27. heinäkuuta 2014

Western Finland twitch 26.7.2014

Finally some birding activity! Recently i have used all of my time in the gym and working, so not much time for the birds.
Last week we got great news that pair of Paddyfield Warblers has bred successfully in Kristiinankaupunki.
Birds were already found in June and founders wanted to secure the nesting, so info came up much later.
Last weekend i did not have change to go there but today me and Markus Lampinen decided to go there.
We started before midnight from Helsinki and we had about four hours drive ahead.
With two stops and some coffee we arrived very early to Kristiinankaupunki. Later we noticed that we were about 2 hours too early there so little nap before boat came to pic us up.
I had some troubles with sleeping while Markus slept like a baby.
I have this new application in my phone and i can take very dramatic photos so here is one witch i took when we waited our boat ride.

Barn Swallows on a wire. 

Later we arrived to Trutklobbarna and there was already lots of people. Kari Korhonen had few mist-nets for the Warblers and first we waited if Kari could capture one or more birds.
While waiting we noticed a flock of Arctic Skuas flying around the island and i god some decent photos of this nice species finally. Also some Razorbills went North, 70 Great-crested Grebes were swimming near the island and some shore birds showed to us.

Golden Plover.

Dark morph Arctic Skua

Three Skuas.

One rested on a rock. 

Little later Kari informed that he heard juveniles begging sounds and we continued to the place where people saw the birds week ago. It was only little reeds where the birds moved and it was quite hard to see these little birds. Birds moved very quickly and stopped only for few times when we saw enough to id birds to Paddifield Warblers. First we saw only adult bird/birds. I got distant picture where you can see supercilium but not much more.. Kari captured two Blyth´s Reed Warblers and showed one to us while we watched Paddyfields.
Kari and Blyth´s Reed Warbler.


Adult Paddyfield Warbler.

Warbler place. You can see two rocks far a way, there birds moved around the reeds.

Later we had seen birds about five times very well so we went back to the place where we started. After having some beverages Kari, Markus and some others wanted to try if they can chase the birds to the net.
I continued my Skua photographing but it did not took so long when Markus called that they got two juvenile birds from the net! We walked there and behind huge group of people i managed to take only few crappy shots of the birds. Luckily Matti Pajunen loaned hes 105mm lens so i got even those few.

Juvenile Paddyfield Warbler. Awesome! 
Soon Kari had ringed both juniors and he released them near the place where the nest is. I really hope these youngsters will survive!
After this we gathered back to the cottage and had some good time. Weather was incredible, 30 degrees and no single cloud in the sky. I was sweating like big!
Me and Markus were in the last boat ride so we enjoyed nice time in this great island. Just before midday we arrived back to the harbor. We were so happy of all this and seeing those amazing birds so near was really worth of all driving and even Markus got lifer this time! (My tick number 302)
Later we start our long drive back to Helsinki but i was so tired that we had to stop and have some energy drink with food. We made also stop in Karkkila, about 60km from Helsinki to check if Grey Wagtails would show us. Not this time but place was super beautiful and i had to use my application camera also here!

Little river. 

Power of water.

When we were walking back to the car, Markus noticed small butterfly and it turned to be the Map. This beauty is second generation and that´s why it is more black.

Little beauty. This butterfly is really called Map.

Later i drove Markus back home and when i arrived back home i had to go to bed to have some nap. So tired.

So, what a great day we had. Markus, it´s always so much pleasure twitch and hang out with you! Thanks for the company. Also big thanks to Kari Korhonen and Veikko Forsberg for organizing everything! You guys do really good job there. Thanks also to Jorma Knaapi, Pertti Uusuvuori and other guys for company! I can´t remember all of your names, so sorry about that.
For the future, i might put more about butterflies in my blog. My old interests is waking up. But yeah, birds are still number one i promise!

-Tom-

Ei kommentteja:

Lähetä kommentti