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Curlew

 

The birdwatching trip to Pärnumaa ran with a long detour through the Laeva and Navesti polders. The flooded polders were thickly filled with swans, geese and ducks but there was no one particularly interesting to see. In both areas the curlew was a new arrival; it became the 137th bird species on my year list.

In the afternoon thousands of birds were to be seen in the good „goose spots“ of Pärnumaa on the fields between Uulu and Häädemeeste. But the geese were so nervous that they flew up already at a kilometre’s distance and searching for rarities and neck rings came to nothing. The evening owl trip was not particularly rewarding either. Although the weather was clear and calm I only managed to find one pygmy owl in the Luitermaa forests. And no inkling about why the owls didn’t want to call? Here it should always be possible to hear several species. But the evening forest trip did not end without any new species, as the 138th bird species I finally found a woodcock.