The Little One Moves Alone

"The saying in birding that "The Big one moves alone", refers to big rarities at times appearing without any supporting cast. 

The same can be said of this Little one...a Little Egret that is!

Little Egret - Top rare

Little Egret is increasing in occurrence in Finland, but is still a major rarity, and wasn't really one I was expecting to find to be quite honest.

Nipping down to Saltfjärden for a few hours on Sunday 31st of May, I was surprised to see the car park virtually empty.

A couple of birders were present chasing a Citrine x Yellow Wagtail hybrid which had been present for photos, but these soon moved off and left me with the entire site to myself. 

It was an overcast day with light easterly winds and should have been good for migration (IMO), but it was strangely quiet, with just a few local White-Tailed Eagle, Buzzard and Ospreys floating around. 

Apart from a singing Golden Oriole which had been found before I arrived, there really wasn't much evidence of anything happening. 

Sitting into the car to grab a drink of water and take a break from scanning, when I reengaged, I raised my bins to the south and picked up an egret incoming, distant over the trees. 

This all of a sudden became an exercise in neural mapping.

An egret in Finland should be a Great White Egret, a species which is now very widespread and regular, but I decided to scope it anyway.

And here something did not compute. An egret against a grey-white sky is a challenge in terms of picking out colours, let alone trying to find it in the scope at all, but when I got onto it finally something was off structurally.

"Is...is that a Little?".

You would think that, having seen bajillions of Little Egrets in my life, growing up with them in Ireland, and having found several Great White Egret as rarities in Ireland, that the ID would be reflex, but my brain wasn't working that way. Reversing the search image was actually something I had work on. 

"The bill looks long and spiky - check.

The chest protusion is weaker, not as deep as GWE - check

The wings seem narrower and more angular - check

The legs look relatively shorter - but are they short enough?"

As the bird moved closer, it banked and for the first time I picked up colour...Yellow Feet!!! Yellow Feet!!! 

I grabbed the camera, and by the time I got it and got on the bird again, it was now almost overhead (though still at a height) and luckily I got the bird in frame straight away, it focused and I whipped off a few shots, before the bird carried on east.

And all I could do was laugh. As I so often do when I see or find a rarity that is muck at home in Ireland. Getting all excited over a Little Egret...the shame! 🤣

This bird, if Tarsiger is to be believed was the 39th for Finland.

This puts the bird on a par with something like Forster's Tern or Cackling Goose back home, and was a full Finnish tick for me.

Amazingly another Little Egret was found some 30 mins later, west of me (distance and direction eliminating the possibility of being the same as mine), so a sign of the times, with this species occurring more regularly.

A great way to get a species like this as a Finn tick, because I for sure wouldn't twitch one in any significant distance terms, indeed, in my time here, there have been birds available in the capital area which I just didn't bother going for, so finding one does the job nicely. 😎

Shortly after the egret had passed through, I picked up a small looking falcon high up among swifts. Viewing was tough, but it looked very much like a 2 CY male Red-Footed Falcon, which sadly I lost before clinching. I called it a day soon after that, happy with my one solid rarity.

The Spring has continued to be enjoyable, with Golden Oriole making it's way onto the garden list the same day as the Little Egret (pretty stellar day tbh), and various late migrants such as Red-Breasted Flycatcher and Greenish Warbler making themselves available, as well as finding more Black Kites.

Red-Breasted Flycatcher - 2CY male...not the most stunning but a sweet little song all the same.

Greenish Warbler - another delightful song

Black Kite - Sunds Tower

Wader passage has been great in the latter part of May with birds such as Red-Necked Phalarope being available.

Red-Necked Phalarope 

Broad-Billed Sandpipers - always a star bird here in Spring

Temminck's Stint - good numbers this spring 

Another exceptional highlight was encountering a large flock of Dotterel flying through Saltfjärden, though the views could have stood to be closer, less hazy and more prolonged...it was still amazing to just see that many, more than doubling the total I have ever seen in my life with just one flock.

Dotterel Flock - Screenshot from Tiira. Exceptional stuff.

There's still a bit of Spring passage/early summer action to go here, so hopefully the good run continues!