[Andrew Whitehouse]

I'm going to be in Estonia for the first half of April. Half of this is for a conference in Tartu, so I'm not really looking for anyone to come along for the whole time (unless you really want to spend a week in Tartu). But on the weekend of 2nd and 3rd April I've arranged for two days of guiding with Rein Kuresoo of NaTourEst, and occasionally of this parish. This will be in the Tartu area and will be focused particularly on owls and woodpeckers, though I'm sure we'll see plenty of other stuff too. If you might be in that area on those dates and would be interested in coming along then let me know - it will work out a bit cheaper between two or more of us! After the conference I'll be heading to the coast - mainly Saaremaa and Matsalu - for a few days (8th-13th).

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Andrew Whitehouse

I'm going to be in Estonia for the first half of April. Half of this is for a conference in Tartu, so I'm not really looking for anyone to come along for the whole time (unless you really want to spend a week in Tartu). But on the weekend of 2nd and 3rd April I've arranged for two days of guiding with Rein Kuresoo of NaTourEst, and occasionally of this parish. This will be in the Tartu area and will be focused particularly on owls and woodpeckers, though I'm sure we'll see plenty of other stuff too. If you might be in that area on those dates and would be interested in coming along then let me know - it will work out a bit cheaper between two or more of us! After the conference I'll be heading to the coast - mainly Saaremaa and Matsalu - for a few days (8th-13th).

Hi Andrew,
not much help to you I'm afraid, since girlfriend and I are ourselves heading to Estonia for a week, but in late April. We are also looking to visit Tartu and Saaremaa; would appreciate to hear how you get on in these areas if you get a spare moment. We are using a guide from Estonian Nature Tours for a couple of days, but the rest will be self drive.
Good luck with finding a wingman, looks like you will have plenty of wilderness to expolore!
Cheers,
Jim.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

Originally Posted by jimbob

Hi Andrew,
not much help to you I'm afraid, since girlfriend and I are ourselves heading to Estonia for a week, but in late April. We are also looking to visit Tartu and Saaremaa; would appreciate to hear how you get on in these areas if you get a spare moment. We are using a guide from Estonian Nature Tours for a couple of days, but the rest will be self drive.
Good luck with finding a wingman, looks like you will have plenty of wilderness to expolore!
Cheers,
Jim.

I shall definitely try to do a report on here. I'll be interested to hear how you get on too - I expect there might be some differences in birds that are around, even in just a few weeks.

[jimbob]

Originally Posted by Andrew Whitehouse

I shall definitely try to do a report on here. I'll be interested to hear how you get on too - I expect there might be some differences in birds that are around, even in just a few weeks.

A report will certainly follow, as you say will be interesting to compare notes. Enjoy your trip.
Jim.

[Arbu]

I joined Andrew on this from 9th - 12th April. Maybe one of us will get around to writing a full report at some point, but for now here are some quick reflections.

Firstly we saw impressive numbers of wildfowl, particularly Long-tailed Duck, Scaup, Smew and Scoters, masses of Cranes, lots of White-tailed Eagles, some Black Grouse, two female Capercaillie and a lot of Waxwing. We didn't see any Divers surprisingly.

Clearly we were visiting before many of the summer migrants got in so a lot of things were off the list. I had understood that there were advantages in visiting earlier in that the trees had no leaves on so owls and woodpeckers were easier to see, and also that Steller's Eiders were still around. I'm not so sure that we had the benefit of these advantages in the four days I was with Andrew to be honest (it sounds like Andrew had better luck before). We saw one White-Backed Woodpecker and had some modest views of Black Woodpeckers (both of which were nice to see but I'd been hoping for a bit more) and no owls at all in spite of Andrew's impressive attempts at attracting Pygmy Owls with a sound recording. We saw just one Steller's Eider as Andrew has mentioned.

So it was good, and an interesting chance to see a new country at the very least. I'm glad I went, and thanks very much to Andrew for organising it. But if I were to advise someone about birding in Estonia I'd have to say that it might be better to visit in early May rather than April and take your chances with Steller's Eiders and the woodpeckers and owls. Still, then I wouldn't have had anyone to share the trip with.

[Andrew Whitehouse]

And here's a trip report:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=203336