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European roller

 

Today I was once more in Valgamaa at the Latvian border to search for European rollers (Coracias garrulus). Meanwhile information arrived that in spring a pair had been in place in an old territory after all. Perhaps this bird is still nesting somewhere? I went to a large part of the old territories but the blue bird was not found today either. Just as I had decided to stop the roller search because of hard rain a message arrived through Rariliin (Birdline) that a Pomerine jaeger or Pomerine skua (Stercorarius pomarinus) was present at Lämmijärve. You can drive to Tartu by way of Mehikoorma too and so I set off on the twitching trip. Half-way it turned out that the bird had been nicely in place near the Laaksaare harbour for nearly an hour and it was still there when the finders left. Hope rose that maybe I would succeed in twitching the creature. However, I used my telescope in Laaksaare and in Mehikoorma too for several hours but the jaeger was no longer anywhere. In fact, if the twitching had succeeded it would have been an unheard-of occasion. These creatures will not stay in place. But it is always worth a try.