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Before leaving for the mainland I searched for green woodpeckers on Saaremaa for some hours. Making a thorough inventory in two 10 × 10 km squares is in the plans for this year. So far green woodpeckers have been found on only one former territory but most of the area to be investigated is not checked yet. I have not seen the species myself this year, but hopefully we will find a few more pairs in the course of the inventory. In April it will be clear how many green woodpeckers still nest in Estonia.

 

Bean geese (07.04.2007 Tõrvandi)

 

While swans and geese flying by overhead already were everywhere in Saaremaa, all was still relatively quiet in the Matsalu area on the mainland. Near Matsalu manor I saw a larger flock of bean geese but the birds only made a high arc above the fields and headed back towards Virtsu. Something was not to their liking? Probably the still frozen sea and quite snowy fields did not tempt them to land. In a few days however large numbers of waterfowl should be present here too because the Kasari river is already overflowing its banks and the water surface is expanding rapidly.

 

River Kasari already overflows, soon this expanse of water will be full of swans, geese and ducks (21.03.2012)

 

The Kabli bird station, where the spring migration is monitored in detail this year  reported that today the goose migration came into full swing – a total of 4000 geese were observed, mostly bean geese. In addition 4800 migrating skylarks were counted today, a day record for larks at Kabli. Of rarities a red kite was seen at Kabli today. It is a southern species that seldom strays to us. During this century it has only been seen some ten times in Estonia.

This Saturday, March 24th, the Estonian Ornithological Society’sannual meeting takes place in Tartu. In addition to the general meeting where a new board will be elected there will also be lectures that all are welcome to attend. More details are on the EOÜ web page.

On Sunday (March 25th) the city birdwatch day, also known as “City Bird Rally“ in twitcher language, takes place once more. What it is about and how it is done can be read on the EOÜ Web page. Impressions from last year's city bird rally in Tartu can be read here*.

 

*newspaper Tartu Postimees article (in Estonian).