Monday 19 November 2012

Update: 19th November 2012...

Overall a fairly quiet week, the weather has been miserable, temperatures are slightly above 0 now and everything is starting to melt which means it's very icy and wet. It is getting very quiet on the birding front generally which is to be expected but still some stuff to enjoy. Finished a very intense part of my studies here today so will have a bit more time to explore again although we are down to just 5 hours of daylight already.

Last Tuesday (13/09) had a nice surprise in the form of a Willow Tit (of the Northern race borealis and new bird for the "garden" list) out on the feeder in the morning which was shortly followed by one of the many Red Squirrels seen around here all the time which had finally found the feeder and spent a good few minutes eating the peanuts but I didn't mind it was nice to see one so close. The Red Squirrels over here are actually quite grey looking and almost frosty in certain light. Unfortunately no picture of the Willow Tit but some did get some of the squirrel.



On Thursday (15/09) the weather was bright and sunny for the early morning walk to University and made a nice change of the dark overcast conditions of the last few days. Plenty of Waxwings still about in decent sized flocks and Pine Grosbeaks were spotted a few times at the top of some tall conifers. After crossing the old railway bridge I noticed a small bird in the shrubs at the side of the road. At first it was hard to see as I was looking up and into the direction of the sun. Then the bird hopped down a few branches to not more than 2 metres and I could see it was a Female/juv Blackcap! I was quite shocked if I am honest, never expected to see one of these so far North in mid-November but a nice record for my Finnish list and interesting in general! Did have my camera but only the short lense but you can see what it is at least.

Female/ juv Eurasian Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla)

The river that runs through the city was looking impressive in the sun as it is was mostly covered in ice.




As I said before birding is fairly quiet now and the day are getting shorter by the day but I still hold out some hope for Siberian Tit or Arctic Redpoll before I leave (and one of the woodpeckers would be nice!).

Finnish Bird List additions:
49. Blackcap

Kuntotie Garden List:
  1. Blue Tit
  2. Bohemian Waxwings
  3. Great Tit
  4. Greenfinch
  5. Hooded Crow
  6. House Sparrow
  7. Magpie
  8. Pine Grosbeak
  9. Tree Sparrow
  10. White Wagtail (from back in September)
  11. Willow Tit*

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