Kaunis pohjoinen maa

On May 20th I left for DTW around 3:00 pm for a connecting flight to Chicago to begin my trip to Finland and Norway.  By 8:00 pm I was back home again.  Even in the summertime bad weather in Chicago can disrupt the best of plans.  I returned to DTW the next morning, this time with a connecting flight to Dallas, and flew Finnair non-stop to Helsinki where I connected for a flight to my final destination of Oulu, Finland.  I would recommend Finnair for travelers going to Scandinavia or whereever it flies.

Back in February I began learning Finnish via Duolingo.  It was interesting and fun and gave me something useful to do while I waited through our cold winter for the trip to depart.  I got as far as lesson 80 but when I saw a Finnish hotel advertisement I knew I wouldn't be speaking Finnish with anyone.  But I did get to use a few words:  kiitos for thank you, kippis for cheers, kaunis maa for beautiful country and even paljon onnea for congratulations to a young guide on her upcoming marriage. Paljon onnea also means good luck, but she humored me.  All of the Finns that I met spoke English beautifully - dare I say better than most Americans - so my study of the suomen kieli really did more to temper my excitement for the upcoming trip.

This was a Rockjumper Birding Tours trip - my first ever - and it did have surprises.  Having been on many international birding tours I came to this trip thinking I was well-prepared for such an experience. As it turned out I was the least well-traveled person, by far, on the tour; almost as if I had only made it halfway around the block.  This was a humbling surprise.  Yet some things still held true.  What made this trip great were, of course, the birds, followed by the accommodations, the new foods and the beauty of the countries.  What made the trip challenging was the people.  This may be true for most things involving group dynamics.                  

I haven't decided how to approach my trip report yet; possibly by place, possibly by species, but I assure you it will focus on what made the trip great.  I'm proud to report that I did not take a single photograph of my food which was often beautiful and always good.  So, it will be the birds with perhaps a few other clarifying comments thrown in. 

That's a Pheasant, you say.  True enough, this is a Finnish (common) pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) and quite spectacular.  Well, not exactly a Finnish pheasant, but seen near the grounds of our first hotel, the Finlandia Airport Hotel near Oulu.  It seemed to be a regular visitor to the backyard of one of the beautiful seaside homes near the hotel.  What my Princeton Field Guides second edition of the Birds of Europe (2009)* writes about this pheasant is as follows:  "Mainly Chinese species introduced in Europe as a game bird at least since the Middle Ages, and possibly as early as in Roman times.  Its complex geographical variation is further muddled in Europe where introduced stock often are crosses of several races (page 59)." This bird appears to be a member of the colchicus group.

I highly recommend the Finlandia Airport Hotel for the start of any birding tour in Finland.  It is a small, modest, European-style hotel with very friendly staff, good food, comfortable beds and its grounds are walkable with a viewing platform out to the sea.  There are also pathways to walk along little channels of water.  Of the four hotels we stayed with, this was my favorite. 

Whimbrel in a field near the hotel.

First night sunset around 10:00 pm.  It never did become fully dark.

A pair of Tufted Ducks (Aythya fuligula) taking a leisurely night swim along one of the narrow channels.  We saw this common little duck nearly every day. 

Meadow Pipit (Anthus pratensis)

Fieldfare (Turdus pilaris)

Fieldfare was one of the birds I wanted to see and it was present nearly everywhere.  However, it was not an easy bird to photograph.  As the photo above suggests it was not nearly as confiding as our American Robin (Turdus migratorius).  Later I did manage to get the photo below in a park near the hotel.  

Above and below:  the delightful and always present White/Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba).

Above and below:  also present everywhere, Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus). 

(Common) Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs)

The Willow Warbler and the Chaffinch are the two most common birds in Europe.

 

Tern - both Common and Arctic terns were present over the water near our hotel.  I have three photos of this bird and I believe it to be an Arctic Tern (Sterna paradisaea) using the bill color as the main justification for this identification, as well as the relative apparent The further north we traveled, future terns would be Arctic Terns (Sterna paradisaea).  I write a little more on this in my post Anyone for gulls and terns.

Peacock butterfly (Inachis io)

This was the only butterfly species I saw the whole trip; it was seen nearish to the hotel on a sunny afternoon and also at one other location which I cannot now remember.  It is common throughout Europe, but seeing it was nearly as exciting as any bird I saw.  

*. There is a third edition of the Princeton Field Guides Birds of Europe from 2023.  I will be using the second edition throughout my blog entries as this is the edition I own.  But if you purchase, it will be the guide with the red banner and tern on the cover.  I do use on-line tools but I find a good field guide indispensable.