities.         2 CY Red Breasted Flycatcher - RB fly breeds in it's second year, before they have obtained their full adult plumage. You can just about make out a buff colouration on the throat of this bird. It's a pretty little song too. After the early start, and having skipped my morning coffee, I was crashing somewhat, so I made my way to a nearby seaside Cafe and enjoyed a late breakfast watching Caspian Tern and eider.    I don't function without caffeine anymore. I make...

The end of May sees a big bank holiday arise, and a bit of sneaky holiday selection meant I had a 5 day weekend on my plate. We selected to head up to the Hämeenkyrö summer cottage for the duration, which meant I got to spend some time at Tarastenjärvi dump, as well as the usual grassland and forest sites close to the cottage. I managed to nip down to the dump for a couple of hours on Wednesday. There had been a couple of 2CY Caspian gulls there, on and off, over the past couple of weeks, and I was looking forward to seeing them in a less familiar plumage for me (naturally all gulls pretty much feck off over the course of a Finnish winter, so no chance to track the usual juvs over the course of their 1st winter). There had also been a Black Kite reported at the dump that day, another bird I was keen to see. (The Raptors). The dump was incredibly active with birds when I arrived and I knew it would not be easy with the gulls. The Black Kite was on show instantly however, coming...