Hel Hath No Birdies

The illness theme continues as this past weekend saw the dreaded Flu of Man descend upon me. Saturday was fairly miserable weather-wise and was mostly a write off save for a couple of hours in the afternoon where it was dry. Desperate for some fresh air, and with errands to run any way, I opted for an afternoon stroll through an area where it just so happened there was a Great Snipe, which I managed to bag, along with Jack Snipe and Common Snipe. I then continued my stroll around Suomenoja, where the scrubby building area produced two skulky Bluethroat, a plethora of migrant Chiffchaff and Blackcap and another Jack Snipe on the pools.  Sunday was a beautiful day, so still afflicted, I opted for Saltfjarden. It is prime Rough Legged Buzzard migration time now and I managed to see some 30 birds over the course of the morning between here and Sunds.  Saltfjarden - prime migrant habitat now. Numerous White Tailed Eagle were also evident with about 20...

Lyra is unwell. Afflicted by one of the myriad of childhood pox-like viruses, she was not sleeping the best. In tried and tested tradition of parents taking baby for a drive to knock them out, I set off with her for Degerby on Saturday morning...now can it be helped that this location had become rare raptor central during the week? A mere coincidence... We arrived at Degerby, and I saw Petteri Hytonen looking into a field. I raised my bins, and there was a stunning Pallid Harrier sitting there. At last! Was worried I wasn't going to see one this Autumn, which would have been disastrous. Pallid Harrier - Juvenile male. Delicious. Interesting to watch this bird hunting on the ground, presumably chasing insects. You gotta love the Pallids. Pallid Harrier - juvenile - Pure sex on wings.  Two Red-Footed Falcon juveniles were also in the area, though were keeping their distance.  After an enjoyable couple of hours...

This weekend I ignored the gulls in favor of better game. The Baltics had been going mental during the week with a major influx of Red-Footed Falcon and I was desperate to get in on the action.  I bundled Lyra into the car on Saturday morning and we set off towards Inkoo, where several had taken up residence. Signs of migration where everywhere, and barely a kilometer out of the gate and I picked up a Marsh Harrier and Osprey moving together over our nearest fields. Marsh Harrier Osprey We arrived at Lillabreds in Inkoo and it wasn't difficult to pick up the Red-foots. They weren't always playing ball for views and photos though, and were ranging widely.  In total I had 6-7 individuals, mostly juvs with one adult female. We then made our way back towards Saltfjarden for a cafe break and vis-mig from the terrace, picking up birds such as Honey Buzzard, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Goshawk,  Hobby, Common Crane, White Tailed Eagle...