Caspian Gull 23.7.2012

Like i said earlier, we had this good candidate for Caspian Gull at Ämmässuo dump.
Roni showed some pics for the experts and now, it seems that the bird is same what Petteri Hytönen saw few days earlier.
So i put one X on my Finnish-list :)

Jump. Very pale under-wing.

Fly

Super long legs.

Long, slender bill.

Check Roni´s blog, there is much better photos of flying bird. http://ronivaisanen.blogspot.fi/2012/07/caspian-gull.html


-Tomppa-

Gulls at the dump. 23.7.2012

Petteri Hytönen found Yellow-legged Gull and Caspian Gull from Ämmässuo dump few days ago. 

Because we are experts of Gulls, Me and Roni Väisänen decided to twitch those birds.

I was little late this morning but Roni was nice and waited me. I jumped to he´s car and we drove in. 

We drove around the are few times and we noticed that one asphalt field was best place to watch these great creatures. 

Gulls are some ways easy to identify and there is always solution for every gull. Herring Gull, that´s the solution. If you have doubts, it´s normal Herring Gull. 

We saw about thousand gulls today and 950 of those were Herring Gulls, then comes Great Black-bagged Gull, Lesser Black-bagged Gull and only few other gulls. 

Of course there is always other birds too. Raven, Green Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper, Jackdaw, and Crow are common too.

Wood Sandpiper.

Flock of Jackdaws.

Lovely Herring Gulls.

Ravens and Gulls.

If im honest, i dont know anything about gulls so i was lucky when Roni started to tell what i must watch if i want to see Caspian or Yellow-legged Gulls. 

We had few interest looking gulls and one good candidate for Caspian Gull. We must wait when real Gull experts saw our photos but we thought that this bird was Caspian Gull.

Possible Caspian Gull.

I put only this one photo now, but i let you know if this is real Caspian :)

We had very nice time at the dump but Roni had to work a little bit so he drove me to my own car and continued hes day. I was super happy, this gull gives me good vibes and i really think it´s Caspian and that way a new tick for me in Finland! 

Here is some  other photos from dump.

Herring Gull, ring CVU41

Lesser Black-bagged Gull, ring CPAN

Juvenile Black-headed Gull.

Pintail.

Weird looking Herring Gull.. Any ideas??

Roni had scary idea, he said at one time "This is scary, more you look at them, the more interesting they looks" 

Maybe Roni is future "Gull Guru", expert, who is award-winning pathfinder? Who know. 

Thanks Roni for taking me with you and let´s hope that we had this Caspian :)

Best

-Tomppa-

Summer birds 18.7.2012

How you doing guys??
I have been lazy and stuck at work so i have not time to watch birds..
Today i had time!
Because my next shift is night shift i had to sleep quite late and i start at 2pm.
First place was Finnå.. You know, this is freaking hard to tell something when you have absolutely nothing to tell... Yes i can say that i saw few Tufted Ducks with very little young and i was thinking that is this already second round?
Finnå was dead.. Few Garden Warblers were singing and few were carrying food. Most of the ducks have start their autumn-moulting and few male Shovelers looked like female. That´s weird system what they have every year. Think if human men have their handsome summer-looks and after July it will chance to similar what females have.

Common Swift.

Northern Shoveler.

Still some young Black-headed Gulls present.

Best sighting at Finnå was White-tailed Eagle just before i opened my car doors.

Next place was Maari bird-tower. There was of course some people when i arrived, but enough room fo my telescope.
Only good thing in July is shorebird migration. When i checked the meadow, witch is by the way totally under water because heavy rains last few days i saw huge numbers of common species.
Dunlin 45, Curlew Sandpiper 5, Temmink´s Stint 6, Little Stint 1, Broad-billed Sandpiper 2, Ruff 10, Redshank 4, Spotted Redshank 5, Common Snipe 4, Greenshank 3, Wood Sandpiper 70, Green Sandpiper 2 Common Sandpiper 8, Little Ringed Plover 15, Lapwing 40. Also Teals, Wigeons and Mallards were numerous.

Next shower coming??

Broad-billed Sandpiper phonescoup.

Common Sandpiper phonescoup.

I was in the tower about one hour and then i get bored..
Next place was Seurasaari and i just grab my camera and binoculars with me.
Again, nothing to tell... Tits, Canada Goose, Barnacle Goose, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Fieldfares, Song Thrushes and so on.. After 25minutes the rain started and i had to run to my car. So nice ending..

Barnacle Goose couple.

Today i will book our flights to Ireland for next month. Bidges of ross, Shearwaters, Skuas, Gannets and so on. Im going to have about 10 new lifers because i so dude that i haven´t saw any Gannet ever... Brown boobies i have seen about 3.. :)

Rest of the week im at work so next post maybe after weekend.
Take care of yourselves.

Best.

-Tomppa-

Ringing and Great-white Egret in Espoo 10.7.2012

Today i woke up something like 2:45am. I drove to Laajalahti where i met Roni Väisänen and Jari Laitasalo at 3:30am.
After an hour we had all nets open and then we just wait some time before first rounds.
Today´s ringing session was slower than last time so there is no much to tell.
We had about 15-20 birds, can´t remember. Best species were Grasshopper Warbler and Marsh Warbler. Nice and good looking birds!
Other birds were something like Robin, Sedge Warbler and Sedge warbler and Robin :)
Again Roni let me train, put rings and take measurements. Of course he checked birds after me but most of the time i did good job.
So, i had very nice time with those nice guys. I hope the next time will be soon.

Marsh Warbler.

Grasshopper Warbler.

Sedge Warbler.

We ended today about an 10am so i had time to check Maari bird-tower.
I went there and i saw few birders in the tower.
I started to check the meadow and soon i saw first Dunlins, Spotted redshanks, Ringed Plovers, Temminck´s Stints, Broad-billed Sandpiper, Curlew Sandpiper and lonely Curlew.
Soon some guy with nice beard came to the tower. "have you seen the Great-white Egret" he asked and i didn´t know about any Egret! I checked our alarm web-site and there it was, found by Tuula Granroth. Nice fo Tuula but it was seen from other side of the bay.
After like 1hour and 10 more people in the tower i saw big white Egret flying other side of the bay and i shouted to others that they should look this bird! Everybody found it and everybody were happy. Some people left immediately after Egret but i stayed little bit longer.

Dunlins and Teal.

Temminck´s Stints.

Great-white Egret! 

What a nice day with good company, nice birds and ringing.
Other good birds at bird-tower were Little Tern, Spotted Crake and varied species of shorebirds.
Now im too tired to continue but i hope more stuff coming soon.
Over and out,

-Tomppa-

Ringing in Espoo 3.7.2012

Roni Väisänen called me last week and asked if i like to join with him and Markus Piha to Laajalahti bush ringings in Espoo.
I was excited  of course and told him that i can join.
Today we opened the nets about four o´clock.
I cant remember every round at the nets but we had nice numbers of birds. There was many young birds, mostly Blackbirds, Thrush Nightingales, Pied Flycatchers and Robins.
Other nice birds in hand was Little-spotted Woodpecker, few Garden Warblers, Common Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers, Chiffchaff (race still mystery, probably sub-specie Collybita) and Common Rosefinch.

Common Rosefinch, adult Male.

Whitethroat, 1cy.

ChiffChaff.

Roni and Markus checking the ChiffChaff.

Thank you Roni and Markus for letting me practice ringing and of course, thanks for the company.
We had nice time with mosquitos and other incects.
Ringing licence is one of my dreams so i think this practice was more than welcome if i want to pass the tests some day.
More mid-summer stuff coming hopefully soon.

Best.

-Tomppa-

Maari bird-tower again 2.7.2012

After a long week and weekend in work i had first day off yesterday.
My girlfriend Sarina had something else going so i had time to watch some birds before i had to pick her up at the train station.
So, i went to the Maari bird-tower again. There was few people when i arrived there but no familiar faces..
I started to check the meadow and i noticed nice numbers of Dunlins resting and eating there.
Very soon some older guy with great beard asked me that had i seen the Curlew Sandpipers!?!
I was not seen those birds but luckily situation was not bad.
5 gorgeous Curlew Sandpiper in their nice looking red summer plumage were eating with the Dunlins.

Dunlins in flight.

Two Curlew Sandpipers.

Same birds, maybe little bit closer.

There was also very nice numbers of other shorebirds.
Little Curlew, over 40 Dunlins, Spotted Redshank, Green Shanks and something like that.
Other good birds were Little Tern, Spotted Crake and White-tailed Eagle.

PhoneScoping rules. 

Mid-summer birding is normally quite boring but this was nice day.
More stuff very soon.

-Tomppa-