Black-legged Kittiwake in Helsinki 14.4.2017

Yesterday Vilma wanted to wake up very early and it means that I have to get up too. I let Sanni to continued her sleep and together we went to have breakfast.
Soon after I got my phone in my hand I noticed Black-legged Kittiwake alarm from Vuosaari and it said that Kimmo Heiskanen had local bird in Kallvik.
This species was still missing from my stroller and local county list, so after quick decision we had rapid breakfast before we left towards Vuosaari.
During the drive I had to call Kimmo and ask some details of the place, but finally we found the right one. When we came to the shore where all the birders stood, the bird was still there!
The Kittiwake was swimming quite far a way but with telescope it was easy to see all the details of the bird. After watching it for some time we went little bit closet and I got some documentary skoping pics but those were rubbish. I let Vilma play half an hour near the shore and then we left.

Happy Vilma after tick, and Kallvik beach. 

Today after night shift I noticed that bird was still there. I slept few hours and woke up when my mother visited us with Sanni and Vilma. Later my wife had some plans with her friends, so I had change to visit Vuosaari for the second time.
This time I was alone and I had my camera with me. With few twitchers we had great time with the bird which was very tame and responsive. Bird was mostly swimming, but finally it gave us a nice show in the air. Here is "few" photos I took today.

Kittiwake cleaning up it self

And again.

Still cleaning up.

Kittiwake.

Here is some wing for you.

What a beauty.

Still swimming.

Closer.

Finally in the air.

Close up.

So, the bird is 2cy which means that it was born last year. Normally Black-legged Kitiwakes are real seabirds and closest breeding areas are in Norway. It is scarce visitor here and normally all the records are migrating birds, with only few records of local birds in Helsinki.
Thank you Kimmo Heiskanen for finding this gem!

-Tom