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 Translation: Liis

 

Rock pipit, Cape Põõsaspea 27.10.2012

 

With the night real winter arrived. At least at Soomaa everything was under a thick snow cover, there were several minus  degrees, the weather was calm and foggy: a beautiful winter morning. In early morning I drove through the major roads of the Soomaa national park, there might an owl or a hen around. I didn’t see or hear any owls anywhere but a capercaillie cock was walking around in the middle of the road. On principle I don’t want to go disturbing the birds at the capercaillie displays (I have never gone to one) because there are other opportunities to see these birds. You can simply move around on forest roads in the morning twilight before anybody else and with luck you will come across a capercaillie (Tetrao urogallus).This year I have seen capercaillies at least ten times in this way.
Towards the end of the day I reached Cape Põõsaspea in Läänemaa. There was no particular migration to be seen but on the beach between the rocks there was a rock pipit; one was in the same place a week ago too (maybe it was the same bird). For a moment a white-throated dipper (Cinclus cinclus) too landed on the cape, the first are beginning to arrive here from the north.

 

October 28

I stayed a few hours in the morning at Põõsaspea cape to watch for birds but nobody in particular was moving around. Light conditions were poor too, birds as little as half a kilometre away were difficult to identify because of the dazzle. Birds flying further away were only visible as foggy dots. Some things still got into the notebook, 560 barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis)  and 1140 long-tailed ducks (Clangula hyemalis) were migrating, in addition some scoters, ducks and loons.