looduskalender.ee

The unpleasant weather wasn’t any good for forest hikes and so nothing else was left to do today either but to study geese by telescope. Great numbers of bean geese and greater white-fronted geese have arrived in Estonia in the last few days. Among the common species rarities may hide too, but an interesting task is to search for neck rings. One ring I read already in the polders of south-eastern Estonia, today I headed for Pärnumaa’s best goose fields.

The Audru polder was flooded all over but unfortunately still frozen. Because of this there were not particularly many waterfowl. However, at the edges where the ice had melted a couple of thousand ducks were visible. At the verge of a puddle a large flock of snow buntings  were busy, altogether 140 birds. Among the others a “fatter“ creature stood out. Closer examination showed that it wasn’t a well-fed snow bunting; instead it was the first Bird of the year, a plover. Solitary plovers are arriving by and by already. On the polder itself there were not particularly many geese but on the neighbouring fields already several thousands of bean geese and greater white-fronted geese were on the ground. Among the others was 1 pink-footed goose and on the golf course by the polder 20 Canada geese walked about.

 

A typical fuzzy rarity photo – the red-breasted goose, 29.03.2012, Rannametsa

 

The well-known goose fields on the Leinaküla and Lepaküla grounds were comparatively empty today. A couple of thousand geese were there but I would rather have expected at least 10000 birds. There were no goose rarities among them either. But outlooks brightened on the Rannametsa – Pulgoja hayfields. At once at the verge of the first field there were a few thousand geese on the ground and in the first line walked a red-breasted goose! Only some ten years ago this species was a rather hard-found rarity in Estonia, only occasional observations annually. During the recent decade it has become more common but it is still a rarity. In the  rarity finding competition finding this creature earns one point. This observation is interesting because the red-breasted goose has not been seen this early in Estonia before. Typically it is observed here in the second half of April and in May. The red-breasted goose information was circulated through the Rariline and in a few minutes the first twitcher was in place – local birder Mati Kose. Together we combed through the fields in the neighbourhood and among some 6000 geese we found three birds with neck rings – 2 bean geese and 1 greater white-fronted goose. Among the new arrivals on the puddles l noticed a redshank, now my 2012 species list has 136 bird species.

By midday there were a few hours of somewhat clearer and better weather that were at once utilised by many migrants. Geese and ducks, cranes and lapwings, finches and other lesser creatures constantly flew towards north. I visited the Kabli bird station tower too. This year a spring migration monitoring project is running there organised by the Estonian Ornithological Society and led by Margus Ellermaa. You can read about what goes on in Kabli in the Kabli bird station diary.

The road back to Tartu came with a large roundabout. In spring the Navesti polder near Olustvere is a good bird spot. Because no birder has been there yet this spring (at least there is no information in the data bases) I did not know to expect anything special. But already from far off a wide expanse of water was visible – the Navesti river has put up a proper flood this year. And on such a field of water there must be plenty of birds. Already now a couple of thousand waterfowl were in the area, among them >400 swans and > 1500 ducks. In the second half of April it will certainly be a proper duck soup and in early May many waders stop here too. Unfortunately the area is rarely on a bird-watcher’s route and data about the site are few. This spring I will try to go to the Navesti polder at least a few more times. Today 2 Bewick’s swans with neck rings were here, one of them had a transmitter ring. Information on the history of these birds should arrive soon through the Matsalu ringing centre.