Siberian Accentors in Helsinki 17.10.2016

Because I did not get any photos of the Siberian Accentor earlier in Naantali, I had to twitch another bird to get one.
On 17th we visited my friend Tyron and his first lady Sanni to see their 5 weeks old baby girl Ella. While we were there I got alarm message of Sibe Accentor in Vuosaari Hill and because they are living near of it, we went to twitch it. Unfortunately no luck with that bird.
Later same day when Vilma went to bed I drove to Viikki where I knew that two birds were present earlier that day.
It was early afternoon and lots of people around. I had to wait about 10 minutes and first bird showed up nicely semi close to us. Shame the place was dark and day was cloudy, pictures were mess..
I waited and soon both birds were there together and very close to us. Even my 300mm was too long to get both birds properly to the same photo. Anyway, it was really weird feeling to see two of these rare birds in same place.
Here is some photos.

Siberian Accentor!

Bird was feeding openly on the ground.

Same.

And again.

Shitty photo, but both birds in same picture. 

Beautiful bird.

Twitchers.

Nice day again!

-Tom

Twitching around with my family 10.10-14.10.2016

This October has been very good for rare birds in Finland. Amazing influx of Siberia Accentors and other goodies made me drive around southern Finland.

On 10th of October we made family trip to Naantali to twitch Siberian Accentor. Quite long drive but really was worth of it! We arrived early afternoon and still lots of birders around. Bird was hiding in very bad place with lots of vegetation and bushes. We climbed to the hill where the bird was and something amazing happened. It took only few minutes and I found the bird from the nearest bush. I yelled that "there it is" and people started to panic. Luckily bird showed quite well so everybody who was there at the moment saw it! I even had time to put Vilma on the stroller and tick the most amaing stroller tick! Some people waited there like four hours and we came there and it took only minutes!
I was hoping to see it again and get some photos, but bird didn´t show up anymore when we were there.
Still I was super happy to see this one of my dream birds and even with the strollers and my family!

Sanni and Vilma jsut before the Accentor was found again.

Tricky place to see small brown bird.

After the twitch we visited Turku and we had nice sushi buffet meal in the city center.

Next day I was lying on our sofa when I noticed an alarm of Great-grey Owl in Herttoniemi, Helsinki! Shiit! I took Vilma and together we drove there.I also informed my pall Tyron who had this bird on his want to see list. Bird was resting in a park quite near the road.
When I arrived there with Vilma there was already some twitchers, including Tyron.
We got nice views of the bird, little bit behind the leafs. Very rare bird in Helsinki and very good stroller tick.

Great-grey Owl!

Vilma was happy too!

After the Great-grey Owl we checked the Tawny owl from near by and left back home, because we had some drive ahead to Vääksy to see my mother in law.

Tawny Owl.

One reason to go Vääksy was birds again. On our way there I knew that Marhs Tit was spending time in Hollola and because I haven´t seen any in Finland ever, now was good time to fix that problem.
About an hour drive and we arrived to Hollola where the bird was seen.
Vilma was sleeping so I didn´t took her out, but at least I saw the bird and got lifer! Thanks for the company Jari and Anu!

Marsh Tit.

We had great time in Vääksy and we arrived back home later that night.

On 13th We were on the road again! This time our destination was Janakkala and Isabelline Shrike. Bird was seen at same morning and we arrived there at 10.30. Bird was gone and it was not seen in few hours.
We spend almost two hours there but no luck... I walked around the area but nothing..
You can´t be lucky everytime...

Nothing there..

Family selfie!

After Janakkala we went to see Sannis friend Riina in Tampere and again we had amazing Sushi buffet there. Sushi is one of our favorite things by the way.
Later same day we drove back home. Long but fun day.

-Tom

Haltiala with Vilma 6.10.2016

On 6th of October I had free time with Vilma again, and this time we chose Haltiala. Nothing special in my mind, but place has good potential to find almost anything.
only 10 minute drive from home and when we arrived I noticed big flock of Mistle Thrushes flyin around with some Fieldfares. We walked around about an hour and all foud basic Thrush species around with Great Grey Shrike, Yellowhammers, Goshawk, Woodpigeons, Skylarks and so on.
Vilma had fun crawling around and I had full job to keep her out of spiny bushes.

I guess here is some kind of fertilizing machine on the field.

Mistly Thrush.

Quite soon Vilma started to be tired and cranky, so we headed back home for a nap.

-Tom

Pallas´s Leaf Warbler in Helsinki 3.10.2016

Pallas´s Leaf Warbler was found on 2nd of October from Lapinlahti, Helsinki. I was working that day, but next one was off. I took Sanni and Vilma with me and we had great stroller twitch again!
Bird was lost about an hour before it was found again by Pekka Rusanen. Lots of people was ticking this semi rare sibe!
Here is possibly the worst record shot of the bird.

Pallas´s Leaf Warbler.

Thanks for your patience Sanni and Vilma, I really appreciate that!
Very good stroller tick again!


-Tom

Kaivopuisto with Vilma 21.9.2016

At 21st I spend two hours in Kaivopuisto with Vilma. We were walking around the park and quite soon I heard a familiar call! Yellow-browed Warbler was calling in some kind of flower thing.
I had one few days earlier, but this time I was with the stroller! Very good species with those. VIlma was happy and and I´m pretty sure she saw the bird because we went quite close and I lifted her so she could see something. :) After the warbler we went to check some playing grounds near by!

Vilma and the flower thing where the warbler was found!

Great day!

-Tom

Lots of butterflies in Helsinki 9.9.2016

While I was working on that day, I noticed huge numbers of Butteflies around our compound. Almost 30 Red Admirals, some Painted Ladys, Peacock Butterflies, one Silver Y, Small Tortoiseshelles and surprisingly a female Silver-washed Fritillary! Never seen that before in Finland and now one was here during my day at work!

Here is some photos

Red Admirals.

Silver Y.

SIlver-washed Fritillary.

Small Tortoishelle.

Great day at work.

-Tom

Viikki with Vilma 6.9.2016

I had day of and what is better than watch birds with my girl Vilma. We went to Viikki, and hoped many new stroller ticks.
In two hours we got Peregrine Falcon and European Golden Plover. Not bad! Many common birds around of course and this time I tried to phoneskope Whinchat and Ruffs.
Vilma was calm and happy all the time and after the trip we got some well deserved sleep!

Little flock of Ruffs.

Whinchat.

Vilma!

-Tom

Black-winged Pratincole in Helsinki 25.8.2016

At 24th of August some birders found Black-winged Prantincole from Vanhankaupunginlahti, Helsinki. This great bird was still missing from my lifer list so with my uncle Jände we went to twitch it next morning before work.
We arrived very early to Viikki and after 20 minute walk we came to the birdtower where we started to look at the bay. It was foggy morning, but we got alarm that other side of the bay had already seen the bird! Finally after 15 long minutes Jände said "There!" I had only my boniculars, but htat was enough. I found the bird flying around the bay and it showed the black under parts of the wing and there was not any white on the wing. Great bird, great morning and good company.

Vanhankaupunginlahti. Bird was flying somewhere there! 

Thanks for the company Jände and Kari Lindblom, who was in the tower with us!

-Tom

Ringing in Espoo 23.8.2016

Markus Lampinen took me with him to do some ringing in Espoo. I´m always ready for ringing session and I have always been very interested about getting birds in hand.
We spend six hours there and got over 100 birds. Can´t remember the numbers of the species etc after this long time, but here is collage of photos. During the ringing we got also Great-white Egret and some Red-breasted Pipits flying around.

Tree Pipit.

Marsh Warbler.

Sedge Warbler.

Common Rosefinch.

Reed Bunting.

Juvenile Red-backed Shrike.

Adult male Red-backed Shrike.

Spotted Flycatcher.

Lesser Whitethroat.

Thank you Markus Lampinen and Tomas Swahn for the company!

-Tom

Estonian Open 2016

So, our legendary team was participating to the Estonian Open bird race again on 13th of August. This time in our team MuoviLabaJengi  was Teppo Lehtola, Pasi Alanko and me.
Almost the whole race time was rainy and windy, so total species count was quite low.
Maybe the hardest race where I have ever been. I was totally wet after we got back to our hotel where we had the race ending ceremonies.
In Estonian open you have basic list 120 species and this time nobody didn´t got even near the full basic list.
I knew that we picked some goodies during the day and I was positively surprised when we noticed that we are going to be at fourth place! Very good job!

Here is few photos and the results.

Sanderling and Ringed Plover.

Great White Egret.

Käina Bay.

Distant Red-necked Phalaropes.

Here are the results, despite the date these are the real ones.

Thanks for the company Pasi and Teppo! Great fun like always.

-Tom

Late July summerhousing. 27-29.7.2016

Only few months late.
We had very pleasant weekend in our summerhouse at the end of the July. Only an hour drive from home and you can enjoy nature and silence. With the baby? No way.
This time I tried to take photos of Butterflies and Dragonflies because the place is much better for those. Of course some birding, but I didn´t left the backyard.

Here is some photos from the weekend.

Yellow-winged Darter.

Yellow-winged Darter.

Idas Bluet.

Second brood Map

Essex Skipper.

Black-tailed Skimmer.

Peacock Butterfly

Common Bluet in tandem.

Lesser Purple Emperor.

Common Darter.

Some of the Dragonflies could be wrong here, because I´m just a starting my hobby with these.
From birds I could mention some Ospreys, Black Woodpecker, Arctic Terns etc.
Great fun with the family.

-Tom