Finland Specialities
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 ....Finding
Birds in Finland - The first edition of this book
probably
gives the impression that
finding Finland's special birds is easy. However, don't despair. Finland's
forest birds are hard to find but not impossible. So here is the latest
news on how to find the best species. Don't assume you can just turn up,
tick them off and drive on but be prepared to make several visits, sometimes
at unsociable hours and, with the help of these notes, you could be lucky.
....Finland's
National Parks - Treasures of Finnish Nature -
Nature Protection is the
primary function of national parks.They are protected areas exemplifying
the more valuable and characteristic habitats and land forms in the country,
such as archipelago, lakes, forests, peatlands and fells. Birders should
pay particular attention to:
-
Eastern Gulf of Finland
-
Ekenäs Archipelago
-
Kauhaneva-Pohjankangas
-
Liesjärvi
-
Oulanka
-
Puurijärvi-Isosuo
-
Torronsuo
....Siikalahti
Conservation Area - The wetland of Siikalahti
is recognized
as Finland's best lake for
birds. Siikalahti is especially renowned for its nocturnal bird–song, with
nightingales being the most prominent members of the night–time chorus.
....Exploring
nature in Rantasalmi - this is the location of the Putkilahti
....Raaso
Wader Ringing Station - the introduction section outlines
this 150 acre site, and
the likely (and unlikely) birds to be seen. Waders are know as shorebirds
on this side of the Atlantic.
....Birding
at Hanko - Hanko Bird Observatory is kept by Tringa
R.Y.
which is a bird society
in Helsinki. This bird observatory is situated in extreme south west point
of Finland, end of Hanko penisula.
....
....Short
birding trip to Porvoo (Southern Finland) on March 22 – 27,
2002,
by Natalie Groenez and Nico Geiregat. Our main goal (Hazel hen) was not
too hard to find. However it seems for most of the other species you do
need some more local information about the best places to visit and even
then it’s not too easy. For example, we only
had
one three-toed woodpecker, one White-backed woodpecker, one Ural owl, one
Tengmalm’s, one Pigmy and one Eagle owl while we were birding all the time,
so birding there has to be rather intensive and it’s hard work walking
in rocky forests with 20-30 cm. of snow, but in that environment it‘s certainly
worth it!
....Trip
Report: Scandinavia (Sweden, Finland, and Norway),
July
1 - 30, 1987 - by Gerard Joannes. Scandinavia has changed a lot recently.
Finding food at a reasonable price was very difficult during my first trip
from 1 to 30 July 1987. I did a lot of sight-seeing then only watching
birds when I saw them. During my second
trip in 1996 which was entirely devoted to bird-watching, we found
food very easily at supermarket prices.....
....Trip
report - Finland - Birds and Music - hosted by John Girdley (follow
the Europe, then Finland
link). This report by Ann Barker gives a fascinating insight into both
the birds and the culture of this remote area of Northern Europe.
Her trip, organized by Sunbird, also visited parts of Russia, Estonia and
Norway......
....Trip
Report: Finland, June 10-17, 1992 by Rob Goldbach
....Seen
Any Pygmy Owls ? A Report on a Trip to Finland in June 1994 -
by
Chris Bradshaw. This trip report documents a trip to Finland from 4th-26th
June 1994. We travelled throughout most of Finland and spent a couple of
days at Varangerfjord, Norway. We had an excellent time, and saw 199 species
including all our main targets.
....Trip
Report: Isosaari (Finland). 1994 - 1995. Isosaari - Great Island
-
A little bird paradise in Finnish Bay - Isosaari in Finnish means "Great
Island". The island is not great by size, but very well a great place for
birds - unfortunately not for birders, because the island is a military
fortress island and not allowed for visitors. I had the extreme pleasure
to spend there one year, and the following observations are made from autumn
1994 till summer 1995.
....Trip
Report: Seven Hours in Heinä-Suvanto (Finland). May 17, 1997.
This is a trip report of
seven hours which we spent in Heinä-Suvanto, a bird paradise in Viitasaari,
northern part of Mid-Finland.
....Trip
Report: Northern Scandinavia (Finland, Sweden, and Norway)
June
13-28, 1998 by Gruff Dodd. In June 1998 I was finally able to satisfy a
long outstanding ambition to travel to this wonderful part of Europe in
search of some of its most magical birds. I had wanted to visit this region
for many years
....Finland
and the Varanger Fjord, Norway (20 June - 5 July 1998) by
Roberto
Garavaglia & Federico Bonicelli. The main target of our summer
birdwatching trip was the famous Varanger Fjord in Norway. We combined
this destination with a tour of the main birding spots in both south-eastern
and northern Finland.
....Trip
Report: Finland and Northern Norway, May 31 - June 12, 1999 by
by
Barry Cooper & Gail Mackiernan. This report describes a trip we made
to Finland and arctic Norway in June 1999. Our targets were the many species
which are more characteristic of regions to the east, which in Europe are
easiest to find in Finland, as well as the excellent suite of owls, raptors,
grouse, waders and seabirds which frequent the vast forests, wetlands,
tundra and fjords of these two beautiful countries.
....Trip
Report: Finland, May - June 2000. From UK Birding.
....Trip
Report: Northern Scandinavia, May-June 2000, by
Simon
Woolley and Julia Casson.
....Trip
Report: Eastern and Central Finland, June 10-24, 2000, by
Georges
& Mireille Olioso. The first week, we stayed in the very small village
of Hoilola, very close to the Russian border; the second in Kivijärvi.
....Trip
Report: Birding through Finland (and a bit of Norway) - by
Stefano
and Daniela Fantini - Italy. May 26 - June 9, 2001. We have chosen this
time for the trip because we intended to get the best from spring singers
and hoped to avoid mosquitoes. We have not been very lucky with weather
(often cloudy and sometimes raining and snowing), but we enjoyed very much
the untouched Finnish wilderness and we got a very good day in Norway (Varanger).
At the end we have had 135 species with more than 50 new for us.
....Trip
Report: Arctic Norway and Finland - June, 2001. By Rob and
Evelien
Goldbach. After several visits to more southern areas in Norway, Sweden
en Finland, and a productive trip to the Varangerfjord in 1992, we decided
to make a trip completely focussed on the extreme northern part of Fenno-Scandinavia,
far above the polar circle, to enjoy the arctic specialities. The top 5
target species were this time Gyrfalcon, Snowy Owl, Hawk Owl, Brunnich's
Guillemot and White-billed Diver.
....Trip
Report: Northern Scandinavia June 1999 - by Teus Luijendijk.
In
June 1999, Pieter van der Luit and I set out for a trip through Northern
Sweden, Finland and Norway. In this report I have summarised our findings,
mostly regarding to the birds (and mammals) we observed. Our goal was to
find as many of the 'Northern speciality birds' as possible. Any birder
will know what I mean with this: the (North-)Scandinavian forests and tundra's
host a number of bird species that are difficult, or even impossible, to
see elsewhere.
....Trip
Report: Finland/Norway, 2nd - 13th June 2002, by
Steve Bird
and
Ari Latja. 186 Species seen. Great company, excellent bird sightings with
everything seen well by everyone and all backed up by very good weather
and fantastic scenery.A Birdseekers
Tour Report.
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