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To start with there were a few single “barks” from somewhere in the low stratus clouds, then a noisy chatter burst loose and a migrating group of 70 barnacle geese appeared in sight at 7.45. In the next flight chain there were 150 birds, and then at least 450 were approaching … The faint but fresh wind was from N-NE-E for once in a long while, and the migrants of course at once made use of the favourable tail wind. It was really time too, in their stopover places the weather was just turning severe. And this brought hope to see the first serious geese migration of this autumn in the Tallinn area. The beautiful migration morning was however threatened by fog that suddenly gathered, the clouds sank lower and lower and finally clouds, ground and sea couldn’t be distinguished from each other.

Luckily a slight breeze soon rose, and this was enough to make the world visible again. A group of bean geese who had appeared from somewhere landed on the mirror-smooth water; 80 whooper swans however didn’t care about the lake and went on in a westerly direction. Some brent geese headed the same way. But the major actors of the day were doubtless the barnacle geese – one flock after another arrived, in long chains and in triangle formations; the larger flocks as a rule flew at a clearly higher altitude. And all went steadily on in a SW-W direction – a spellbinding sight!

The suddenly worsening weather brought plenty of white-capped waves to Lake Ülemiste, and the migration seemed to come to an end. During 5 hours on October 9, altogether 16500 barnacle geese in 50 flocks were counted, and about 4000 of these were resting in the centre of the lake. When we left the observation point at 12.30 the beginning rain had hidden the geese further away behind a curtain as well as the widgeons, goosanders and great crested grebes that were busy near the shore.