Kolka point Latvia 16th to 22nd April (1 Viewer)

cafe birder · Apr 27, 2015

With vis mig on my patch up to a level of 2 pipits per day it was time for my, now annual, trip to find the migrants.

Again I headed for Latvia and my favourite watch point.

Arriving at lunchtime to pick up my hire car it was immediately obvious that it was going to be another cold trip but a couple of white storks over the car park and a small flock of cranes on the drive north suggested it would not be birdless at least.

The usual pair of black redstarts greeted me at Usi guest house and after some fish soup I headed down to the local beaver pond.

After sitting quietly for 15 mins a beaver suddenly surfaced about 6 feet away and stared at me for 5 mins before vanishing. There was no chance to get my camera as this would just have disturbed it so I had to wait until it appeared 20 mins later and further away before I could get a few blurry pics

cafe birder · Apr 27, 2015

17th. I now know to take a jar of coffee so that I can stumble out into the guest house garden and have a couple of cups before breakfast and watch any migrants overhead. This morning there was a small movement of yellowhammers, chaffinches and bramblings with a couple of black-throated divers and a white tailed eagle for variety in the first hour. Some years birds land in the trees around but this year nothing much landed for the whole week and those that did were off again in seconds.

After a filling traditional Latvian breakfast I wandered up to the viewing tower built last year. Each day I gave this a couple of hours but the constant Northerly breeze and the fact that you are now 6 stories high meant the cold eventually drove me down. The highlight that first morning was a flock of fieldfares spooked by one of the 6 sparrowhawks I saw, which were forced down to fly beneath me squeaking like mad as they flew.

There were a few seaducks, common and velvet scoters, long-tailed ducks and scaup but less than 300 all morning.

One, decidedly odd sight, was a caper being pursued by a sparrowhawk..."good luck with that" I thought. Also a white tailed Eagle determindly chasing a herring gull until the gull "relinquished" its catch and the eagle caught whatever it was still in mid drop.

cafe birder · Apr 27, 2015

Day 3. This was the quietest of the trip but singing redwings was a chance for learning and as always something unexpected. This time a flock of Great White Egrets heading off to Estonia, a hobby and more little gull passage.

In the afternoon I tried saewatching from Ovisi lighthouse but the wind and cold defeated me. Its possible that something lurked amongst the eiders offshore but it was too choppy to tell as there was no elevation to watch from.

cafe birder · Apr 27, 2015

The next day was more fun with the unusual sight of a green sand migrating in the centre of a flock of fieldfares, merlin and woodlark through the garden and a wryneck in the local ditch. I also had a sparrowhawk catch a bluetit within 6 inches of my feet !

There was a different selection of raptors past the tower including a first winter golden eagle, marsh and hen harriers (3 and 2 respectively) and a couple of rough legged buzzards. My attempts a photography have still not improved though !

In the afternoon I visited Lake Enguras where I found a black woodpecker excavating a nest cavity which lead to my most prolonged views ever of this species. I pulled the car up to the edge of the trees and sat for 30 mins happily failing to quite focus the camera (my new nikon superzoom)...perhaps I should have read the manual. A moose typically lurking in the forest edge had fortunately chosen one of the smaller trees to hide behind! Also a good view of a mink but only american, more's the pity.

The evening finished with a distant great grey shrike from the garden. I had a closer one two days later and then one landed very briefly at the sea's edge before heading off on my last morning

cafe birder · Apr 27, 2015

20th April. Everything seemed to be flying higher over the guesthouse this morning so I tried the central clearing at the point. This was a good choice as about 200 finches and thrushes per minute were passing along with marsh harrier Goshawk and sparrowhawks.

The scale of sparrowhawk movement was clearer from the tower where I had about 150 in one and a half hours. Two female goshawks were in a flock of marsh harriers and a couple of ospreys plus a second winter golden eagle added to the fun.

Late on in the day I did a longer drive through the forests and found a group of capers on the road as well as more moose and red deer but by now it was almost dark.

cafe birder · Apr 27, 2015

21st April. At first this seemed quieter than yesterday but when I arrived at the clearing everything changed. At last the kind of movement I had always wanted to see. Sitting at a picnic bench I counted a minimum of 400 birds per minute at tree top height alone. Goodness knows how many were higher or passing just beyond the clearing. The trees themselves actually rang with the sounds of bluetits and goldcrests rushing through. It was a genuine "river of birds". Moving a few yards to the edge of the sea you could see this river snaking out towards Estonia as most of scandinavia's bramblings and chaffinches apparently decided it was time to go home. The noise itself was quite astonishing and this hour alone epitomised everything I have been looking for in my 3 trips to Kolka. Its only a shame that there were no other birders within 100 miles to share it.

The tower was actually quieter than before though I still clocked up 200 + sparrowhawks in a couple of hours.

In the afternoon the weather finally warmed with the thermometer in the car reaching 10 degrees and several butterflies appeared including camberwell beauty and a scarce/large tortoiseshell (fly-by only sadly).

cafe birder · Apr 27, 2015

The final morning: The wind swapped to the west and the bird tap was simply turned off.

The first wheatear and tree sparrow passed through the garden along with a waxwing which was a species I hoped to see more of. I bumped into a Latvian ornithologist who had been on the west coast the day before where he had counted 10,000 long-tailed ducks on the move.

I slowly went south the 150 or so Km to Riga seeing signs at last of crane migration with a couple of hundred over me at mersrags. Here I also found a couple of caspian terns and as a final treat there were two hawfinches in the kids play area next to a cafe I called into.

So... nothing particularly rare all week but migration-in-the-raw. It suited me anyway

Paul Chapman · Apr 28, 2015

Excellent stuff and nice beaver!

All the best

sacha · Apr 28, 2015

Thank you for posting the trip report. Heading out there next week .. Can't wait

Wood Chat Shrike · Apr 13, 2016

Hi there,

I've just joined this site, partly because I'm looking for somewhere in Europe to go birding from 29 May to 5 June. I was thinking of going to Jutland, Denmark, but I have now seen your recommendation of Kolka Point in Latvia.

Do you think those dates would be too late for Kolka Point? I'd be really grateful to know your thoughts.

Thanks!

Jos Stratford · Apr 13, 2016

Wood Chat Shrike said:
Hi there,

I've just joined this site, partly because I'm looking for somewhere in Europe to go birding from 29 May to 5 June. I was thinking of going to Jutland, Denmark, but I have now seen your recommendation of Kolka Point in Latvia.

Do you think those dates would be too late for Kolka Point? I'd be really grateful to know your thoughts.

Thanks!

Basically yes ...there will be very little migration at that late point of the spring. As for the Baltic States more generally however (rather than specifically Kolka Point), early June is excellent, be it in Latvia, Estonia or Lithuania - and certainly will get you far more top quality birds than Jutland. Personally I would say Estonia (or Lithuania) offers more than Latvia ...a Latvian might disagree however

cafe birder · Apr 13, 2016

Hi,

I would agree with Jos that it is probably too late for migration but I managed an excellent short trip to Estonia (with just one full day there) last June and would recommend that area. Equally eastern Latvia would be great at that time I suspect. There will be trip reports on bird forum for our first Latvia trip in mid to late May and last years quick jaunt, both written by my mother who uses the pseudonym Paul Chapman on bird forum.

I was hoping to spend late April at Kolka but due to my ridiculous and short-sighted publicising of the place the guesthouse is being occupied by other birders.

However the night that they leave I am sneaking in for a few days with dreams of finding citrine wagtail or bluethroat

regards Howard

Paul Chapman · Apr 16, 2016

A link to the earlier Latvia report here (including a nice family photo):-

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=272594

No report alas from last year's Latvia/Estonia long weekend but the usual early summer fun - Lesser Spotted Eagles, Citrine Wagtail, River Warblers, Corncrakes, Blyth's Reed Warblers, Common Rosefinches, Thrush Nightingales, Red-backed Shrikes, Common Cranes, White Storks, etc.

All the best

Mum

Paul Chapman · Apr 16, 2016

A few more.

All the best

Paul

Kolka point Latvia 16th to 22nd April (1 Viewer)

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