October Hybrids

Another catch up post. 

After my last posting I managed to find some nice scarce in the form of 2 Great White Egret at Inkoo. A nice little bonus for what was a family eats outing.

Great White Egrets - it's a starnge setting, seeing them on Baltic rocky coasts like this.

I was also able to enjoy further Great White Egrets at Laajalahti.

Great White Egret

Also at Laajalahti were some fine performing White-Tailed Eagle and Goosander.

White-Tailed Eagle

Goosander 

It's also been nice to see the usual Goshawks taking up their winter hunting spots around the city.

Great Grey Shrikes are also taking up residence. 

I've been encountering a lot of hybrids of late. 

Starting with this Canada x Barnacle Goose at Myrans.

I picked this small looking Canada type on a scan from the car with bins. The rush of adrenaline was short lived though. A cursory check with the scope revealed a white forehead blaze. Feck. 

The bird gave itself up eventually. An interesting beast to be sure, the first time I've encountered this cross.

This hybrid House x Tree Sparrow also popped up in the garden. Again a bit of an adrenaline rush, as a house sparrow would be a garden mega.

I then found another House x Tree Sparrow at Suurpelto, though this one to me looks like a backcross, with just a marginal hint of grey on the crown.

Again, it's pleasing to pick things like this up. Subtle details needing a keen eye and a will to look.

Locally around the neighborhood, it was nice to spend some time with what was probably my last Black-Throated Diver of the year. Stunning birds.

Black-Throated Diver

Baltic Gull - this juv Baltic from the garden was also nice. Unusual to see this species on the deck from here.

Geese have been moving through in their thousands, but relatively few have been grounded this year. Nonetheless I was fairly pleased to find an always scarce Pink-Footed Goose near Degerby. 

Pink-Footed Goose, with Tundra Bean Goose for comparison - decent scarce.

Of more interest to me though, was the flock of Bean Geese present and managing to pull 3-4 Taiga Bean Geese out of the bag. True Birder's birds that always feel special.

Taiga Bean Goose - front on view. A bird showing a white blaze.

The Tundras, surprisingly, kept their distance.

As always, great to compare those head profiles. 

The annual autumn arrival of Woodpeckers, namely Black and Grey-Headed frequenting the garden more often has been very enjoyable, particularly this Black Woodpecker which has been a daily occurrence.

Black Woodpecker - what a beast. 

It was amazing to see this bird feeding on Rowan berries. I've never encountered any Woodpecker feeding on Rowan before and would never have thought this behemoth would do so, providing a unique viewing opportunity in the process.

The undoubted star of the past few weeks has been the Brown Shrike at Viiki. This bird is the second for Finland, with the first having only occured a few weeks ago up the west coast.

Brown Shrike was a first for Finland species I had hoped to find, being a non-native, I had hoped that my routine perusal of the numerous Red-Backed Shrikes would allow for me to dig one out. Indeed, on a day out birding with me wife the day before the first was found it had actually been a topic of discussion between us. 

Being a lifer for me, I had no problem abandoning a sick wife and child to run for the second bird just the other side of the city. And I'd do it again. 

Brown Shrike - damn good tickage.

There can often be some nice late rarities this time of year in Finland. Here's hoping some other nice bits produce themselves.