Suprises continue

Coal Tit/ musttihane Parus ater. What a smart looking bird. Photo by Tarvo Valker.

Two White-backed Woodpeckes has been encountered today at Kihnu island. Finally we managed to get  photo of this unusual bird at Kihnu island. Photo by Margus Ellermaa. 

Migration in general has been quiet today - seems that most of the late migrants has escaped from the snow and coming winter. Now every next day will be fewer and fewer birds. But still several interesting sightnings has occured during the day:

• Jack Snipe/ mudanepp Lymnocryptes minimus - 1 ind. flushed up from the beach. First record of the autumn season
• Short-eared Owl/ sooräts Asio flammeus - 1ind. migrating on the sea. 1st record for the autumn season. 
• White Stork/ valge-toonekurg Ciconia ciconia - 1 very late individual migrating. First for the autumn season!
• Pine Gosbeaks/ männileevike Pinicola enucleator - at least 2 individuals presented nearby field station most of the day (presumably same ones as yesterday). But birds are still not photographable. 
• Ringed Plover/ liivatüll Charadrius hiaticula - 1 late ind. shortly landed at the beach and when continued migration
• White-backed Woodpecker/ valgeselg-kirjurähn Dendrocopos leucotos - 1 migrating SW and 2nd individual late on shortly feeding at our garden. 3rd and 4th sightning of the autumn season for the White-backed Woodpecker. Also 5 Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers/ väike-kirjurähn Dendrocopos minor has been recorded today. Both species having exceptional invasion this autumn season.
• Black Redstart/ must-lepalind Phoenicurus ochruros - 1 migrating, 2 locals in the field station garden, 1 ind. in the middle of the island. 

/T.V./

1cy White Stork has seen his first snow and ready to start its autumn migration. Photo by Tarvo Valker

Another nice day

1 cy Kittiwake - species number 240 for the Kihnu island. Photo by Margus Ellermaa.

Snow is covering most of the mainland and last migrants escape from the winter. Due to strong wind during the night, I restart the radar system in the early morning. Meanwhile Margus get already first good bird of the day. 1cy Kittiwake/ kaljukajakas Rissa tridactyla fly over the southern spit, less than 10 meter away from Margus. Another new species, already 4th during this week, for the Kihnu island. Now is just about the best time to see this uncommon migrant. 

Late, I hear calls of Pine Grosbeaks/ männileevike Pinicola enucleator again and I manage to find one adult male and one female type bird feeding in the distant. I try to get closer but birds continue soon their journey, so I only manage to get poor record shot. It has been great movement of Pine Grosbeaks in Southern Finland during last week and several individuals has been encountered in Estonia as well. Next weeks should bring them even more here - it could be start of the best invasion of the last decades. 

Migration. It has been the best movement of Barnacle Geese/ valgepõsk-lagle Branta leucopsis of the season  - 900 ind. and we also manage to see last flock of Cranes/ sookurg Grus grus (120 ind.) moving south. Also Stock Doves/ õõnetuvi Columba oenas showed small movement with 20 migrating individuals today and 12 migrating Wood Larks/ nõmmelõoke Lullula arborea has been recorded. And one late Lapland Bunting/ keltsalind Calcarius lapponicus has been encountered again on migration.

Local birds inclduded already two Black Redstarts/ must-lepalind Phoenicurus ochruros nearby field station and several groups of Snow Buntings/ hangelind Plectrophenax nivalis has been flying around at the shore. 

/T.V./

Distant record shot of the uncommon migrant - male Pine Grosbeak. Photo by Tarvo Valker

Bullfinch taking last berries from the rowan tree. Photo by Tarvo Valker

We are dreaming of the white Christmas!

Waiting for the spring. Young male Black Redstart with autumn colours and first snow. Photo by Tarvo Valker

There has been several bigger snowfalls during the day. Real winter and tough survival course for the late migrants. I go out for sitewatching at 8.20 and already before I manage to put up my scope properly I notice raptor flying over the head about 150 meters high up in the sky. Quickly I check the bird with the bins and I am amazed - late Osprey/ kalakotkas Pandion haliaeetus migrating south in heavy snowfall! Most of the Ospreys are already in Africa by now, so this is very late fellow and actually first one we have seen here on the island in October. 

Me and Margus continue sitewatching for several hours, having breaks only during very heavy snowfalls when visibility is dropping to zero. We manage to see several hundred Fieldfares/ hallrästas Turdus pilaris and nearly 1,500 migrating Geese/ hani Anser species. Also 3 Hen Harriers/ välja-loorkull Circus cyaneus are migrating. 

Afternoon we check local birds and take some photos of the autumn colours with the snowcover. And with several late migrants as well. Black Redstart/ must-lepalind Phoenicurus ochruros is still in good shape. Margus and Andrea re-found late Turtle Dove/ turteltuvi Streptopelia turtur nearby field station and 1 Lapland Longspur/ keltsalind Calcarius lapponicus has been seen at the beach. Winter should continue here for several days, so some other late migrants may show up now. 

/T.V./

After the storm - lighthouse still in the same place. Photo by Tarvo Valker. 

Waiting for the Snowy Owls migration... Photo by Tarvo Valker

Lapland Bunting (on the left) with Meadow Pipits. Photo by Margus Ellermaa. 

Late Turtle Dove. Photo by Margus Ellermaa

First snowfall!

Early morning has been rather quiet again with only some movement of Fieldfares/ hallrästas Turdus pilaris - the biggest migration flock has been 530 indviduals today. Few Razorbills/ alk Alca torda flying on the sea. Local birds nearby field station - 1cy male Black Redstart/ must-lepalind Phoenicurus ochruros (presented for almost two weeks now), 2-3 Chiffchaffs/ väike-lehelind  Phylloscopus collybita, 25 Waxwings / siidisaba Bombicylla garrulus and 1 late Barn Swallow/ suitsupääsuke Hirundo rustica.

In the afternoon first snowfall of the season has started. Winter is coming and big storm as well. According to the weather forecast, tommorrow should be stormy with a wind reaching up to 25 m/s!

The first one with the autumn colors

These berries are just a bit too laaaaarge to swallow!

The birds, snow and colours

Black Redstart with the white snowflake

The new species for the Pärnu county!

Quiet birding morning. Almost no movement at all. Two Sparrowhawks/ raudkull Accipiter nisus fly into net and we ring them. Also beautiful adult male Waxwing/ siidisaba Bombycilla garrulus are caught today - first ringed individual for us on the island.

But quiet days often offer nice surprises. I do seawatching at the western side of the spit while Margus scope sea level on the eastern side. Suddenly he runs to me and shouts - "adamsii-adamsii"! I quickly check the water level and after few seconds my lifer bird flies into view - stunning Yellow-billed Diver/ tundrakaur Gavia adamsii showing itself for a half a minute in sideways with its heavy body, dark head and neck and of course with very powerful and pale bill. Also Mati and Andrea manage to see the bird. Unfortunately we enjoy the bird through the scope for "too long", so we notice to take record shots too late and all attempts to get any proper picture failed. It is not only first sighting for Kihnu island, but also first record for whole Pärnu county. Fabulous birding week at Kihnu - 3 days and 3 new species for the island!

/T.V./

One step closer to the waxwing - finally one Waxwing was trapped to the net and close-up portraits become possible. The adult males have prominent black throat patch

Fanciest bird wing in the Western Palearctic - adult males have reddish tips of secondaries and wide bright yellow margins in the edges of the central flight feathers. All this conspicuousness believed to serve as male ornamentation

From yellow to white and from pink to black

Species day!

Summertime at Kihnu! It has been the best species day of October at Kihnu island - we recorded exactly 100 species!

Early morning, me and Margus are sitewatching. Suddenly we hear the call which can belong only to Pine Grosbeak/ männileevike Pinicola enucleator. It is quite uncommon migrant in Estonia, so we must find the bird to be 100% sure on ID. After few minutes Margus manage to find nice male Pine Grosbeak taking off from the tree and going for the migration with constant calls. After one hour we hear again one bird flying over - possibly the same individual but it could be easily also new one. Today 2 Pine Grosbeaks has been ringed also at Kabli Bird Station (about 30 km from Kihnu island) - so it seems to be good year for them. 

But today we manage to find also many very late migrants, like Tree Pipit/ metskiur Anthus trivialis, Rosefinch/ karmiinleevike Carpodacus erythrinus and Turtle Dove/ turteltuvi Streptopelia turtur.  Beside that we recorded also some more usual late migrants, like Ringed Plover/ liivatüll Charadrius hiaticula, Greenshank/ heletilder Tringa nebularia, Penduline Tit/ kukkurtihane Remiz pendulinus, Black Redstart/ must-lepalind Phoenicurus ochruros, 2 Serins/ koldvint Serinus serinus and 3 Chiffchaff/ väike-lehelind Phylloscopus collybita. 

Migration in general has been rather quiet compared with yesterday, but best for the autumn season for Razorbill/ alk Alca torda 53m, Fieldfare/ hallrästas Turdus pilaris 1170m and Northern Bullfinch/ leevike Pyrrhyla pyrrhyla 109m.  Also second Twite/ mägi-kanepilind Carduelis flavirostris for the autumn season has been encountered today. 

/T.V./

Waxwing (siidisaba) swallowing the rowan berry. The berry crop is not good in the current autumn and birds consume them quickly

Because of the calm day, Waxwings hunted aerially the flying insects along with berry eating. This kind of insect catching is their regular feeding mode in the boreal breeding range.

Flight acrobatics

Waxwing showing off his extravagant plumage 

Portrait of the male Bullfinch (leevike). We have trapped two males today

80 000 Geese and many raptors!

We apologize for the small break in our birding blog. We are still doing fine, but it has been very misty conditions recently with very few migrating birds. But today, everything changed....

Finally clear weather with slight northern wind which produced best daily counts of this autumn season for many migratory birds. Altogether, over 85 000 migrating birds has been counted by our team. Also species number seen today, has been as high as 87. 

It has been superb Geese migration day. At the peak of the migration some 17 000 Geese passed our study area within 10 minutes! Daily count of Geese/hani Anser species has been 76 000 which is new landmark for the season and one of the best Anser migration ever recorded in Estonia. In addition we counted 2, 750 Anser/Branta - määramata hani/lagle. Considering that Branta species are not numerous here we could say that today migrated at Kihnu island about 80 000 Anser species (+ probably extra thousands in the darkness). 

Slight backwind produced also nice movement of broad-winged raptors today - Common Buzzard/ hiireviu Buteo buteo 224m (best for the autumn season), White-tailed Eagle/ merikotkas Haliaeetus albicilla 7m,  And last, but not least - Golden Eagle/ kaljukotkas Aquila chrysaetos 2m - first sighting for the Kihnu island. Finally also Thrushes showed some movement - Fieldfare/ hallrästas Turdus pilaris 855m (best for the autumn season). Change of weather brought also first migrating Snow Buntings/ hangelind Plectorphenax nivalis and 1 Shore Lark/ sarviklõoke Eremophila alpestris. 

Other interesting birds today - 1 local Greenshank/ heletilder Tringa nebularia, 1 migrating Yellow Wagtail/ hänilane Motacilla flava (one of the latest for the country), 1 Black Redstart/ must-lepalind Phoenicurus ochruros and 3 Serins/ koldvint Serinus serinus in the field station`s garden. 

/ T.V./

Group of Waxwings (siidisabad)

Juvenile Golden Eagle - 237th bird species for the Kihnu island. Photo by Tarvo Valker. 

Today the most spectacular Goose migration took place at Kihnu island. Daily count nearly 80 000. Photo by Tarvo Valker

The snapshot from the horizontal radar database during the culmination of the geese migration between 9 -10. Majority of flocks had South-westerly flight direction. The different colours reflect various speeds of the tracks

Easterly wind has blown the water low and revealing the rocks with a green algae cover