We discover a problem

Our first stop on this 1st full day of birding was along a paved road with thick forest on both sides.  The area is identified as Lumijoki on our eBird list.  The trees were not thick in circumference, but there were a lot of them.   We pulled over to the side off the road to see an (Eurasian) Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) which, despite the atypical habitat, had nested in this location.  We did not leave the vans and the bird was spotted immediately by our guide Anttu.  Some saw it fly from a near-to-the-road perch back into a deeper part of the forest where it remained visible, more or less.  Only an hour into our trip we all learned quickly the nightmare of the seating arrangements of the vans that we would occupy for the next thirteen days.  Eventually, I think we all saw the owl, but it took shouts of "stop, stop, stop" and up two inches, back three inches maneuvering to get there.  Even with a clear understanding of the sensitive nature of the Eurasian Eagle Owl's presence, this is certainly my least favorite way to see a bird and probably everybody's least favorite way.  Finally, I felt I had seen is well enough (sort of) to add it to the day's checklist that evening after dinner.  RIP Flaco.  For anyone who does not remember the famous NYC Eurasian Eagle Owl click on the NYT link for a beautiful, but sad, story and photograph of Flaco.  The photo shows Flaco in much the same way we saw our Finnish Eagle Owl only, in my case, without the head.         

The above photo is of the roadside stop for our next owl sighting.  

Above and below:  Great Gray Owl (Strix nebulosa).

I have seen Great Gray Owl many times and I suspect most of the Americans on the trip also had.  Nevertheless, I had not seen one in quite a few years, and seeing this bird sitting on her nest keeping a watchful eye on us was beautiful.  I am happy to say that we did not bother her for too long.  Finnature, our Finnish guide company with which our guide, Anttu, is associated, monitors closely nesting owls and guards carefully their locations in all of their documentation.  If you look at their website you might not necessarily get this impression but, with our group experience, I found it to be true.  Finnature is also actively involved in maintaining nest boxes for a variety of other sensitive species, like the Boreal Owl.     

What the heck is this photograph showing?

I had to include it.  Perched behind all of those thin branches I could not find an opening to focus for a clear photo.  I gave up and consider this my memory photo.  Despite my dreadful photo we saw this bird well in the spotting scope.  The way it is perched makes it easy to see a woodpecker.  This is a Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus).  I'm fond of woodpeckers generally and have wanted to see the American Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides dorsalis) for a long-time.  I still would like to see Lewis's Woodpecker and Williamson's Sapsucker too, but I won't find their cousins in Finland.  This Three-toed Woodpecker was very good. 

Horsetail.  There were several growing along the road edge.

Horsetail was pointed out to me by Moss, an English trip participant.  I had never seen it before and wanted to know more about it.  It has some good qualities and uses as well as some bad characteristics.

 

Black Woodpecker (Dryocopus martius)

This was a trip target bird for nearly everyone and we saw it beyond our wildest imagings.  I had seen Black Woodpecker before, in Hungary, but not like this.  Again, this was a staked out bird but at first it was not obvious that anyone was home.  Then, with all of our noise and tromping around the tree a little, white bill stuck out of the hole.  We had a little wait but mother finally arrived to feed her nestlings.  This was in the front yard of someone's home who didn't mind that Finnature bought groups to see these birds.  While waiting for the female bird's arrival I saw several of our trip members sitting on the front porch steps.

 

From the nest cavity she flew across the road to find more food.

Remarkably, on the opposite side of the tree, an old woodpecker cavity held a surprise.  Can you see the bird in the photo above?

Boreal Owl, our second in two days!

I think seeing the woodpecker and the owls took up most of the morning and after a buffet lunch at a very nice nature center we walked to a crowded viewing platform.  Finland is a country with a strong birding culture.  It was a beautiful day and it felt great to be out of the van.  We saw a variety of birds here, two of which I have decent photos to show.

Above and below:  Garganey (Anas querquedula)

Very distant, but still recognizable photos.  I had seen Garganey before, and teals might be my favorite ducks generally, so I was happy to see it again.   I think this was the only Garganey we saw on the trip.

(Eurasian) Curlew (Numenius arquata)

We saw Curlew often in a variety of habitats but this was my only opportunity for distant, but decent, photos.