August's End

After bumper success at Lohja dump at the start of the month, I returned to the site the following week.

Gull numbers were still decent, and I instantly hit with yet another Caspian Gull on the gas dome.

Caspian Gull - Juvenile. A fairly neat and obvious one, some moult apparent.

Great start, so I carried on up to the waste warehouse. A good number of gulls here and another Caspian Gull made itself known.

Caspian Gull - Juvenile - Bird number 2. A really nice structure on display. 

This was a great score! But this time around I really wanted to hit the countryside so I didn't stay too long.

I mooched through the various sites, dipping any and all Pallid Harriers that had been reported.

I pulled in to Pikkalanlahti to have a scan of the bay, and suddenly I was hearing something, something distantly familiar, what is that sound..hey that's a Sandwich Tern!! 

Sandwich Tern, though muck at home, is a decent rarity in Finland, though the country is currently experiencing a bit of an influx at the moment. The bird made it's way around the bay and out east, and that was all she wrote on that one.

Red-Backed Shrike - Countryside is jam packed with these at present

Cormorant - sinensis - normally these tend to be miles out, but a few on the pier in Inkoo made for nice views.

Black-Throated Diver - big flocks of these roaming the lakes at present.

A juv Caspian Gull has been a long stayer in Helsinki city itself, and has been exceptionally tame by all accounts, so I made the effort to nip in and see it.

First up were some lovely juv Baltic Gulls in the harbor.

Baltic Gull 

Caspian Gull - a bit on the tame side!

Caspian Gull - Helsinki - it's a rare thing to see these birds as well as this here.

Just bonkers views

The last weekend in August finally produced those much desired Pallid Harriers.

Starting out at Lohja Dump produced no gulls of note (the site died again after those first two good weekends) and so I headed straight south checking harrier locations. 

Most were quiet until I made my way to Knappa, where I picked up a small looking harrier over a bare earth field.

This was a cracker of an adult female, a plumage I don't see as much of vs Juvs and males, so I spent a fair bit of time watching her, until she eventually soared right over me and headed east. 

Pallid Harrier - female - with males and juveniles having been reported in the general area of late, this being a new bird was a great start.

I then moved to the Knappa back road where a juvenile Pallid and an adult male Pallid both made themselves available, giving good scope views 

Pallid Harrier - Juvenile 

Pallid Harrier - adult male - simply stunning bird!

Having watched for over an hour, I continued on east to Saltfjärden. Not much in the way of raptors here, strangely, with a juv Hen Harrier the best, but passerine migration was good with both Red-Throated Pipit and Ortolan Bunting seen and heard here.

Hitting Laajalahti in the evening, where, with the water level having dropped for the first time in months, two Spotted Crake were showing periodically.

Spotted Crake - a common bird in Finland, but usually heard and not seen. This was my first seen in over 10 years shockingly. I really should make more of an effort with them every year, but that's easily said of many species 

Laajalahti was chockablock full of Red-Throated Pipits with one giving itself up in the open at one point, another reasonably rare event. 

Red-Throated Pipit - those tramlines! 

The weekend provided the opportunity to feast on a range of migrants both common and scarce, with a highlight being a self found Bluethroat briefly at Saltfjärden (always a good bird), tons of Red-Backed Shrike, Yellow Wagtail and Tree Pipit, Wryneck, Marsh and Hen Harriers, Honey Buzzard, Great White Egret, Black and Grey-Headed Woodpecker, Common Crane in their hundreds and various waders moving.

Marsh Harrier - male

Red-Backed Shrike - hedges and ditches are full of these at present. 

Yellow Wagtail - huge numbers in every field

Great White Egret - a 6 strong flock at Laajalahti 

Marsh Harrier - the immatures are something special in my opinion. The intensity of yellow, sometimes becoming deep orange is incredible.

Red-Backed Shrike - incredible when you get a tame one.

Tree Pipit - present in their thousands, but nice when you get one sitting out posing for you. Usually they're going over high up or flushed from ditches.

On Sunday morning, herself returned from walking the dog and informed me that there was a horde of large gulls on our bay.

We live on a large lake, which is used as a drinking/washing/loafing location for gulls moving between Ämmäsuo dump and the Baltic. However, despite a reasonable sized flock appearing most evenings, getting good views is a rare event and not really in any way predictable.

So when I heard the flock was in close to us, I sprinted down there.

My reward was at least 2 juv Caspian Gulls, with a distant possible juv and 2CY which I couldn't nail.

These two birds constitute the 4th and 5th I've had here, but the first that have been photographable. 

Caspian Gull 1 - an obvious juv with standout tertials. Still very juvenile.

Caspian Gull - bird 2 - a more solid presentation of greater coverts and less diffuse tertials. A few new scapulars fully grown in.

This bird looked the part also, but at other times looked a bit off. Couldn't get the tail on it so I left it alone. 

A really enjoyable month with excellent birding.

Let's see what September has in store