The Big Move

Saturday was the day to begin the process of moving out to our new place in Kirkkonummi. We are in no rush, so the aim was to fill up the car with boxes, drop them off at the new place and then proceed to explore around the place for birds.

Pulling into the drive, a few Crossbills were obvious in the trees, which turned out to be Parrot Crossbills. A very nice first garden tick.

These were quickly followed by drumming Great Spotted and Grey Headed Woodpecker.
Our neighbors seem to be big on winter bird feeding, so I think we shall do well there.
I then proceeded off around the usual Kirkkonummi spots.

Unfortunately, it appears that Yellowhammer flock holding the buntings from two weeks ago seems to have dispersed or moved on, so I guess that's all she wrote for the Pine Bunts and Lapland Bunting.
Though two Hawfinch were good for the area.

The habitat was looking beautiful though, after heavy snow midweek, and sub zero temperatures, giving that Narnia effect I love to bird in.


Saturday was a balmy -5 degrees, with cloud cover. This did not prevent every woodpecker from drumming all day though, indeed the snow seems to reflect the noise all the more.

The rest of the weekend became about one species in particular.

White Tailed Eagle.



I think they're starting to get territorial again, often hanging around in groups of 3 or 4, and with one brief, but beautiful instance of talon grasping seen today.



I've only seen this talon grasping display a couple of times before and it's always astounding to watch. Some day I'll manage to get it on video.





White Tailed Eagles. Truly monstrous, amazing birds.



Other goodies seen today included Hazel and Black Grouse, Three toed and Black Woodpeckers, several Goshawk, common Buzzard, and a distant Hawk Owl.


Sunday was a biting -12, with beautiful sunshine all day. Not that it made a difference. Half an our spent scanning an open area of sea (most inlets are solid ice at this point) produced a couple of hundred Long Tailed Duck and just a single Velvet scoter. Half an hour was all I could manage, by the end of which I thought my face had been cut off. It's not called the Baltic for nothing.



Beautiful snowscapes and big skies. Perfect for picking up soaring raptors. An impressive count of 26 White Tailed Eagles, of various ages, seen around various sites today.

A rather pleasant couple of days in surroundings I am going to become much more familiar with before too long.

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