Hel Hath No Birdies

Back up at Hämeenkyrö this past weekend, which meant the usual visit to Tarastenjärvi. Things started out well, finding some decent scarce in the form of a Rook. Yes. A Rook. As I rounded a bend and presented with a mixed flock of Jackdaw, Raven and Hooded Crow, my attention was immediately drawn to the dark hoodie sized corvid. Result! Finding birds like this tell me I'm not overlooking things, even when it concerns Irish dross which I could be tempted to ignore. Why am I looking at crows? How else will I find that daurian? Gulls were a bit tough this time around, lazily loafing on rooftops for a change. No Caspian this time. It's been a poor season for Tarastenjärvi, with no juvs having turned up yet here (to my knowledge). The best in this regard was a few slightly more interesting Herring juvs. Baltics were also in lower numbers, many having already made their way south. Nice to see the plumage stage of the few juvs that were still present though. Juvenile Baltic Gull - thi

I've been continuing to search for Pallid Harriers now that we are in season but without massive success...except from my very own garden it seems. Pallid Harrier. Returning home from the morning kindergarten run, I decided to scan over the lake and was lucky enough to pick up a soaring juvenile Pallid Harrier quite close. Pallid Harrier - nice and slim I ran back to the car to grab my scope, but upon my return to the lake, the bird had moved to the far side of the lake. Nonetheless, I had good prolonged views as it made it's way East. I've been birding Siuntio and Inkoo in my search for Pallids, but limited to short trips, I haven't been able to put in any long stake outs of the usual sites. Nonetheless, I'm surprised I haven't connected with more birds, as usually this route will have several Pallids at this time of year.  Arriving at Myrans on Friday evening, several birders already in situ informed me that they had little luck with any interesting raptors. N