A grebe and two owls

It is still Sunday and fresh from seeing the Ortolan Bunting the rain had become heavy.  After seeing Horned Grebes all April on the Detroit River and Belle Isle ponds in various stages of developing their alternate plumage; here, in Finland, a Horned Grebe (Podiceps auritus) is in full breeding plumage.  Raining cats and dogs - the rain can be seen on the surface of the water - this little grebe paddled along unperturbed. It's not clear if the bird had reached the end of its migration or if it had a mate on a nest.  I recalled that it was in Alaska on a pond such as this where I saw my first full breeding plumaged male Horned Grebe.  So I hope it had a mate somewhere.  Of note, in the 2009 second edition of the Birds of Europe, this is the Slavonian Grebe with (Horned Grebe) in parenthesis (pages 64-65).  If I squint at the photos I can see, sort of, the bird's red eye.

The Horned Grebe was much admired, but this was not just a special stop for the grebe.  We came here to a Finnature building to pick up rubber boots for everyone so that we could tromp through a boggy forest for our next bird.   Remarkably, we were all able to select suitable boots from a metal storage bin on the porch. 

Above and below:  the habitat - wet and boggy.

Above and two below:  (Eurasian) Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium passerinum)

The forest was dark, gloomy and wet.  Without the boots this endeavor would not have been possible.  I felt like I was on a Lord of the Rings movie set.  Of the walks that the trip offered, this was hands down my favorite.

We had another target bird in this forest which gave us a chase.  Birding at its best.  We did finally get very good looks at a perched in the open Grey-headed Woodpecker (Picus canes) (pages 242-243).  He didn't stay long.  

This trip took us through many different habitats that were not comparable (like apples and oranges) but this forest tromp was my most memorable.  When we got our boots removed and ourselves put back together, we drove what I recall to be a short distance to our next owl.       

Above and below:  Ural Owl (Strix uralensis) on nest.  In the photo below, raindrops can be seen in the air in front of the nest box opening. Very clever design.  Finnature places and monitors these nest boxes, so this bird was essentially a drive-up.  We saw the view above from the road.  

The Ural Owl is described in 2nd edition Birds of Europe this way:  "Resident of old boreal forests interspersed with bogs, often also open water, clearfellings and small fields.  Food voles, frogs and insects (taken after watch from low perch), but it is strongly built and also takes a variety of birds (including other owls!)  Nests in tree trunk ("chimney"), nestbox or abandoned raptor's nest.  Caution:  Very aggressive when young about to leave nest and can attack intruder fiercely; keep your eyes fixed on the parents if you stumble on an inhabited nest, and leave area quickly!" (page 224).  

We walked a little way into the woods to get a frontal view of the owl and nest.  We were perhaps thirty to forty feet away (I'm a poor judge of distance).  She never took her eyes off us.  At one point I stepped closer to the nest to get out of the way of others. Immediately I was cautioned by Nigel - "you're getting too close."  Later I was speaking with Anttu about this experience and he said to me, "you have to remember that there are always two owls," meaning the mate is also nearby and watching.  Anttu knew of several instances of people having lost an eye from a Ural Owl attack.  Often the person was unaware of an owl being nearby, but simply got too close.  This has also happened to children giving the Ural Owl a bad reputation.  That evening during dinner at our second hotel, there was another Finnature birding group also staying at the hotel.  Just a week earlier, the guide of that group was attacked by a Ural Owl.  Anttu admitted, "He shouldn't have been doing what he was doing, but he was lucky."  I snuck a look at the guide's face and the left side did seem swollen.       

Back on the road and ready to squeeze into the vans again, a silhouetted (common) Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) flew in for treetop viewing.

Back home now, it's also Sunday when I am writing these posts.  My goal is to publish one per day, but today - being Sunday - I published three. 

Mustached singer

This was Sunday morning our second full day of birding.  We drove down roads bordered by farm fields.  It wasn't yet clear what we were looking for but then word got out that we were going to try for Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana).  It was deeply cloudy, raining and cold. Whenever I hear "try for" my hopes are not high.  But I like buntings, a lot, so I hoped Anttu would find one.

Anttu found two singing males, one each in the weedy edges on opposite ends of the same plowed field.  Ortolan Bunting is a common and wide-ranging bird throughout Europe, but in Finland it is at the very northern edge of its range.

It took awhile for everyone to lumber out of the vans, but we eventually saw both birds well and had good opportunities for photographs.  The first two photos are of the bird on the left side of the field (better light I think) and the remaining photos are of the bird on the right.  Left or right won't mean anything to readers, but helps me keep my memory of these birds clearly oriented.   

Above and below:  the malar band along the Ortolan's lower jaw is noted best on the frontal views and lends a comical expression to the bird.  It even curls up at the ends giving the mustache a handlebar appearance.  Cute, cute bird.  

The Ortolan Bunting was seen at a place called Tyrnävä -- Ängeslevä in Northern Ostrrobothnia.

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 visible.         

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 same 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.

Birding starts with an ... owl

I knew something was planned for the evening of Friday, May 23rd, the first official start of the trip, but I didn't remember the details. Thankfully, the hotel staff did.  We were meeting our field guides and the rest of the group in the lobby of the hotel at 4:00 pm and would be going out for a special bird.

Nigel Redman with Rockjumper Birding Tours and Antero (Anttu) Topp with Finnature would be our guides for the next 13 days.  It was important to go out for this special bird because there was concern that it would not be present if we waited.  What was the special bird?  We would have to see it.

At a place named Haukipudas, we walked about about a 1/2 mile (about 800m) into the forest and turned into a small, narrow, overgrown path and this is how I was greeted by my very first ever Boreal Owl (Aegolius funereus); in Finland known as the Tengmalm's Owl.  

The reason for the first night's urgency was secondary to concern that the owlets would fledge and we would miss this opportunity.

Kind of grumpy looking but a truly spectacular owl; I have wanted to see a Boreal Owl for a long time and considered that I might not ever see it.  This was a thrill.

We all stood around taking photos and moved around for different angles.  I took about 20 and selected the four here to include in this post.  Eventually we got distracted by other things - for one, a singing (Eurasian) Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) cousin to our Brown Creeper (C. americana).  We stayed for about twenty minutes, but it was past time to leave this bird alone.  On the final day of the trip, at Nigel's request, we each turned in a list with the top five birds we had seen.  I put this Boreal Owl in my number three spot.  

 Good night!

Evening birding was not yet over.  We drove to an area of heavy industry which is named Oulu-Oritkari on our eBird checklist.  Here massive trucks and other large vehicles were parked.  The vehicles and parking areas were interspersed with those large, warehouse-style, metal buildings that are common in industrialized areas.  Our next bird is the story of urban area habitat destruction and of a couple of nesting pairs of Terek Sandpipers that hold on in this location.  We all saw good scoped views of a single Terek Sandpiper (Xenus cinereus), upturned bill included, perched on the distant edge of the roof of one of the industrial buildings.  Anttu told the story of the Terek's original attraction to this, now destroyed, breeding habitat that involved a snow melt pond, but even if I remembered the story accurately, it would be too much to tell here.  Additionally, I'm not sure the details of the story matter.  We all know what habitat destruction of many kinds looks like.  The 2009 2nd edition Birds of Europe guide shows a small orange dot to represent that this mostly Siberian shorebird breeder hangs on in Finland (page 154-155).  In 2025 it's still hanging on. 

Addendum 08/01/2025

Just logged into the American Birding Association (ABA) Community site:  Greg Neise reported that a Terek Sandpiper was found on 07/21/2025 by Nick Ramsey on Buldir Island in the Aleutian chain - actual location as reported in eBird:  Alaska Maritime NWR--Buldir Island, Aleutians West Census Area, Alaska.  Click on the McCauley Library link for photos and report by Nick Ramsey.  I don't check the ABA Community site often, so I am late with this update.  I was thrilled to see this report.  

________________  

There was no way our guides could tell us distance in miles. Throughout the trip I found myself mentally converting meters to miles using 400m for 1/4 mile, 800m for 1/2 mile, 1600m for 1 mile, etc.  Over the days I finally became accustomed to meters and conversion was not necessary..         

We returned to the hotel for our first dinner as a group and it was excellent.  Arctic char perfectly prepared!  

Milestone:  Fitting that my Finland and Norway trip would help me reach a milestone on my blog.  "Birding starts with an ... owl" was my 600th blog post since I began it in 2008.  Sometimes I look back to the entries of my early years and think about how much it has evolved.  For me learning to write a blog has been an acquired skill.  After my first India trip (2020) and the pandemic halted everything, I wrote that I was shutting it down.  Then something happened and I started it back up again.  If I, or anyone, started a Google blog today, it would not look like this.  This is the most basic of Google blog formats out there.  I have never learned how to transition to one of Google's updated blogging formats. I'm not sure it would matter anyway.  For my purposes, this has served me well over the past, shocking to think of it, 17 years!  I hope readers also enjoy my chosen topics, photos and writing style.  Like the Terek Sandpiper, my blog somehow continues to hang on.  

On 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 where ever Finnair 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 with this company - 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 guides, the birds, the accommodations, the new foods, the new landscapes and the beauty of the countries.  What made the trip challenging was the people.  This is probably true for most things involving group dynamics.                  

I haven't decided how to approach my trip report; 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 the (common) Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) and quite spectacular.  It was 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 the 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)."  Ring-necked Pheasant, same genus and species in the US, is, curiously, the state bird of South Dakota.  Go figure.

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 11:00 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.  

Fieldfare's nest found later on the trip.  Very like a Robin's nest.

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.  The further north we traveled future terns would all 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.  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.