Kun kaikki on sanottu ja tehty

Kun kaikki on sanottu ja tehty.  When all is said and done.  I hope that Ismo Leikola will not disagree with this translation.

In the first couple of days Nigel Redman told us that, at the end of the trip, he would ask each trip participant to list their top five favorite birds seen on the trip.  So, we should be thinking of this as the days went by. This may be a Rockjumper tradition and I like it.  I admit that I spent some time on this little task.  

My list:

5.  Tied:  Ortolan Bunting and Red-throated Pipit

4.  Smew 

3.  Boreal Owl

2.  Dotterel 

1.  King Eider

The final group wide tally is available in the last addendum (scroll down) dated 07/22/2025.  Click on the link Finland and Norway trip report.  After writing all of this, for my own favorites, I might have switched places with Dotterel and King Eider on my list.  But it doesn't matter. Both are great birds. 

My favorite photos

Singing an aria to the sea.  Puffins doing cute things - impossible!   

Dotterel on nest in the middle of the tundra (in photo center and slightly to the right).

This male Dotterel is on Kaunispää Fell, a vast tundra landscape, by himself to incubate his eggs and raise his young.  If I understood Anttu correctly, this was his third breeding season in this location.  The further north we traveled, we saw many birds migrating to their arctic breeding sites, many to Siberia, but this Dotterel was my favorite.  The distance he flew to get here and his success reminds me of the hard lives that birds have.  I'll be checking in with Anttu next year to see if our Dotterel is back for another year.

My "best" photos

When I returned from the trip and downloaded my photos, I immediately deleted about two-thirds of them.  I continue to enjoy all that I kept for one reason or another - especially those that I included in my blog entries.  But, honestly, it seemed to me that none of the photos were really good.  There was always something - distance, lighting, angle, camera settings, being rushed, whatever it might have been - that seemed to thwart a really good image.  I will probably always be challenged by my deficient digital camera IQ.  I did select four photos, three of them already included in prior entries and one additional that I didn't have a place for.

I've always wanted a photo like this, but never thought it would be a Boreal Owl!

Things lined up quite well for this Red-throated Pipit photo.

Note:  When I received Nigel Redman's Rockjumper trip report, I was amused to see that the photo he selected for Red-throated Pipit was his own and, essentially, identical to my photo above.  I swear, I did not pilfer any photos for these blog entries.  [Of course, the exceptions are Bernard Raynaud's Red-flanked Bluetail and Capercaillie photos and Anttu's Dotteral photo - all of which I included with permission.]

Photo of Common Eider and King Eider swimming together is very appealing.

 

Bright and colorful photo of the Eurasian Wigeon (Mareca penelope), a handsome duck.

Our biggest miss

Every trip has a few.  For this trip I would say that our biggest miss was the Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus).  In the Norway "cap" it seemed we were always in Ring Ouzel habitat.   Anttu did callback in several different areas.  Even I, to get out of the van that was protecting me, (and at the same time driving me crazy), from the driving wind while the others were standing around doing a sea watch, went walking up the road and began doing my own callback for the Ring Ouzel.  No luck. But wouldn't it have been something if one had responded?  My escape was a nice little getaway for me, even if just to stretch my legs.  Later the van came along and picked me up.  Getting back into the van, I felt like a re-captured prisoner, only not in as much trouble.  On the whole though, we didn't miss much.    

For anyone interested, here is the eBird trip report:  Finland and Norway eBird trip report.  All of the eBird entries were compiled by our Finnish guide, Antero Topp, with Finnature Touring.  For my money, Anttu's efforts were truly phenomenal.  I will say that, at trip's end, he looked exhausted.

Addendum on 07/08/2025

Why wait until next year to check in with Anttu about the success of the Dotterel's nest?  I emailed him yesterday with two questions.  This morning I received his reply as follows:

1. I think it was successful because the male was still hatching in mid June when the last Finnature group visited the site. Hatching time can be 28 days so I don't know absolutely sure what was the result, but it has been successfully on the eggs already for about 20 days so it looks really promising. Of course the chicks have to survive many days before they can fly and I haven't heard anything about the chicks. Male was ringed on 07 Jul 2019 very close to where the nest was also this year.  It was only a few days old and it was still in the nest.

2. Yes you can use my photo.

Anttu's photo colors are much richer and the Dotterel's face is clearer.

Anttu writes that the Dotterel was ringed (banded) on 07 July 2019, making him now six years old.  This is older than I had originally thought, and he has shown remarkable nest site fidelity.  The miles he has flown!

Addendum on 07/15/2025

I'll be honest and say that, no doubt, from time-to-time I'll return to these blog entries and tweak them here or there.  But this is the end. Assembling my photos to tell the story and writing the narratives - 23 entries in just over a month - was an enormously pleasurable activity for me.  Since returning from Finland and Norway just over five weeks ago, I haven't achieved much else around home.  

My blog goes against what I believe it is that attracts others to view blogs; which is the photos.  I spoke about this recently with another blogger who places his photos front and center.   My blog includes a lot of narrative.  I always try my best with my photos, but for me it's the story of the trip and writing about it that brings it back to life.  I loved Finland and Norway and this is a trip I don't want to forget.  Even the whiny parts.  My own belief is that people, generally and worldwide, are reading less and less.  But, for me, I want to read more and more. Call me a contrarian and I will plead guilty, but for me reading is where I find the richness in life.  

Addendum on 07/22/2025

As promised and hot off the press, just received in my email this morning.  This is the official Rockjumper Tours Finland and Norway trip report.  It was compiled by Nigel Redman, our tour leader.  Rockjumper Birding also includes the trip report on their website.  It's a good website.  I recommend checking it out. 

If you got through this whole thing - all 23 posts - thank you all for looking and reading.