On 19th of May I had nice combination of work and birding. I visited at my other working site and after that I had time to stop at Maari birdtower in Laajalahti, Espoo.
Sun was shining, Garden Warbler was singing and when I was walking towards the tower from parking lot I noticed an male Lesser-spotted Woodpecker basically one meter from me.. My camera was inside my bag of course and during that time I got it out the bird moved and all I got was distant photos.Great start..
 |
| Male Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. |
Soon I was in the tower and Pasi Pirinen was there, so it was nice to have some company. I checked the meadow and bay first and I got Temminck´s Stint to my year list. Not much birds around, but maybe Four Little Gulls, 14 Temmink´s Stints, male Garganey, calling Water Rail and passing Hobby are birds worth to mention. Jari Laitasalo came to the tower at some point and it was very nice to see him after long time.
 |
| Male Garganey. |
 |
| One of fourteen Temminck´s Stints |
 |
| Beautiful weather. |
We were talking about possible raptors or anything good when Jari noticed an alamr of two migrating White Storks heading our direction. Birds were seen by Mika Ohtonen from Lauttasaari. We checked the sky and I was quite sure that we missed the birds when Jari shouted that there they are! Storks were so low that they passed the tower maybe 30m above us and then began to take heights above the bay. I managed to take some pretty good pictures, but later I noticed that I had ISO 1600, so nothing sharp with that number... What a shame.
 |
| White Stork. |
 |
| And another one. |
 |
| Both in same picture. |
What a moment. Rarely you got an opportunity to see White Storks so close in Finland. Normally you can find them flying high and far away. Storks migrated towards North after they passed Laajalahti.
I had an meeting later after noon so I had to leave at some point. Before that we noticed an very odd looking Eurasian Teal. Maybe very old female showing some male feature, or aberrant colored male? Who knows, but here it is. Also a superb looking male Ruff landed near the tower!
 |
| Odd looking Eurasian Teal. |
 |
| Male Ruff. |
After my meeting with my boss and applying to apprenticeship I had time to visit Meri-Rastila and place which holds not one, but two Firecrest in Helsinki. I saw one Firecrest in Espoo earlier this year, but those little birds are interesting, so I wanted to see those again.
I arrived to the site and first I walked in wrong place, it started to rain and I was just thinking that what a great visit this was, until I heard one bird singing close by. I met my other old friend Petri Pietiläinen there and together we tried to have even a documentary photo, cause there was no light and birds were high up in the tree.. I managed to see two birds, but only one gave me few pictures. Here is a male which was singing actively despite the weather.
 |
| Firecrest. |
 |
| Very hard to take proper photos in these conditions. |
 |
| At some point birds stated to groom him self. |
 |
| Firecrest. |
 |
| He game me "the face". |
 |
| Orange crest showing nicely here. |
Thanks for the company Petri.
After this I had to pick up my kids and we went home. I had great day with three new year ticks etc.
This weekend we area in summerhouse again, so next posts from there.
-Tom
Ei kommentteja:
Lähetä kommentti