Last week of November

 I´ve had a week long vacation this week. I have done some birding and lots of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu during the week. Also one quick twitch earlier this month. 

On 18th I visited Haltiala to see Pallid Harrier, which was seen there earlier that day. Bird was very distant and I was there pretty late at the evening. Anyway nice 1 cy bird with at least two same age Hen Harriers. Here is the poorest picture I have seen of Pallid Harrier. 

Pallid Harrier.

On 26th I had some plans to visit Vuosaari hill and also went there but weather was bad, almost zero migration and occasional rain bothered me a bit. Highlight was lone migrating Two-bared Crossbill and Hawfinch. 

Linnets on the rocks. 

Great Grey Shrike. 

Collared Dove.

First flock of Waxwings already at the hill. 

On 27th I started from Tähtitorninmäki, in the city center where Yellow-browed Warbler was seen day before. No luck with the bird, so I continued my trip to Laajalahti and I decided to visit Maari bird tower. Not much to tell, but Little Stint was nice new bird to my year list and possibly my last flock of Barn Swallows this year migrated over the tower. Two adult White-tailed Eagles gave us a nice show. Couple of Golden Plovers and Ruffs in the area. Good company by Jösse and Ari Veijalainen. 

White-tailed Eagle harassed by Northern Lapwing.

From Maari tower I went to Seurasaari with high hopes of rarities and stuff.  Not really a surprise that I came back only with couple of photos of Nuthatch, one of my favorite species of all birds. 

Flock of about 60 Siskins, four Great-spotted Woodpeckers and other common birds in the island. 

Small flock of Gadwalls near the island. 

Nuthatch was pretty easy to find. 

Bird always came back and checked if I had some food for it. 

Great looking bird. 

Passport picture for female Great Tit. 

When I left the island my day was not over yet. I got info of Peregrine Falcon and Nightjahr from Laajalahti, so I headed there. 

Peregrine was easy to see from Pornaistenniemi tower, great adult bird! The Nightjahr was little bit more tricky to find. Luckily I met Anttoni Halonen there and together went to look the place. We had real troubles to see the bird until some photographer just showed it to us! Photo here. 

Sleeping European Nightjahr. 

Today (30th) I had my fourth Jiu-Jitsu training for this week and those I noticed that Palla´s Leaf Warbler was found again from Kaisaniemi botanical garden. I really wanted to see the bird and rain was also ended, so I headed there. Soon after I arrived I found some familiar faces waiting the bird which was seen about 15 minutes before I came. We waited and nothing happened. People were restless and started to walk around and in five minutes Samuli Laaksonen found the bird near by the place were we stood earlier. 

It was just moving high up in the trees and I got poor record shots of the bird. Good bird in Helsinki area! 

Palla´s Leaf Warbler.

Same bird different branch. 

This weekend we are celebrating my daughters birthday, so not much birding in few days. Also back to work next week. Hopefully some good rarities will pop up somewhere near by! October is always good month to see something very rare! 

-Tom 

Great Snipe in Helsinki 10.9.2022

 Days are running, not many good birds around the capital area, but yesterday I had message of local Great Snipe in Helsinki, and more specific in Malmi Cemetery! What a crazy place to found Great Snipe!

Today I was waiting the update of the bird, but all morning nothing happened.. Vilma was sick again and I took Julius for some bike riding around the nearby areas. We had large flock of Siskins, many Goldfinches, lone Goshawk and Sparrowhawk and so on, much common stuff. Good time with my son was of course the best thing there. 

White Wagtail in a bath.

Around ten juveniles in small area in Pirkkola. 

Juvenile / female Blackcap near our house in Maunula.

Finally in the afternoon someone found the Snipe and I rushed to see that awesome looking bird. Not too often you can watch this species, or any snipe species so close and far from the muddy water areas.. This bird was standing on  a grass and it found at least two big worms before it walked behind a tombstone and started to sleep. Here is few pictures. 

Great Snipe.

A bit closer. Look at those details! 

at this point it was behind of a tombstone.

Final check before sleep. No threats. 

Time to sleep! 

Finally I got some decent images of this awesome species. Pretty rare here in Helsinki and very rare breeder in whole Finland. Normally you can found these from fields and meadows when you walk around there, but this bird was a bit easier. Hopefully it can eat and continue its migration soon enough. 

-Tom

Long waited lifer 3.9.2022

 Day before yesterday (1st of September) I noticed a message of Rosy Starling from Raasepori, which is about 80km from Helsinki. This species has been in my radar very long time and with two tries I never saw it before today 3rd of September with my son Julius. 

We started a bit late, like eleven o´clock and after dropping Sanni and Vilma for shopping we started our drive to the site. Took us about an hour to arrive and we get nice instructions from other twitchers to where to look and so on. Heat waves were a bit distraction, but I found the bird pretty soon. It was so pale and almost the same color like the field where it was feeding. Soon couple of Hen Harriers mopped the flock up in the air and it was relatively easy to see from the flock. Luckily birds landed a bit closer and our main target was easier to see than moment earlier. 

Here is a poor video of the bird in my You Tube channel. picture of Julius who was already hungry at the point I took the picture, so that´s why thumbs down! 

Julius before food. After food he was all sunshine again. He got lifer today too! 

1cy Hen Harrier just before we left the place. 

Same bird. Shame that it was a bit too far and I was only able to get these horrible pictures.

After watching the bird for some time we left to have hamburgers at Hesburger. Julius wanted a burger, so I couldn´t say no to him. After burgers we visited Haltiala at Helsinki and big surprise was Rustic Bunting which landed to the fields from migration. At least six times "tik" sound and I saw the bird pretty well. Nothing much else to mention from there.. Great stuff  anyway and what a start for the autumn season. Julius watched cows and a heard of sheep.

Later back to home, Sauna and movie night with kids. 

-Tom 

Summerhouse with my friends. 19.8-21.8.2022

 I took Olli and Tero from my work and we had great weekend at our summerhouse in Hartola. Good food, beverages, sauna and some activities. 

As usually I carried my camera and here is one shots from the weekend. My first ever green morph of Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar. What a crazy looking thing!

  No much birds but at least I saw Grey-headed Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Crested Tit and couple of young Marsh Harriers. 

Green morph Elephant Hawkmoth caterpillar.

More birds later. 

-Tom