RFI Estonia or Finland planned trip (1 Viewer)

I am trying to decide which of these countries would be best for a few of us to visit in late spring. We would like to be certain of connecting with river warbler and blythes reed plus great snipe. Otherwise it will be a chance to photograph rosefinches, corncrakes red-breasted flycatcher and other local specialities such as woodpeckers and owls.

Which location do you think and which week would be best? We will probably have 4 to 5 days. Mammals and butterflies would be a bonus.

regards Cafe birder
PS Cafes are of course essential

cafe birder said:

We would like to be certain of connecting with river warbler and blythes reed plus great snipe. Otherwise it will be a chance to photograph rosefinches, corncrakes red-breasted flycatcher and other local specialities such as woodpeckers and owls.

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For this assemblage, I would definitely suggest Estonia over Finland - a fairly small compact country with good possibilities to find very many of the birds you seek. Although southern Finland would have a similar range of species, distances are likely to be greater and for Great Snipe in particular more restricted. There is at least one lek that is viewable in Estonia.

As for mammals, Estonia is excellent, but you'd need extreme luck in just four days to encounter any of the good numbers of Lynx, Wolf, Brown Bear, etc. There is possibility to go to a bear hide however, which should more or less guarantee you this excellent species. Stake-outs do exist for other species too, Flying Squirrel, Ringed Seal, etc, but you'd need to be guided.

PS. Cafes much cheaper in Estonia than Finland

Thanks Jos. I appreciate the difficulty of bears and lynx but will no doubt do a night drive or two if we are in suitable habitat. We will have a look at the cost of the bear hide. Where no ticks are involved we generally don't bother with a guide and its just me who has not seen the warblers or snipe. Having been 4 times to Latvia there is not any panic over the owls though again Great Grey would be new for me. The others have done a trip or three to lapland for these. The aim is a more relaxed trip with one person wanting to do mostly photography so Estonia sounded good. Would mid June be too late to hear the warblers reliably ? I was thinking more about v early June but later might suit one of my companions better.

River Warbler start shutting up quite early, as do Common Rosefinches, but I can't see middle June being a bad time at all - everything is busy breeding and the sheer quantity of 'common' birds (i.e. stuff that you'd give your right leg for in the UK) in the Baltic States at this time is very good. That said, if you can earlier, probably better.

Not sure there is any chance of Great Grey Owl - I can be wrong, but I don't think it even breeds most years, more a rare irregular winterer.

If you are into butterflies, these are absolutely better later in the season - end of June and even more into early July is the best season in Lithuania, I guess similar in Estonia. So middle June overall I think will be good - long day light, good birds, good general wildlife opportunites. And yes, drive those roads at night - chances of Lynx are slim ...but the chances in Estonia are probably considerably higher than anywhere else in Europe.

Night in a bear hide is 85 euro per person if nothing has changed.

Cheers, Jos

Early June would be better for warblers. They start going quieter in mid June but still doable. Leaving it to second half of June you are pushing your luck with Great Snipe as well.

Thanks both of you. It looks like Estonia unless my friends have a pressing reason to change things.

I am going to Estonia at the end of April ,my first time,for two weeks and will report back here with what I have found.I am on a guided tour for five days and thereafter on my own....Eddy

Just a quick update on the above as I am back from Estonia with 160 species seen including 36 new life species for me.My thanks to Marika Mann of Estonia Nature Tours for making all the excellent arrangements for me and to Margus Pensa and Tarvo Valker for their excellent guiding.
In respect of Finland V Estonia I have only one thing to say.Whilst on this trip most of the other birders I met were from Finland,enough said.....Eddy.