Between May 31st and June 14th I guided the annual Limosa Holidays birding group in Finland and northern Norway. This year spring was cold and many of the last migrants were late to arrive. Despite missing a few late-coming migrants in the south, we managed to see 217 species of birds with the group, a new tour record.  It started off well with a Collared Flycatcher in the south and at the next stop in Oulu we had a nice male Pallid Harrier and a Terek Sandpiper. Further north still goodies like Red-flanked Bluetail, Pine Grosbeak, Rustic and Little Buntings and Siberian Tits and Jays  dotted our way. The final leg in Finnmark, Norway produced White-billed and Great Northern Divers, Gyrfalcon, Steller's and King Eiders, Lesser White-fronted Goose, Arctic Redpolls and a vagrant Bewick's Swan. Although the weather stayed cold in the north, we had no rain and when even the winds were moderate we could bird in excellent conditions all the time, which is pretty unusual. We notched up seven species of owl,  six species of woodpeckers, 4 sp of grouse, 5 sp of Acro-warblers, 4 sp of divers.

I 've added some pictures taken on this tour to the "Finland and Scandinavia"-gallery. Enjoy!

Dick 

Tuesday the 11th was a beautiful spring day here on the south coast, sunny and warm, with a moderate SE wind. Migrants were pouring in, and Skylarks were already singing over the fields. After having finished the morning's work I just had to get out for a walk in the woods, that's what I had in mind, but decided to take my camera along, just in case. Driving down towards my destination I came across some birding friends standing by the road, and decided to stop for a chat. As soon as I got out of the car a juv White-tailed Eagle passed us, gliding low over our heads. An impressive start. And a few minutes later a juv Golden Eagle started to spiral over a small copse out in the fields, rapidly climbing higher .

Goldens are far from common here, so this was a treat in itself. The bird was hanging against the wind,  motionless with a dangling head, clearly interested in a certain spot below it. It was quite high up, but kept to a very small area. After having watched it for some 30 minutes, I decided to walk across to hide in the trees, nearby where the bird was hunting. Got there, and managed to sneak up to within 50 metres of the perched eagle, but then I had to stop, actually freeze, as the the ground was too open between me and the bird. I waited for some 30 mins before the eagle launched another attack against the bushes around a copse some 200ms across the field. The attempt was unsuccesful and the bird soon returned to its perch.  During this attempt I managed to find a slightly better position for photography, and was well in place when the bird returned. Another wait of 15-20 mins and the bird took off, coming straight towards me.

The next moment I realised that there were actually TWO Goldens, more interested in each other than worried about me. Generally Goldens here are very shy birds, and it is practically impossible to stalk one successfully. I have tried that several times, but never succeeded yet. Now I had two juveniles low over my head in reasonably good light and everything worked like in a dream. I managed to get some 130 frames of the two birds during a hot session that probably lasted only for a few minutes. After some wild aerial manoeuvres, ending in actual body contact and cartwheeling through the air, the birds soon drifted apart and the game was over.

I returned back to the car as happy as a Cuckoo. After more than 35 years of active raptor stalking I felt a very lucky soul indeed. It is always about being at the right place at the right moment. But also of being able to anticipate what is going to happen next, and how to take account of wind and lighting conditions (if you are a photographer). But even then there is that crucial difference between different countries and different cultures. I understand that Goldens in the States are not that flighty, and indeed it shows in the pictures taken over there. However, in Europe Goldens have been persecuted for centuries, certainly so in Northern Europe, and have become very shy over that time. Perhaps newly established populations in more densely populated areas of S Sweden and Denmark will develop more human-friendly Goldens, so that also Europeans can soon enjoy the "American dream".

I've added a few pics of these two eagles to the raptor gallery. 

Back from two weeks birding in The Gambia, focusing primarily on raptors, while my travelling companion Pepe Merta was busy filming a birding-related TV documentary. We managed to see a total of 39 raptor species, including several less often seen ones, like West African Goshawk, Ovampo Sparrowhawk (ad and juv!), Barbary Falcon (ad), (Common) Short-toed Eagle (first-winter) and a small group of Swallow-tailed Kites. One of my target birds was the Beaudouin’s Snake-eagle, which we managed to see 11 of, including several exciting juvs. All of these sightings have also been thoroughly documented for later scrutiny.

When birding in The Gambia you inevitably meet other birders, bird guides and birding groups. From the discussions over the past years it has become clear, that there is still space for improvement when it comes to understanding the raptors of Senegambia. Because of the treatment in “A Field Guide to the Birds of The Gambia and Senegal” by  Barlow, Wacher and Disley, the most widely used field guide in the Gambia, most people still put down their Short-toed-type eagles as Short-toeds, when they in fact, nearly all of them, are Beaudouin’s Snake-eagles. This happens only because Beaudouin's is treated as “just” a subspecies of the Short-toed in Barlow et al. On this trip I alerted a British group of birders to an overhead adult Beaudouin’s, and one of the comments was “they are common in southern Europe”, and the man in question did not even lift his binoculars to look at the bird. Had he done it, he would have realised that the adult Beaudouin’s has as little to do with a Short-toed, as a Hooded Crow has with a Carrion Crow. And the juvenile plumages of the two eagles are really as far from each other as the plumages of the two crows. Actually, the juvenile Beaudouin’s is more similar to a Brown Snake-eagle in colour, while the juvenile Short-toed is not that different from the adult. The adult Beaudouin’s is much more similar to the Black-breasted Snake-Eagle from further south in Africa. Both have very clean underwing coverts and body, and a strikingly clear hood, and both are brownish in juvenile plumage. These two are likely to be much more closely related than the Short-toed is to either of them. Time and new research will show.

The first-winter Short-toed I saw on the North Bank, was only my second record of this bird in more than ten trips, while Beaudouin’s can be seen on practically every trip and throughout the country. The Short-toeds probably winter further north, in the Sahel, and according to my own observations they seem to get more common as you get further north into Senegal.

Another widely misidentified bird is the Wahlberg’s Eagle. Except for the coast itself it is common throughout the country, and is seen on most field-trips, often up to 5-10 birds per day. Because of its variable plumage and rather poor pictures in most guides it is often misidentified as a Tawny or Booted Eagle. My own feeling is, that the Tawny Eagle is in fact a rare bird in the Gambia, and I have only seen it once myself, attending a carcass together with different kinds of vultures near Tendaba in March 1998. Several others have been pointed out to me, but they have all been Wahlberg’s. In other African countries, where Tawnies are common, they often hang around villages, perch on roadside telegraph poles and join vultures at carcasses. Since you never see them like this in the Gambia, I’m inclined to think, that the Tawny Eagle is in fact a rare bird in the country, and that most records refer to Wahlberg’s Eagles, which are much more aerial. If I’m wrong, please correct me, but a picture of that Tawny would be more than welcome.

Did a week’s recce with my son for an upcoming birding cruise in March, on the Finnish m/s Kristina Regina, sailing on the Red Sea between various ports in Egypt and Jordan.

29.12. Direct charter flight Helsinki - Sharm el Sheikh, where we arrived at 1400hrs. Our ship was waiting in the port. Boarded the ship and sailed out in the evening.

30.12. Arriving in Safaga on the Egyptian Red Sea coast by early morning. Birded the coast and the Eastern Desert between Safaga and Hurghada, where there was very little to see at this time of year. Reef Egrets and White-eyed Gulls were seen in Safaga port and in Hurghada, where we also had a few Sooty Gulls. A pair of Lanner Falcons was hunting pigeons over the outskirts of Hurghada town and Ospreys were seen in several places along the coast. The bird of the day was a pair of Desert Eagle Owls, which gave unforgettable views, while a pair of confiding Ospreys catered for some excellent photo opportunities. Left Safaga after dark, heading NE towards the Gulf of Aqaba and Jordan.

31.12. Arriving in Aqaba, Jordan before noon. Most of the birding was done at the sewage dams by the Israeli border. This is a closed military area, and written permits are needed to enter the facilities. Yellow-vented Bulbuls and Little Green Bee-eaters at the entrance were soon followed by an adult Greater Spotted Eagle and some 1000 Great Cormorants by the pools. The pools also held some ducks and waders, but nothing unexpected. Two Ferruginous Ducks were probably the most exciting birds.

1.1.All day birding the desert of Wadi Rum, some 60 kms NE of  Aqaba. Wadi Rum is a stunningly beautiful desert, but it is also under extremely hard pressure from the increasing tourism. Desert camps can be found almost everywhere, and the jeep caravans criss-cross the desert from dawn till dusk. The jeeps are supposed to stick to marked trails, but wheel-tracks can be seen everywhere. Perhaps not the peaceful desert experience you’d hoped for.

The Wadi Rum itself was rather thin on birds, but we found a group of  Sinai Rosefinches in one of the narrow canyons, including three stunning adult males. On a flat sandy plain with some bushes we saw some Desert Warblers and a bonus male Menetries’s Warbler, a bird I didn’t expect to see on this tour. Other birds of interest were Blackstart, Bar-tailed Desert Lark, Hooded, Mourning, White-crowned Black, Isabelline and Desert Wheatears, 2 Barbary Falcons, 2 sub-adult Imperial Eagles and 1 subad Steppe Eagle, 30 Cranes, Desert and Trumpeter Finches and, in all, 4 different juv Steppe Grey Shrikes Lanius pallidirostris. Many of the birds were seen in the irrigated areas north of Wadi Rum.  All in all, the best birding day of the whole trip.

Left Aqaba after dark heading for Suez.

2.1. All day at sea, passing the southern tip of Sinai, Ras Mohammad, at dawn, reaching Suez just before midnight. Extremely quiet at sea, only a few Yellow-legged Gull-type birds in mid-morning. At 1930hrs, nearly three hours after sunset, I noticed some 20+ Slender-billed Gulls following the boat, trying to find something to eat in the flood-lit water next to the boat. They followed the vessel, frequently changing in number, until at least 2300 hrs, when I decided to retire. This behaviour is interesting, and seems somehow to be more pronounced in this species compared to other gulls. I noticed exactly the same nocturnal behaviour also on the sea between Banjul, The Gambia and Dakar, Senegal in Jan-Feb 2005, 2006 and 2007, but there the Slender-bills were from time to time joined by some Audouin’s Gulls and Common Terns. 

3.1. Birding around Suez, checking out some sites for the spring tour. Generally very quiet, except for the thousands of Indian House Crows, which at times recalled scenes out of Hitchcock’s “Birds”. The Corniche at the sea-front had a few hundred waders at low tide in the afternoon, with several Greater Sand Plovers, Curlews and a Bar-tailed Godwit among the new birds for the trip-list. One Swift Tern (Sterna bergii) was seen at Ain Sokhna, some 60 kms south of Suez, while a Common Bulbul in the harbour was also the only one seen. Left Suez after dark.

4.1. Morning at sea, reaching Sharm el Sheikh at the southern tip of Sinai at 1100 hrs. As expected, very quiet at sea, with only a few adult Baltic Gulls (Larus fuscus fuscus) and some cachinnans-type Yellow-legged Gulls. No Red Sea specialities, no cetaceans, no turtles. Cruising the Red Sea at this time of year was rather disappointing. Most of the time I felt I could as well have been on a pelagic on the Dead Sea!

Once in Sharm, I birded areas between Sharm and Nabq in the afternoon. The sewage plant W of the airport had three different Imperial Eagles (two juvs, one second winter), one juv Bonelli’s Eagle, a male Hooded Wheatear, some wintering ducks (teal, shoveler, wigeon), coots and some waders. A smaller, fenced sewage pond near the northern end of the airstrip had two juv Imperials, which may have been the same birds as seen before. A Hoopoe Lark seen there was the first of the trip, while a single Bar-tailed Desert Lark was another nice find.

The most surprising record was a flock of 100 circling Black Kites, slowly drifting into the wind, heading north at Nabq, an early date for a migrant flock of this size. Many of the juveniles were extremely well marked, showing characters of the ssp. lineatus. They could, however, not be seen close enough to see all the salient features of this subspecies (colour of eyes and bare parts, etc.), so they could well have been intermediates between lineatus and migrans.  The harbour had only one quartering White-eyed Gull.

5.1. On the boat in the harbour waiting for and transport to the airport. Three White-eyed Gulls in the Harbour being the only bird worth mentioning.

I spent two weeks of December in India, in the westernmost parts of the state of Rajasthan, joining some Indian friends in a raptor survey. Starting from Delhi, we drove through the neighbouring Haryana and the length of Rajasthan, almost up to the border with Pakistan. It is a one-way drive of more than 1000 km, and gives you a good idea about the Indian countryside in this part of the subcontinent.

The Thar Desert, covering most part of the State of Rajasthan, is certainly not the most productive area to go birding in India. But for a raptor freak it is a must! Several of the raptor species coming from Central Asia spend the winter in this desert, some feeding on the flourishing populations of gerbils, others relying on the abundant supply of carcasses.

It was a surprise to me, that species like Eurasian Griffon and Cinereous Vulture were so common in the desert, and that we repeatedly encountered Himalayan Griffons. This is not what you expect, when you look at the maps of the field guides. The Laggar Falcon and the Long-legged Buzzard were common in areas with healthy populations of gerbils. The buzzards proved to be shy and difficult to approach, probably indicating that they are persecuted in the areas they come from. During my stay the recent population crash among the resident vultures became evident. I saw less than 10 White-backed Vultures, all adults, and 20 or so Long-billed Vultures, both of which, only ten years ago, were so numerous, that they were not included in the transect surveys at all! Now only some percents of the former populations remain and the future still looks dire, despite the ban on Diclofenac, the drug behind the crash.

Thanks to my friend Rishad Naoroji, author of the recently published “Birds of Prey of the Indian Subcontinent”, for making the trip a reality. Without his contacts, knowledge and previous experience the trip would not have been the success it was. Thanks also to Shantanu Kumar and Harkirat Sangha, for good company during the trip and for indispensable help in arranging accommodation and in obtaining the “inner-line permit”, needed to enter the border areas with Pakistan, something that would have taken an outsider days to arrange. And last but not least, thanks to my driver Mahboob Alam, who became a close friend during the days, when the others surveyed the actual border with Pakistan, where no foreigners are allowed. Not only did he drive me safely through a country where, talking about traffic, complete chaos is a grave understatement. He also kept packs of feral dogs off my back, so that I could focus on my photography, and he proved to be an excellent spotter. 

Have a look at the video behind the link below, and you will see something, that very few people have witnessed before, if ever. Thanks to Daniel Philippe for alerting me.

http://www1.nrk.no/nett-tv/klipp/116233

Käykää katsomassa yllä olevan linkin video. Aivan uskomatonta, silti vain luonnon arkea. 

I spent one week on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca, devoting every day to Eleonora’s Falcons. My photofile of the species needed some updating, since my last images of the species were from the same place, but from as far back as 1997! Although the weather was a bit unsettled towards the end of the week, with impressive thunderstorms (the hurricane that caused a lot of damage in Mallorca went through the day before my arrival), I managed to get the material I hoped for, and the whole trip was a great success. Not only did I get proper shots on Eleonora’s, but I also had nice sightings and even some photo opportunities of the Mediterranean race of Peregrine F.p. brookei.

It was extremely interesting to sit by the steep cliffs watching the falcons all day long. The birds are busy all the time and there is never a quiet moment. There are constant interactions between the falcons, and the immatures (mostly one year olds) were given a hard time by the breeding adults whenever they got too close to the nests. Also breeding pairs appeared to have disputes between them. Watching the birds hunt, was still the most exciting action to watch, when several falcons set out for the same poor migrant passerine. Sometimes even the Peregrines joined in, targeting the same bird. Unlike you’d expect, many of the attempts ended in the favour of the small bird, and only maybe one out of four was successful. Once an adult pair of Peregrines joined the Eleonora’s in their hunt, and the male was the one to catch the songbird after the female had first missed it. The stooping Peregrine appeared to be even faster than the Eleonora’s, maybe due to its greater body weight.
 

Among the small songbirds migrating along the cliff-faces early in the morning, proceeding from bush to bush, the bulk appeared to be Robins, Black Redstarts and Chiffchaffs. Not surprisingly, most of the identified prey taken by the Eleonora’s were Robins. Another species, documented in a photograph, was an unlucky Pied Flycatcher, which reached the cliffs in the talons of a falcon!

On good mornings (overcast and calm) the falcons appeared to hunt through the day, and there was a constant flow on prey to the colony. On days like this, when there was more food than needed, the birds cache the surplus food in small bushes on the steep cliff-faces. However, the opportunistic Yellow-legged Gulls had obviously noted this, too, as they were patrolling the cliffs clearly scanning every ledge and bush. On two occasions I saw adult gulls actually spot cached prey and go down to get it. After picking it up in flight, they swallowed it straight away, and the falcons never intervened. On other occasions the gulls picked up prey from the surface of the sea, which inexperienced juvenile falcons had dropped.

My latest raptor book "Petolinnut" (Raptors) is out. It is a coffee table book in full-colour and has 144 pages and 120 images. It is in Finnish, but the text is short, and the pictures speak for themselves.

It can be ordered on the internet from the following addresses:

http://www.otava.fi/in_english/en_GB/index/

http://www.birdlife.fi/lintuvaruste/hinnasto/info/k-petolinnut.shtml

Some spreads from the book, to give you a rough idea (NB. colour rendition is not life-like in these images).

Petolinnut

Dick Forsman

Kiehtovat petolinnut – ainutlaatuisia valokuvia, kokemuspohjaista tietoa

Maailman yli 300 petolintulajia ovat sopeutuneet elämään mitä vaihtelevimmissa oloissa, ja petolinnut ovatkin onnistuneet valtaamaan kaikki maapallon kolkat Etelämannerta lukuun ottamatta. Nämä ravintoketjujen huipulla elävät saalistajat ovat myös herkkiä erilaisille ympäristön muutoksille, ja siksi niiden tutkiminen on olennainen osa yleistä luonnonsuojelua.
Petolinnut valottaa tämän kiehtovan linturyhmän monenkirjavaa elämää yleistajuisesti ja kiinnostavasti, kokemuspohjaisten esimerkkien ja korkealaatuisten valokuvien avulla.
Se perehdyttää petolintujen rakenteeseen ja aisteihin, pesimäkierron eri vaiheisiin, saalistamisen saloihin, muuttomatkan moniin vaaroihin sekä petolintumaailman voittajiin ja häviäjiin niin Suomessa kuin muuallakin maailmassa.
Ainutlaatuinen kuvamateriaali on suurelta osin kuvattu tätä kirjaa varten, ja aineisto on pääosin ennen julkaisematonta.

144 sivua / 250 x 210 mm / 120 nelivärikuvaa / 58.12

ISBN 978-951-1-21147-1
Ilmestymisajankohta: 9 / 2007

Kirja on saatavilla tärkeimmistä kirjakaupoista. Se on myös tilattavissa seuraavista nettikaupoista

http://80.248.163.23/suoramyynti/servlets/SaleSiteServlet?action=select&siteId=Otava&ISBN=9789511211471 

http://www.birdlife.fi/lintuvaruste/hinnasto/info/k-petolinnut.shtml

Thu Sep 27^th : After days of greyness and low cloud Thursday was different. For the first time in several weeks the falling temps, increasing north-easterly wind and clearing skies gave hope of the expected Crane migration. By the evening some 3000 migrating cranes had been counted from the Bird Observatory at Hanko. The birds leave their roosts in C Finland in the morning and start to appear at Hanko late in the afternoon, some 500 kms further south. At Hanko the migration often peaks in the early evening, and continues sometimes even after dark. Once leaving the Finnish coast the birds have to fly for at least another two hours, before reaching their roosting areas in W Estonia.

In the evening I went out to look for the last cranes and to photograph the rising moon. Some cranes were still passing, heading out over the sea towards Estonia, despite the approaching night. At 7:18 pm, 15 minutes after sunset, I spotted a bird in the corner of my eye, some 700 metres off shore, flapping eastwards. I lifted my bins, but couldn’t at first believe my eyes, a GLOSSY IBIS! Single birds had been seen earlier that day at two different localities, and this, probably a new, third bird, was only about the 25^th record of this species for Finland. Nice finale to the day!

The pics below were all taken from the same spot at Hanko, between 6.59pm. and 7.23 pm. What an evening!

Fri , Sep 28^th: Fairly low cloud, but continued good NE breeze. A massive crane passage was noted, with some 13 000 counted at Hanko, while as many as 20 000 migrating cranes were seen near Turku from one point. Hanko also counted over 30 000 Woodpigeon leaving the country during the day.

Sat, Sep 29^th : Even lower cloud, almost as fog, with gusty, up to gale-force NE wind. Poor visibility, but cranes, and now also geese, still on the move. Most flocks were just heard, but some cruising low over the tree-tops. A friend reported a Mediterranean Gull from a nearby bay (less than 30 records for the country), which performed on and off for the rest of the day.

Sun, Sep 30^th : The morning started calm and clear, actually too nice for a good bird day! It proved to be a rather slow day, as far as migration was concerned, but we found a Yellow-browed Warbler near the golf course, which soon attracted some tens of birders. Also The Med Gull was still to be seen. Nice passage of Mistle Thrush and Wood Lark.