May 12-25, 2024 with Doug Gochfeld & local guide
This was our second running of Field Guides’ newly revamped Finland tour. We covered Finland thoroughly, starting off in Helsinki at the south of the country, and heading nearly to the northernmost end of the country, near the border with Norway. We birded both west and east, even seeing some birds in the distance over remotest western Russia. While much of Finland is carpeted by spruce and pine forest, the different regions we stayed in each had its own character, and we ended up with a lovely diversity of birds, from migrants that were just passing through heading for more northern or western areas, to resident European breeders, and migrant breeders that had just arrived back from wintering grounds as far off as Africa. We also had a couple of spectacular experiences at wildlife blinds (hides, to the Europeans), where there were interesting birds to look at, but at which the highlights were far and away a couple of mammal species: Wolverine and European Brown Bear.
We started out birding around Helsinki, where migrant shorebirds featured heavily, including some that would be scarce farther north along our route. Chief among these were gorgeous breeding-plumaged Spotted Redshank and Bar-tailed Godwit, and our birding here even yielded a bonus American “mega” in the form of a distant “American” Green-winged Teal - a subspecies that is perhaps unlikely to get split given its range overlap and free interbreeding in the Bering Sea, but that was a fun little bit of intercontinental spice. Our first real birding walk yielded a good introduction to the forest birds we would continue to see throughout our time in country, but also included in the avian yield was a lovely pair of Crested Tits, which would be our only ones of the tour. This day, which started on the western outskirts of Helsinki, saw us finishing up with a lovely boat trip on Lake Rantasalmi, which was highlighted by the exceptionally rare Saimaa Ringed Seal. Over the next day and a half of birding, we worked our way to the northeast, and we continued to see exciting species such as Eurasian Wryneck, Red Crossbill, Eurasian Hobby, Long-tailed Tit, Black Woodpecker, Garganey, and a slight rarity: Black Kite. On our day near the Russian border, we enjoyed a spectacle of many tens of thousands of Barnacle Geese getting ready to head off to their Russian breeding grounds, with a few other low-density migrant goose species (Bean, Greater White-fronted, Pink-footed) mixed in. A special treat in the goose realm was a pair of mind-blowingly handsome Red-breasted Geese! This bird-rich area also provided Little Gulls migrating overhead, Short-eared Owls, White-tailed Eagles, a Thrush Nightingale, Merlin, a delightful flock of Ruffs, over a hundred Northern Lapwings, and a few locally scarce Greater Scaup.
We then moved a little farther north to Lieksa. This was our jumping-off point for our first wildlife hide experience. We arrived at our comfortably accommodated building, latched the doors, and settled into our plush chairs to see what would happen. We watched some of the local birds, such as Green, Wood, and Common sandpipers and Common and Black-headed gulls, go about their springtime business, while we waited to see if anything furry would come in. We didn’t have to wait nearly as long as we expected - well before nightfall, Linda suddenly came into the viewing room (from the bunk room) excitedly saying “There’s a Wolverine.” We got excited, and sure enough, moments later, a Wolverine galumphed around the corner of the building and into our view. We had the amazing privilege of watching this amazing animal go about its business, overturning rocks and climbing trees, as it looked for food. This was a major highlight natural history experience, and it made the trip for several folks (maybe everybody!). After 30 minutes or so, during which time the Wolverine came and went a couple of times but was mostly in view in front of us, the Wolverine disappeared stage right, and within a short time a Brown Bear followed in the same direction, entering stage left, and then spending time hunting around for its share of food. This bear left, and after a couple of hours, was supplanted by a Mama bear and a couple of older cubs. Watching these all at our leisure, without any fear that we were disturbing the bears, nor in danger ourselves, put a capper on what was already a super special experience. Most folks dozed off for a few hours, and those who were vigilant overnight did see another bear come in after midnight. We watched for more as the sun rose, and though there were no more mammal sightings, we did have some exceptionally close Eurasian Bullfinches, a Eurasian Pied Flycatcher, and the continuing companionship of the confiding pair of White Wagtails that had been building a nest somewhere on the outside of the building.
In the afterglow of this fulfilling experience, we set off to the west and made the long cross-country journey to Oulu (seeing a fast-moving European Honey-buzzard, our only one of the tour, en route). Our couple of days in the west provided another great set of birds and habitats along the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia. In the forests and fields, we saw Great Gray Owl, Eurasian Pygmy-Owl, Gray-headed Woodpecker, Ortolan Bunting, and along the shores we encountered Eurasian Wryneck, Terek Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Eurasian Woodcock, Sedge Warbler, White-tailed Eagles, and a nice bunch of migrant Common Swifts, newly arrived from Africa. After our couple of days here, we continued north, this time zagging eastward as we went. Our stay in Kuusamo was our longest of the tour, at three nights, and we packed in a bunch of fun birds during that time. The grouse dial got turned up, and we started semi-regularly encountering Black Grouse and Western Capercaille along the roadsides and saw our first Willow Ptarmigans. We also had a bit of eastern flavor with Red-flanked Bluetail and Rustic Bunting, and the northern flair also began to show itself with Bohemian Waxwings, Bramblings, and more of breeders like Smew, Little Gull, and Taiga Bean Goose. Other highlights in this neck of the woods were White-throated Dipper, Siberian Jay, and Velvet and Common scoters. The birds, however, were perhaps once more outshined by a hide experience. This time, we drove out to the east, into more wilderness, and spent a few evening hours at a bear blind. Indeed, it was spectacular for Eurasian Brown Bear, with a huge sow and two adorable, somewhat nervous cubs. The gull flock (4 species), breeding plumage Ruffs, and the antics of the Common Ravens were a delightful way to pass the time when the bears were out of sight and while waiting for other animals, and we left to head home very satisfied. On the way out, we even found a really cool Black Grouse lek, with over a dozen males strutting their stuff in a nearby field – what a capper to an exceptional evening!
Once again in the afterglow of a great wildlife experience, it was time to head north to our final destination of the tour, Ivalo. We crossed the Arctic Circle in late morning, then saw our second Black Kite of the tour, and by mid-afternoon had reached our first taste of tundra. Our itinerary today gave us the time needed to hike up onto a hill with a barren top, and after some walking around in the Arctic microhabitat, with a good view of spruce and pine forest stretching out in all directions, we eventually found our quarry – a pair of Rock Ptarmigan! At the top were also a knockout pair of close European Golden-Plovers, and on the way down we also bumped into another pair of Willow Ptarmigan for good measure. As we approached Ivalo, we had time for one more stop – giving us our first real crack at Eurasian Dotterel. Just as were about to leave, after walking all around in search of this tundra hill denizen, Eric found one in a stretch of field that we hadn’t yet gone to. We hustled back to the vans, zipped down to where he was, and got some nice views before this stunning male walked behind a rise and out of sight. It was a knockout start to the final chapter of the trip, with perhaps the most-wanted bird of the tour achieved right away. Our day and a half around Ivalo was a great way to end the trip, with some of the highlights being point-blank views of Pine Grosbeak right outside our restaurant window, Eurasian Goshawk (a youngster being forcefully escorted across the highway by a Common Raven), Red Fox, Moose, and an exceptionally cooperative territorial Hazel Grouse “singing” its head off. The two highlights in the farthest north though, from a bird perspective, were pairs of Siberian Tit (Gray-headed Chickadee) and Northern Hawk Owl at their respective nests. The Hawk Owls in particularly left indelible memories for us, as we got to watch some food transfers at the nest cavity and hear other interaction calls that we don’t get to hear from birds on the wintering grounds, where American birders most regularly see them.
We had a really excellent, red-letter trip to this Scandinavian gem. The food and travel were good and easy, the hotels good, and the nature experiences truly phenomenal. I’d be remiss not to thank Arto Keskinen, our excellent Finnature local guide for working extra hard to make this trip such a success. And on behalf of myself and Arto, I thank you each and every one of you for sharing this voyage with us, with such good humor and spirits. It was a true delight, and I can’t wait to see you all in the field again – until next time, Nähdään!
You can see my complete trip report on eBird at this link: https://ebird.org/tripreport/261648
You can download a combined PDF of this page and the eBird report at this link: https://fieldguides.com/triplists/fin24TRIPLIST.pdf
Douglas Gochfeld