The French Connection

On Saturday I met up with visiting French birder, Adrien Pajot, just back from travelling in Ireland, and we headed out to Lohja to get him Nutcracker as a lifer. I dumped a fresh kilo of peanuts on the feeder as soon as we arrived and we did not have to wait long for the birds to notice the influx of food.

First up were a delightful pair of Jay, which instantly began to crop a dozen peanuts at a time before flying off to stash them nearby.

Jay - Adrien Pajot

This behaviour quickly attracted the attention of the Nutcrackers, who amazingly seemed to be taking careful note of each of the Jay's hiding places. I had never seen this behaviour before, but no sooner had a Jay stashed some nuts in a secure location and returned to the feeder, then a Nutcracker would land at the hiding spot, have a little dig around, clearly finding the stash, and then leave, without taking anything. I can only imagine that they do remember these caches for hard times, however it is unlikely they ever really need them, as this feeder tends to be routinely stocked in the dead of winter.

 Nutcrackers - Adrien Pajot

Nutcracker are always an excellent bird to see on any day out. One of these in Ireland would cause a stampede, but I could see this hopping around in a garden on Howth some day. 

Also present at the feeder were the usual Willow Tits and Great spotted Woodpeckers, who surprisingly enough were still finding ants on the nearby nest. It was a rather warm weekend, so I guess the ants havent gone underground for the winter yet.

 

Great Spotted Woodpecker - Adrien Pajot

A real treat for this location was a confiding Grey Headed Woodpecker, my first visiting this particular feeder.

 

Grey Headed Woodpecker - Adrien Pajot

From the Nutcracker site we moved on towards Myrans. A couple of White Tailed Eagles were floating around here, but we were hampered by localized showers so decided to push on towards Porkkala, seeing a few more White Taileds on the way.

Saltfjarden was pretty quiet save for an adult and a 1st winter Goshawk, so we made for the car park at the tip of the peninsula.

After a short walk through the woods, circling back to the road, we managed to find our next target lifer for Adrien, a stunning male Three Toed Woodpecker, giving itself up on a fallen tree right beside us. This bird gave excellent views for about 15 minutes before it headed off up the hill. Gorgeous woodpecker!

Three Toed Woodpecker - Adrien Pajot

From here we moved west and took a quick look out to sea, but it was pretty choppy and seaduck were keeping their distance. Adrien managed to pick up a distant Kittiwake, which is a decent, noteworthy bird in Finland, but not realizing it was rare didn't mention it until it was too late. Porkkala is a regular viewpoint for them though, and I've found one here before so no loss.

A few Long Tailed Duck and a single female Common Scoter were the best of the rest here.

We then moved on checking a few sites for Pygmy Owl, but it was not to be. A nice Great Grey Shrike was showing just below Sundsin tower, which was another new finnish bird for Adrien, and that was the last of our birding for the day.

Sunday I spent the day hiking through the woods with Kuura at Viiki, nothing amazingly special, with all the usual suspects seen, including 5 Goshawk, Great Grey Shrike, White Tailed Eagle, Willow and Crested Tit, Great Spotted, Lesser Spotted, Black and Grey Headed Woodpecker, Northern Treecreeper and Northern Long Tailed Tit, and a nice flock of Smew and Goosander.

Smew is one of those class under-rated birds. I can remember running down to Tallaghtfornia for my first male many years ago, but I have always loved those little red head females, about the only ginger worth paying attention to.

My first self found bird in Ireland was from the defunct back channel hide on the north slob, Wexford, probably one of the most reliable spots in the country for them, and have found another there since, but it was always one of those "Back of your mind" birds, not something you particularly went out searching for, but were always delighted when you found one.

Smew - These days, I get to see flocks in both Spring and Autumn, but they're still little charmers.