Devil May Care

Been a busy month which, although I've managed a fair bit of birding around and about, hasn't allowed me much time for processing any of the pics I've taken or blogging.

At the end of April I checked in on my local pair of Red-Necked Grebe (my favourite Grebe) and was delighted to find not one pair, but two, very territorial and narky pairs, fighting it out in the bay. 

Red-Necked Grebe - The King of Grebes.

The garden has been producing in an exceptional manner, with several rarities/scarcities adding themselves to the garden list. 

Highlights among these have been a second Pallid Harrier, a female/2CY type, and Arctic Skua (always a decent bird in Finland, but especially when seen inland, and this Black Kite, a long overdue rarity.

Black Kite - know your silhouettes and tail shapes when it comes to raptors.

Black Kite Video-grabs - garden mega and a decent rare/scarce.

Black Kite vary in scarcity depending on where you are in Finland. In the east of the country they breed, to the point that you can be reasonably expected to encounter them on any given visit. Along the south coast, birds seem to roam back and forth, whilst elsewhere up the country they are often a description species at local level. 

I've found one from our neighbouring sister lake, and Ammasuo dump to our north often has a couple over-summering. It makes sense that sooner or later I would find one from the garden. Nonetheless I was delighted to pick this rise up over the trees. What a bird!

Common Terns - garden goodies

Whinchat - Fresh miggage

Caspian Terns returned to Laajalahti and performed well on a brief visit.

Caspian Tern - The King of Terns doesn't take any crap.

We then took a break up at Hämeenkyrö, doing very little save for Sauna-ing and Hot tubbing whilst Curlew, Woodcock and Common Crane called away in the adjacent fields.

A visit to Tarastenjärvi had very little going for it save for a few Baltic Gull. 

Older inner primaries and primary coverts.

2CY Baltic Gull

Large P9 mirror. Less typical for Baltic.

However I did manage to find this stunning Red-Necked Phalarope at some random roadside pools, which more than made up for lack of activity at the dump.

Red-Necked Phalarope - a dream wader. Absolutely stunning bird.

Other waders providing good views here included the typical Wood Sandpipers, Ruff and Little Ringed Plover, but an obliging Temminck's Stint was a pleasant surprise.

Temminck's Stint

Wood Sandpiper

Little Ringed Plover

This Little Gull was also find of bathing in the pools. 

Little Gull - top drawer gullage

A quick tourist stop at some local springs turned out to be some great habitat, producing the first Red-Breasted Flycatcher of the year. 

 

Returning back down to Kirkkonummi, it was great to see the great greening, as all the broadleaf trees hit full foliage. With this, many of the late spring migrants were in situ, with Thrush Nightingale, Icterine Warbler, Garden Warbler all present in the neighborhood.

Garden Warbler

Just having arrived back, news came through that a male Collared Flycatcher was singing down at Porkkala. A quick twitch was required!

It didn't take long to see the bird, singing and moving around a small basketball court in the woods, with Icterine as a back up singer. What a stunner.

I haven't seen this species since a summer trip to Hungary over ten years ago, so a real catch up, as well as bringing back good memories (For some reason Hungarian beer was the coldest imaginable after a hot day out birding).

Collared Flycatcher. Perfection.

Collared Flycatcher - a binary dream

After enjoying this bird for over an hour I carried on with my familiar Porkkala route seeing Red-Breasted Flycatcher and Greenish Warbler at typical sites, fresh in and singing away.

Greenish Warbler - fantastic little song.

I then made my way back up the peninsula, grabbing Red-Backed Shrike for the year on the way, before stopping off for a singing Golden Oriole and then home. 

Top notch spring birding.