January 2020
At January 1st I did my traditionally eco trip. Usually I do it by foot but this year there was no snow and ice, so I did it on a bike. Almost 19 km and 5 hours trip I manage to see 27 species. (At last year: 12) Whole winter has been unusually warm and birds that are normally in warmer regions by now, have been left these Northern Latitudes. Sea is free from ice cover so there is lot of Swans and Ducks. My best observations were
Velvet Scoter (female) and
Coot (2cy). This was the first time I had seen a Coot before March!
Jan. 2nd I participated in the counting of winter birds with one “professional” and his girlfriend. We walked 11 km in 5 hours and observed 28 species. 11 of those were new Year ticks for me. The best ones were couple of
Hazel Grouses, 3
White-tailed Eagles and small group of
Long-tailed Tits.
Jan. 3rd I got one new Year tick. At the same it was also new eco and yard tick ‘cos the
Greenfinch was in our garden.
At the next day I went to Kouvola with one friend. Mainly to looking for Asio-Owls and
Hawk-Owl. We manage to see latter (actually 2 of them), but no sign from other Owls. But the day was quite successful otherwise – or what do you say about
Grey Partridges,
Kestrel (an other unusual species in Finish winter),
European Nuthatch, Red and
White-winged Crossbills? Here’s short video from WwC’s:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi_UKuBbERs&feature=youtu.be
In the bonus – I saw two
Roe Deer (My second Mammal tick for 2020. Fist one had been
Red Squirrel – of course)
Jan. 5th I was just observing in garden and the result was pretty nice:
Hawfinch and
Sparrow Hawk for Year ticks amongst other ticks.
Jan. 6th My friend from Kouvola came down here on shores of Mare Karelia. We had couple of target species which we manage to see
Siberian Tit, Rook, Robin, Wood Pigeon and
Cormorant in Kotka. We didn’t find Wren or Stock Dove. At the afternoon we drove to Hamina to twitch
Great Egret and
Rough-legged Buzzard. We also saw 10
Greater Scaup. In that day I got two Mammal tics more:
Bank Vole and
Brown Hare.
At this point I had 56 Year ticks (from birds) which is huge for me. Last year I had 30 species in January 6th and I saw my 56th species at February 27th.
Jan. 10th was time to do eco trip again. And there was no sign of real winter yet, so I did it by bike. (At the same trip I visited in bike shop ‘cos my bike brakes had practically been missing for a month. :eek!: 15 minutes and the brakes were repaired.) I scored 21 species in 4 hours and 13 km and got 6 new eco ticks:
Jay, Crested, Willow and Siberian Tits, Red Crossbill and
Dipper (which was also new Year tick).
Jan. 13th I did an other eco trip. This time little shorter but manage to saw three new eco ticks:
W-t Eagle, Cormorant and
Greater Black-backed Gull.
Jan. 16th I had an business meeting at 200 km to West from home. I went to see a few birds at the same time:
Spotted Nutcracker in Lohja,
Smew and
White-backed Woodpecker in Espoo and
Carrion Crow (not resident in Finland) in Helsinki. I also bought new binoculars – Zeiss (or do you pronounced it “
Scheisse”? 3
) Victory SF. Actually, they weren’t new new but used for a few years. Really big improvement compared to my old Opticrons.:t:
Jan. 17th was a time to do two days round trip in South-West Finland with a friend. Our first target was White-billed Diver in Helsinki but we dipped that – actually nobody has seen it after Jan. 16th (I should gone to see it day earlier instead Smew and WbW, but you never know… :-C). Instead of Diver I got Year tick from
Long-tailed Duck, which was some kind of comfort…
From Helsinki we drove to Siuntio to twitch
White-fronted Goose which we manage to found from Golf course where it had been few weeks already. Next target was
Taiga Bean Goose in Lohja. We saw that and also
Canada Geese, Whooper Swans, Mallards and on way there two
Buzzards. Next bird on our list was Crane. In South-West had been two of them whole winter. We drove to Salo – no Crane – and then to Paimio – no Crane… You can’t win always. On that day, we still had two birds on our list. We drove to Piikkiö to look at the
White Wagtail on one greenhouses yard – check, and then to Raisio to looking
Pine Bunting. We saw the
Yellowhammer flock where PB had been but couldn’t find it, but instead from field we scared
Common Snipe to flight. That was surprise to us also.
The next morning we were already at dusk in the backyard of one farmhouse in Vesilahti where had been Eastern Turtle Dove. And we dipped that. But we didn’t have to leave there with empty hands – I got
Grey-headed Woodpecker for Year tick. Well… next thing we do was driving back to the Raisio to try PB again. This time we find it! B
It was my first Lifer of 2020 too. We were one big smile when we drove back to the previous days
Crane place, Paimio. Bang! – There it was right away on scope, when my friend erected it and look through it. Sometimes it’s so easy… There we heard that nearby we could see
Black-headed Gulls. It was missing from both of us Year lists, so that was our next target species. After half an hour we were on right place and got it. Then it was time to go home. On way home there was still little day light left and we stopped one river where are sometimes Dippers (my friend didn’t have it on his Year list). This time there was none.
Jan. 19th morning I and my previous days travelling companion go to looking for Three-toed Woodpecker from Sippola. No luck for that but we saw (and heard) one
Parrot Crossbill with Reds, so it didn't become a pointless trip either.
Jan. 21st I go again in Sippola. This time I had a date with my Kouvolan friend. We walked that old forest about two hours but couldn’t find TtW. Pair of White-backed’s we find, which is also very nice. That day was very windy and we heard two old trees falling down. So, we thought it best to leave the forest and do a little car ride. We have Capercaillies or Black Grouses on mind, but we had no luck. Did I say no luck? Sorry, we had a luck, after all we manage to see
Elk mother and a calf.
Jan. 24th me and couple of other birders went look for Three-toed from a new place (new for me anyway). We drove to village of Kuoppala in Kouvola where we meet one local birder who promised to show TtW to us. The previous night it had been snowing, so the forest was pretty and bright. We heard
Black Woodpecker and saw several
Great Spotted Woodies but the main star kept hiding. After hour and half we decided to change location and we drove couple kilometres to the other side of forest. There we walked just 15 minutes and we find what we were looking for – nice male
Three-toed Woodie bark on a Spruce trunk and look for a beetle larva.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRWXQD0RGSA&feature=youtu.be
When we leave there we saw 11
Black Grouses on one field.
Jan. 25th I had few things in neighbour city Hamina and at the same time I went to get a
Collared Dove from a traditional place for a year tick.
Jan. 26th was Big Garden Watch Day. Our association had three venues, one of which I cycled (so no snow still). Only a handful of people arrived there, but birds there were. I got just a one Year tick –
Chaffinch – but 6 eco ticks plus one Mammal tick –
Yellow-necked Mouse (which I see day later also on our own garden).
Jan. 28th it was again time to drive to Kouvola. My friend had find there a Little Grebe and I need to see that. When I left home it was raining, but in Kouvola it was snowing. The weather wasn’t as good as I had hoped, and at first we didn't see Grebe on the river at all. There was 24 Whoopers, 9 Mallards and female
Goldeneye – and best of all: two
Otters – but no sign from Little one! We thought it might be behind one island so we drove to the other side of river. On the way there we stopped to collect one Year tick for my friend (Hawfinch) and one Year tick for me (
Goldfinch). We arrived on riverside from other direction and after 20 minutes scoping my friend find the
Little Grebe. It was on the other side of river, near that place where we were just an hour ago! :clap:
After that my friend took me on one feeding station where had been seen Lesser Spotted Woody (amongs other), but it didn't want show him/herself to us. Instead we saw nice flock of
Long-tailed Tits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgBMc6TlClw&feature=youtu.be
Jan. 30th Last marking on my Observation notebook from January says:
Fox. I got a glimpse of it when I was bringing food to the birds for one of the forest feeds I maintain.
The beginning of the year has been phenomenal. I have 79 Year ticks, 46 eco ticks, 22 garden ticks and 8 Mammal ticks. Last year at the end of January I was on 44, 22, 13 and 4. My 79th bird I saw March 27th.
Now I just hope I can keep up with the current pace for the rest of the year. (That means that I have 373 species at the end of 2020 – I think it would be Country record…) 3
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