June 03, 2005
Long Days and Night Singers ...
The most wonderful thing about Finland is that one can work all day and still have lots of time to bird in the evening!! And that's just what I've been doing this last week.
I've become very busy with work (finally), but still taking every chance I get to bird -- and considering it now doesn't get dark at all, it hasn't been hard to find the time. Sleep ... now that's a whole other issue.
Adding to the miracle of continual daylight is the fact that many of the bird here in Finland are night-singers, and become most active after 9pm. Warblers, crakes and rails, nightingale thrushes, cuckoos ...
Because I haven't had time to keep this site updated over the last 7 days, I'll briefly sum them up here ---- Last Saturday I was fortunate enough to join a friend birding in the early morning hours. While it was a little windy and cool, I did manage to see my first Winter Wren (Peukaloinen) for Finland, a beautiful Wood Warbler (Sirittäjä), and the more drab but enthusiastic Garden Warbler (Lehtokerttu).
Tuesday evening was a real treat, as I was invited to help ring Ural Owl (Viirupöllö) chicks in Suonenjoki. While we arrived only to find that they had already fledged, a return trip later in the night allowed us to find two fledglings high up in the nearby trees ... we were able to "chase" them to a nearby meadow where their under-developed flying skills made them quite catchable. Luckily, we didn't attract the unwanted attantion of the very protective parents, who can be quite dangerous in such a situation. Check out the pics below (I apologize for the blurriness -- low light made sharp pics a little troublesome).
As luck should have it, while I was visiting Suonenjoki that evening, a semi-rare eastern shorebird, Marsh Sandpiper (Lampiviklo) was spotted in nearby Rautalampi ... we tore off to the site, where I joined about 15 other birders for great looks at a very nice bird. Also that evening, I scored my first Grasshopper Warbler (Pensassirkkalintu) and Sedge Warbler (Ruokokerttunen) ... and heard the beautiful song of Thrush Nightingale (Satakieli). Even more fun to listen to was the varied, mimic-like song of Blythe's Reed Warbler (Viitakerttunen) -- another Finnish specialty.
Finally, I spent last night in Sillinjarvi and Maaninka, where I saw a number of shorebirds and ducks, 50+ Common Cranes (Kurki), my first Eurasian Coots (Nokikana), and heard a very excited Spotted Crake (Luhtahuitti). Shortly after midnight, I could distinctly hear 9 different species singing around one of the local bird lakes!! Night-singers ... It's fantastic.
This Ural Owl (Viirupöllö) fledgling was quite the little character ...
The funny-looking one is me.
Almost done ... Ringed and ready to go.