Bad Finnish Birdwatcher

Sunday, January 21, 2007 - Snowstorm!

Nope, no snowstorm here. The headline is just for the drama.

We did a trip to Hanko today. The wind was fairly strong, so strong that you didn't wan't to stay on a open place for long and when it snowed in the afternoon, the snow came horizontally. But like I said, no storm, that was just to get your attention.

We started the day (with a coffee break actually, but after that) at Tammisaari. There was among the more abundant waterfowl a flock of 130 Coots and a Smew. Then I said (in a very self-confident tone) I'll go and find a Tree Sparrow and what d'ya know - I walked 50 meters and there was one in a bush with House Sparrows and one hybrid individual. The next time I say I'll go and find something, the species will be something far more interesting... After that we had a Nuthatch, which was a twitch and a Winter Wren, which was not. The Nuthatch is a small local celebrity by the way. Its feeder of choice is by a popular walking route and we talked with several non-birders, who all mentioned the bird.

Our scopes face south in the grey landscape at Högholmen in Hanko.

The rest of the day we spent going through the bays of Hanko peninsula. Truly classic winter birding around here. - Trying to find some more uncommon wintering waterbirds. The trouble with the uncommon winterbirds is that they are.. well, uncommon. Only partly due to the weather our only better sighting was four Velvet Scoters.

Other highlights included a flock of always so lovely and lively Long-tailed Tits, the high water level and a dead Mute Swan Jaska found somewhere. He just appeared suddenly with a swan in his hand, the whole situation was pretty unreal.

Mute Swans feeding on a meadow, where in the summer cows graze - on dry land.