Black Redstart 6.12.2022

 No bird watching during the November... My new hobby, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu takes most of my spare time, but I´m not worried. More to come when the warm and sun is back! ON 6th of December, our independence day I too Vilma and together we went to twitch Black Redstart from Viikki. Only my second during the winter months. 

Day was very dark and photographing was very hard, but here is few pics. Bird was also a year tick for me! 

Black Redstart. 

Wing panel was super bright white. Any ideas of the subspecies? :) 

Not everyday you van have snow and Black Redstart in same picture in Finland.

Happy holidays folks! Possibly some birding still coming this year, but if not, there is always another year just around the corner. I will make 2022 highlight post! 

Take care and stay warm.

-Tom

Mediterranean Gull in Helsinki 24.10.2022

 Timo Pettay found Mediterranean Gull from Töölönlahti and it was very first for Helsinki! Next day many people were searching the bird and soon it was relocated at the same place. On 24th I had short window to twitch this great bird and it was very successful trip. Bird was only a bit distant, but easy to see and photo. 

My second ever in Finland and one of my favorite Gulls.

Photos here.

1cy Med Gull.

Lots of Gulls around the area.

Med Gull again.

-Tom

Turtle Dove with kids. 23.10.2022

 On 23rd I took kids and together we went to Vartioharju to see a Turtle Dove which was found day or two before. 

Bird was sitting on a branch most of the time we were there, but soon after we started to walk toward car it took off and moved couple of hundred meters. 

Here is couple of shot of the bird. 

Turtle Dove.

Pretty rare bird in Helsinki area and declining rapidly in everywhere.

Later we visited also Vuosaari Hill, but not much bird there. Some pictures here. 

Julius and Vilma at the Hill.

-Tom

Trip to Asikkala 22.10.2022

Quick weekend trip to Vääksy to see Sanni´s mother. We had some walks around the area. Not much birds, but I managed to see migrating Pine Grosbeak, but missed Kittiwake from same site (seen from different place, but went over us). Only few small flocks of Waxwings, one Black-throated Diver, Longtailed Ducks etc. Willow Tits are always nice to see. 

Here is two photos of Waxwings. 

Waxwing.

And another. 

Weather was very windy and wet. Kids played at the parks and we had nice time. 

-Tom

Day two and three in Estonia 18.10 - 19.10.2022

 Day two was very nice day to watch migration. We spend five hours at cape Pösaspea and here are some numbers from the day. Fog made the migration sometimes very hard to watch, but same time it pushed some birds to the shore from the sea. Also one diver which was fist identified as a Great Northern Diver, but later we talked about it and we were not sure about the species. My opinion were pretty clear GND, but "pretty clear" is not enough when there is about 10 records of this species in the country. 

Brent Goose 44 m

Barnacle Goose 515 m

Greater Scaup 146 m 

Velvet Scoter 105 m

Common Scoter 429 m

Long-tailed Duck 1141 m

Smew 9 m

Red-breasted Merganser 779 m

Red-thorated Diver 332 m

Black-throated Diver 591

Diver SP. 231

Sparrow Hawk 53 m

Hen Harrier 2 m

Common Kestrel 1 m

Merlin 2 m

Peregrine Falcon 1 m

Dunlin 5 m

Purple Sandpiper 6 m

Twite 2 m

And here´s some pictures from the day. 

Wigeons and Pintails.

Small flock of migrating Divers.

Hooded Crow watching the sea.

Can you find the Mistle Thrush.

After sea watch we spend time at the near by places to look some land irds, ut like Chiffchaffs and other mall birds around. Days are quite short, so not much to do during the evening hours, so we went to have Chinese food. 

On 19th we had our last morning at the Pösaspea. Loads of Geese were migrating, but otherwise nothing really special. Here area numbers from that day. 

Brent Goose 1142

Barnacle Goose 7738

Goose sp. 13243

Wigeon 2499

Velvet Scoter 1177

Oystercatcher 14

Purple Sandpiper 4

Parrot Crossbill 4

Small flock of Brent Geese.

Male Parrot Crossbill.

More Parrot Crossbills.

Wigeons and Showelers.

Very distant leucistic Brent Goose.

We had to leave before 2 pm, cause our ferry back to Finland started at 5pm. 

Great trip, great people, great birds. Hopefully I can have another trip to this beautiful country soon. 

Thanks Jände for company! 

-Tom