Camera mistake.. 28.5.2013

I met Jari at Pornaistenniemi this morning. We start to walk around the area and when i was taking photo of Redwing i noticed that there was no battery in my camera... Great! Nice start for the day...
We checked whole area quite fast and best bird was Greenish Warbler witch disappeared quickly after i saw it.. Many Rose Finches, Greater white throats, Thrush Nightingales and others.. One sad thing also today. Penduline Tits have rejected their nest.. I heard little story of photographer around the nest and not just with the long telephoto lenses but with normal cameras.. That is fu***ng disgusting! I hope you guys with you pocket cameras are proud of your selves.

After Pornaistenniemi we had nice lunch in little cafe in Viikki and then we went to Hakala bird tower witch is in Vanhankaupunginlahti.
Not much birds in the meadow front of the tower and i concentrated to check raptors but i did not see any today! Later i found sandpiper standing near water quite far away. First i did not know what it was and i judged it to Wood Sand.. But soon it "raised" and showed it real shape and legs and other features. Marsh Sandpiper! Then it started to walk and soon it disappeared before Jari saw it.. Unfortunately..
Best bird today but i was only who saw it. Well, i have seen quite many so it´s not a great rarity, but nice anyway.
Soon we left and walked back to our cars. Thanks Jari for company!
After Viikki i went to Maari birds tower where i had little raptor watch with Jani Ceder, Pekka Komi and Sami Tuomela. Funny stuff and lot´s of laughing. Thanks guys also for company.
Best was Little Tern sitting on a sludge.

Nice day but no photos.. Maybe next time.

cheers!

-Tomppa-

Lifer. 27.5.2013

Not much birding lately.. I had little birding burnout after Israel and i had to spend time at home with Sarina and with friends of course.
Today i had finally some energy to go out, so i went to Maari bird tower. Two Great Reed Warblers were singing near the tower and lots of other birds as well.
When i arrived to the tower there was few guys before me, some familiar and some not. I checked the meadow and soon Jani, who was in the tower noticed alarm of Booted Warbler quite near in Espoo.
My blood pressure jumped a little bit. After all, it would be lifer for me if i go there. So not much thinking and i left. About 15min late i arrived to Kuitinmäki where birds were singing actively. This is maybe unforgettable day for Kari who found the bird. He just hear little bit weird from the backyard and soon he found out that the bird is Booted Warbler. Great found Kari!
There was few people already when i arrived. Pasi Pirinen, Asko Rokala, Pertti Uusuvuori and some other guys. When i arrived the bird was quite close and i got tolerable photo of it, but soon it flew little bit farther and after few minutes we heard only its song.
Later more people came and i left after i put update message in our alarm system.

Booted Warbler. 

Twitchers and founder Kari in hes balcony. 

Later i check my book and there was text. "may look phylloscopus warbler in field" and in this photo, it have some same looks.
After this great warbler i went back to maari tower where we had many flocks of Geese but nothing really special.
After all this was very nice day. Nice weather, lifer, good company. Tomorrow i meet Jari in Viikki, so more text coming soon. Here is some photos from maari area.

Geese.

Spotted Flycatcher. 

Common Snipe. 

See u tomorrow.

-Tomppa

p.s. More story about Booted Warbler in Kari Haataja blog. You find it in my blog list. Finishborealforestbirding or something :)

Last day in Israel 20.5.2013

This was our last day in the country. After leaving our hotel we went to check some park where Vinous-breasted Starling is living.
This category C specie is originally from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, Laos and other countries from that direction.
In the early 2000s it has become an invasive species in Israel, alongside the Common Mynah.
But what a heck to think about it.. Tick is a tick and we wanted to see it.
In the park was also one other specie witch missed in my Israeli-list, Monk Parakeet.
So high hopes to see two plastic birds in one day.
We parked our car near some entrance of the park and just walked around. It took only 2min to see Monk Parakeet! Nice. About 15min later when we tried to photo some parakeets, Petteri found our target. Three Vinous-breasted Starlings jumped on the grass. Very funny moving style and it´s totally different when compare to Common Mynah.  It was hard to get any pics when birds were constantly moving, but i got something.
Here is real plastic photo series

Rose-ringed Parakeet. 

Common Mynas. 

Monk Parakeet fight! 

Vinous-brasted

After this success we walk back to our car. On our way we saw little Cattle Egret colony in on tree and there was very young birds with totally black bills.

Young Cattle Egret. 

Also one some Hoopoes in the park. 

What a nice end for this trip.
Later afternoon our plane leave and i was back home at the evening.

I have to thank Jände, Petteri, Esko and Markus for excellent company. One of the best trips ever. So much hilarious  inside jokes!

Thank you Yoav Perlman for all the details and tips, without your help our Sooty Falcon project could have failed. Maybe next time we could have more birding together.

Also thank you Sarina for your patience of my seasonal stupidity! You are the best.

Next project is collect some year-ticks, so new post maybe soon.

-Tomppa- 

Ma´agan Michael 19.5.2013

I had very rough night.. Problems with my stomach.. Other guys went out and i continued sleeping.
Later they came back to breakfast and i felt little bit better, so i join them to Ma´agan Michael.
Lot´s of normal birds like Glossy Ibis, Night Heron, Little Bittern, Little Egret, Purple Heron, Spoonbill, Pied Kingfisher and lot´s of others.
We spend over 7 hours there just watching pools and having a little sea watch.

Pied Kingfisher. 

Spoonbill.

Glossy Ibises. 

Graceful Prinia. 

Purple Heron.

Black Tern.

That was almost whole day.. Later after little meal we went to Parder Hanna where we had little parakeet watch. This is maybe the only place to see Nanday Parakeet in Israel, but it´s super hard... We had no luck with that.
After Pardes Hanna we make last try for the Painted Snipes, but it seems that they are gone..
Last full day. Sadly it started with stomach problems. Tomorrow we have little time to check Vinous-breasted Starlings from Tel-Aviv, so not much program before flights back home.
Tomorrow last post from here.


-Tomppa-