Siberian Tit and Arctic Warbler 18th - 20th June

I had some time to spare and decided to revisit Kiilipaa to look for Willow Grouse again, I stopped overnight on Kaunispaa and heard the Dotterel calling as I dozed around midnight. At 03:30 I climbed out of my sleeping bag, got dressed and pulled down the roof of the camper and headed for Kiilipaa. I was there by 03:50 and set off up the hill, for the third time! It was overcast but still light as I headed up the boardwalk. Before I got to the top I could see the male Ptarmigan by the side of the track. No sign of any Willow Grouse but I took some more photos of the Ptarmigan. At one point it jumped on to the boardwalk and sat there quite happily as I took photos with the 300mm lens it was just after 04:30 so I walked further up the path but still no Willow Grouse.

Ptarmigan - male, now with a few more dark head feathers

Having spent quite a bit of the morning on Kiilipaa I was still close to the Kuttura Road and decided to try again for Siberian Tit. I found a pair that were now feeding young and there was much more activity with both birds bringing food in at regular intervals. It was still very overcast but the photos came out ok and were much better than my last attempt.

Siberian Tit

On the 19th I was collecting Pam from Ivalo airport, it rained almost all day. I had time in the morning to look for divers and mergansers on Lake Inari. The birds were there but too distant to make any sort of interesting photo in the rain.
Having collected Pam and spent a night at the Kultahippu Hotel in Ivalo we drove up to Inari on the morning of the 20th to visit the Sami Museum. Having just been round the museum and received a text for Jan (Jan Nordblad); Arctic Warbler Inari 68.6503 27.5401. I put the coordinates in the GPS, it was for the Ivalo Hotel in Ivalo just a few hundred metres from our hotel! We set off back, as we drove towards Ivalo we came across a group of deer by the roadside which looked much larger than the Reindeer I had been seeing. I took some quick photos but wanted to get back to Ivalo. 
At the hotel I had a quick look round but there was no immediate sign. We decided to get a bite to eat then I would return for a more thorough search. 
After eating I started in a group of trees close to the river just north of the hotel. No immediate sign so I decided to try a tape of the song. Almost immediately a small bird flew in to the bushes and started singing. Arctic Warbler, it continued to sing and came in the closest trees to me. The song delivery was much like Wood Warbler with the head raised, sometimes almost vertical. I had amazing views as it sat out in the open both calling and delivering its rather monotonous song.

Arctic Warbler

Looking at the deer photos when I got back to the hotel they were clearly the forest race of the Reindeer which is considerably larger. I wasn't happy with the photos so we went out again and fairly quickly found a small group of 12 or 13 individuals in the forest N of Ivalo which allowed me to get some reasonable photos. The photos are still on the camera, this is one of the earlier photos and I'll add some more when I get chance.

Forest Reindeer

 

Pyhantunturi and the hills of Kiilopaa and Kaunispaa 9th/10th and 13th June

Continuing North I drove through Sodankyla and back down to the ski village of Pyantunturi, I'd missed a turning that could have shortened my journey but not to worry.
I chose a parking spot just outside the village by a lake with 50 Whoopers on it, very picturesque but I'd forgotten how noisy a herd of Whooper Swan can be and they trumpeted on and of thought out the night, by 3am I'd had enough and decided to make an early start. 

Whooper Swans - note to self - don't park overnight near them!

I was intending to walk the nature trail by the ski resort and I was glad a did, beautiful ancient pine forest gave way to wet woodland and open bog all in the space of about 5km. 

The nature trail at Pyhatunturi

At 4am it was so peaceful with just the birds and me. Wood Sandpipers displayed on the marsh and Greenshank called from the tree tops! It really was a beautiful walk but again no sign of the Rustic or Little Buntings which are sometimes found there.

Wood Sandpiper

Greenshank - calling from the trees

Back in Sodankyla and drove to Lake Kelujarvi again searching for the elusive buntings but again without success. 
My next stop were the two hills of Kiilopaa and Kaunispaa. I walked up Kiilopaa late in the day first and saw nothing, apparently an early morning visit is called for. I parked up at Kaunispaa and in a short walk around midnight had brief views of two Dotterel in flight, these were my target for the following morning. It was T Shirt weather when I arrived but the weather changed overnight and it was just above freezing the following morning with a mist on the hill. I delayed my walk until about 07:00 by which time it had brightened a bit. It wasn't long before I could hear the pipping calls of the Dotterel and I located first one pair then two more. 

Dotterel

What beautiful birds these are and it was a real treat to be able to sit so close and watch them. At one point the female sank low to the ground then started to rotate - she was creating her nest scrape! 

Dotterel - female making nest scrape

I watched them for several hours, occasionally there was interplay between the three pairs when one must have come too close to anothers territory resulting in a brief dispute.
I returned to Kiilopaa on the 13th June planning an early start but my phone packed in and the alarm never sounded so it was 06:30 when I rose not 04:00 as planned. Walking up the hill I met another Finnish birder who had made the early start and had been rewarded with Ptarmigan and Willow Grouse but both had disappeared. The Ptarmigan was a male still in all white plumage and with most of the snow gone he should certainly stand out if he was around. It took an hour but eventually he was located and I got some nice photos with a range of backgrounds but with a very overcast sky. 

Ptarmigan

Although I walked for a further 10km there was no sign of the Willow Grouse, but surely I'll see these further north.
On the 12th June I tried again for Little Bunting on the outskirts of Ivalo and finally with success! I located a pair just off the Murmansk Road on the outskirts of town the male was in song but the female was also present so they had perhaps not completed a nest yet.

Little Bunting

That afternoon I made another search for Siberian Tit, and I was clearly having a good day as I located several birds on the Kuttur Guhtar Road west of Kiilopaa. 

Siberian Tit

This is probably not the best time to look for them as half the population is sitting on eggs and the other half are probably less vocal then earlier in the Spring. Still it was great to finally catch up with them.