After spending the bulk of my spare time birding the last few weeks, I took a bit of a break from it all this weekend ... instead enjoying th weather relaxing in at the Tori (city centre and market area), sipping fine Finnish beer, and just taking it all in.
My one foray into the birding world was 1.5 hours spent at the Kuopio dump on Sunday, hoping to see and photograph Heuglin's Gulls. Unfortunately, I found only one (a 1st summer bird), and the bright sunlight from directly above made photography difficult. I also find that the gulls here are quite "flighty", and flush up and away at even the slightest approach, making it difficult to get anywhere near them.
Last evening, I spent a few hours in Maaninka. There many young swallows and martins hawking insects over the fields, and many Common Teal (Tavi) at one of the local ponds. I finally found my first Ortolan Bunting (Peltosirkku) sitting on a wire, and enjoyed great looks as a Short-eared Owl (Suopöllö) hunted nearby.
I take another break from it all starting tommorrow afternoon ... taking a short trip to Scotland to visit with a friend. Trading in my Finnish beer for fine single malt Scotch ...
Posted by jaredclarke at July 6, 2005 12:47 PM