Birding Estonia: Sunday 16 May

Early morning at Pöösaspea, which gave us an unlucky start with a drunk, but happy, Estonian guy hanging around and then came the fog. We finished the countings, which only lasted for an hour, then birded around the northwestern part. At Spithami we heard a singing Greenish Warbler and Red-breasted Flycatcher. Good birds. We travelled through a very nice and old woodland from Spithami to Nova, where found a couple of Hazel Grouse, both seen and heard. Later on we also saw a female Capercaillie along the road.

We received interesting info concerning migrate numbers and sightings by sms from Annika Forsten throughout the morning. For example 32000 Common Scoters towards north at Ristna, counted by Peter Uppstu and Päivi Sirki. We also received a sms from Antero Topp telling us he had found a Kentish Plover at Pogari-Sassi, a third for Estonia.

We headed to the northern part of the large Matsula area at noon. Here we meet Antero and his group of british birders and exchange birding info. We scanned the northern bay from the big tower, but didn’t see anything special, except for several White-tailed Eagles, good numbers of Barnacle Geese, Temminck's Stint, Caspian and Little Terns. We then headed to Pogari-Sassi and checked the Kentish Plover.

At 16:30 we took the ferry from Rohukula to Hiiumaa, where we arrived at 18:00. It had raining heavily and we drove to Kärdla to finding a restaurant. At last we found a very nice one facing the sea. The food were delicious and here we meet the Finnish birders Peter Uppstu and Päivi Sirki and we had a nice chat. We then continued to our prebooked house at Puumametsa, the westernmost tip of Hiiumaa. What a house! Perfect for a hardcore birder trio. Sauna and a bedroom for each one of us!

Stay tuned for sightings from Hiiumaa.

Niklas, Janne & Ante