Season greetings form winterly Kihnu!

The day of sensiations!

Aivo reached yesterday evening to the island, so we had 3 pairs of birders eyes on the island. The total number of migrating birds today has been less than 500 individuals, but Kihnu has showed today again some quality birding. Here are just some best observations made today on the island:

• SENSATION nr. 1!

Pink-footed Goose/ lühinokk-hani Anser brachyrhynchus - 1 migrating. First for the Kihnu island! This species is seen mostly in spring time when bigger Geese flocks are encountered on migration, but species is rather uncommon in autumn time. This is presumably latest autumn record ever for the country.

• SENSATION nr. 2!

Black Brant/ kirde-mustlagle Branta bernicla nigricans 1 adult presented near the southern spit. 5th record of this Brent Goose subspecies for Estonia and first for the Pärnu county. This subspecies of Brent Goose breeds in Canada and Alaska, but also in Eastern Siberia. This individual was accomponied by adult Dark-bellied Brent Goose and four 1cy birds so presumably they have bred together in a mixed pair. 

• SENSATION nr. 3!

Whinchat/ kadakatäks Saxicola rubertra - 1 ind. at nearby village. It is common breeding bird in Estonia, but to see one in late October is another sensiation - this is latest autumn record ever (beating so far known latest autumn recrod with nearly 3 weeks!). 

• SENSIATION nr. 4!

Still many Pine Grosbeaks/ männileevike Pinicola enucleator moving by. Today 1 ind. feeding at the northwestern part of the island and 3 birds flying around at the southern part. Minimum 13 different individuals are encountered by now on Kihnu island during the autumn season.

• SENSIATION nr. 5!

White Stork preferred boarder guard radar instead of our radar system. Photo by Margus Ellermaa.

Late White Stork/ valge-toonekurg Ciconia cicionia still presented. One bird was flying around at the southern spit but due to strong southeastern wind returned back to ther north. It has been the same individual, seen on Sunday - bird has several feathers missing from the wing. 

Now, we have deserved a good evening sauna and cold beer. After two weeks our bird survey period is over, so all twitchers can when sleep and work in a peace again :).

/T.V./

Black Brant (second from the right) with Dark-bellied Brent Geese. Note the larger white neck patch and prominent white flanks. Photo by Margus Ellermaa

Another Pine Grosbeak. Photo by Aivo Kkein.

It`s good to do some shopping meanwhile. This shopping trip produced Estonian latest autumn record of the Whinchat. Photo by Margus Ellermaa.

Counting Pine Grosbeaks!

As I mentioned yesterday, now every single day there will be fewer and fewer birds. Today has been again small migration in first hour but after that very quiet. Few hundred Chaffinches/metsvint Fringilla coelebs has been the dominating migrant of the day. 

But in quiet days, often some species may have the best movement. And today this species has been Pine Grosbeak/ männileevike Pinicola enucleator! Early morning we saw with Margus a flock of 3 individuals heading to the west and later on another group of 2 Pine Grosbeaks flew to the same direction. Lets see if those 5 individuals will be our best day here on the island. Bird survey here will last until 15th of November - so there will be still chanches to get higher counts for this uncommon migrant. 

Tommorrow will be a bit stormy day, but hopefully on Wednesday we manage to do ship trip to count seabirds on offshore shoals. 

/T.V./

Waxwings trying to land on a rowan tree in a strong front wind.  Photo by Tarvo Valker

Pine Grosbeaks heading to the sea. Photo by Tarvo Valker

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

Italian bird hunter in Estonia uses illegal bird call playback for attra...

The deadly disco

Considering the bird migration - it has been really quiet day. Only few flocks of Hooded Crows/ hallvares Corvus cornix and Jackdaws/ kaelushakk Corvus monedula moving south. But in quiet mornings, sometime something more special can show up. A very late 1cy Hobby/ lõopistrik Falco subbuteo has been encountered on migration. It is probably latest autumn record of this species in Estonia. 

In the garden it is now very few birds left compared few days ago. But still, one Serin/ koldvint Serinus serinus showed up again and Black Redstart/ must-lepalind Phoenicurus ochruros has been also presented now for several days.

Today we got also some media coverage for our project, then the TV3 broadcast the news story on our bird radar: (http://www.tv3play.ee/play/283831/) the time section 4:32 - 6:29 in the video file. Sorry, no English subtitles!

But considering other life, it has been day full of action. First, we hear constant calls of Teals/ piilpart Anas crecca and Wigeon/ viupart Anas penelope. It is clear, that it must be playback for the hunting. So our bird team went to check it and manage to find Italian hunter and loudspeakers playing duck sounds. This  is prohibited way of hunting in whole EU and we manage to get pictures and videos
of this illegal action on the island. Hopefully environmental inspectors make some pressure on local hunters society for stopping the use of waterfowl playback. 

/T.V & M.K./

Portrait of the male Sparrowhawk

The Deadly bird disco - Italian hunter has using illegal waterfowl vocalization playback next to the hunting hide, set up by local hunting managers, for attracting ducks into shooting range. The powerful loudspeakers has been erected in "stereo" to the two poles on the both sides of the hide. The poles of the bird deterring setup on the islets, we have covered in our blog in ..... could b seen as well. All this is happening in the Natura 2000 bird protection area, which is specially designated for waterbird conservation. 

The powerful loudspeakers and decoy ducks (use of these as well as lead ammunition is unfortunately still legal). The duck-disco was so loud and out of the local bird context, that we heard this from more than 1 km distance!

Quiet day

It has been fairly quiet day in respect of bird migration - quite needed break for our team.The sky was frequently darkened by passing rain and blizzard clouds. It seems, that usual migrants like finches, sparrowhawks and goose are almost gone. In the afternoon I have spotted one Black Redstart / must-lepalind Phoenicurus ochurus in our garden. 

/Mati Kose/

The threatening cloud is appoaching...

... and what is left after it's passing

The group of the Brent Geese is still here

A day without the rain

Finally - a day without any rain. Only one during last nine days. The morning is chilly and seems that many birds has migrated and Geese migration is slightly less numerous today. Although we have seen more Barnacle`s than yesterday, the numbers here are very small. Altogether 13 500 Geese has been counted on migration. And Bewick`s Swan/ väikeluik Cygnus columbianus having again small movement - 67m (best for the autumn season). 

Sparrowhawk/ raudkull Accipiter nisus migration is slightly ending - only 83 individuals today, but bigger brother is now starting: best for the autumn season for Goshawk/ kanakull Accipiter gentilis 6m. And also first movement of White-tailed Eagles/ merikotkas Haliaeetus albicilla - 5m. 

Calm sea enabled us to scope birds making stopover on the sea. At least 750 Velvet Scoters/tõmmuvaeras Melanitta fusca, 1,500 Long-tailed Ducks/ aul Clangula hyemalis and 15 Red-throated Divers/ punakurk-kaur Gavia stellata has been counted in the southwestern and southern part of the island. 

Serins/ koldvint Serinus serinus had today best movement of the autumn season - 5 migrating + local birds in the garden. 

Today there has been again several late migrants on the island - 1 House Martin/ räästapääsuke Delichon urbicum in a Swallow flock, 1 Willow Warbler/ salu-lehelind Phylloscopus trochilus and 1-2 Yellow Wagtails/ hänilane Motacilla flava. 

Theoretically it is still possible to see 100 species in a day on Kihnu island. Our bird survey team recorded today 94 species of birds (92 of those nearby field station). Good number for mid-October.

/T.V./

The second Boreal Owl from the last night

Autumn colors are in the peak

Flock of Tree Sparrows have visited the spit in the morning

Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

Like Estonian Gibraltar - Common Buzzards are circling in the thermals to gain some 500 m altitude and leave to the sea

The local 1-year White-tailed Eagle flew over our watchpoint today, while 5 other migrated south over the sea

Our staging Brent Goose flock has changed their diet to nibbling off the  green,  rock-covering algae

Raptor nets catch also Thrushes. Photo by Tarvo Valker.