The End

The autumn has finally coming to an end here at the cape, and I will go back to Sweden. Last morning was slow, but a pale-bellied brent was a real surprise! 

This last post I will give the totals for my two months here in Estonia. I hope you will enjoyed them. Most of the species were having a normal-good year. Though some species (e.g. divers, grebes & long-tailed ducks) was way under what was expected (e.g. l-t ducks were expected too be seen in 2-300.000 at least!).

Miscellaneous:

178 species were recorded at the cape (with suroundings)

500+ hours were spent at the cape

900 km on bike

Totals:

red-throated diver 10848

black-throated diver 3098

diver sp. 710

red-necked grebe 582

great crested grebe 367

slavonian grebe 4!

mute swan 243

whooper swan 219

bewick's swan 104 (vaste majority follows the russian border)

greater white-fronted 1918 (see bewick's swan)

tundra bean goose 484 (see bewick's swan)

brent 51258

barnacle goose 214443

wigeon 91753

teal 11480

pintail 11072

gadwall 64

mallard 927

garganey 7

shoveler 2239

porchard 63

tufted duck 8339

scaup 37684

eider 8265

long-tailed duck 132668 (All-time-low?)

comon scoter 163168 (vaste majority flies in july/august)

velvet scoter 42576

goldeneye 5627

smew 345

merganser 7111

cormorant 5349

crane 6550

dunlin 2445

pomarine skua 4

arctic skua 93

little gull 2990

Among more rare birds recorded on migration: great white egret (18), white-billed diver (2), hrota (4), nigricans (2), black scoter, gannet, caspian gull (16), kittiwake, white-winged black tern, hawk owl, richard's pipit.

Thank you for reading, and I hope it has been inspiring!

More Little Gulls

More gulls are passing, a bit closer today due to the more southwetern wind. Some caspians were also found among all herring gulls.

Notes from the cape:

red-throated diver 76

red-necked grebe 8

great crested grebe 16

bewick's swan 5

long-tailed duck 557

little gull 546 (526 2cy.+ & 20 1cy.)

black-headed gull 71

common gull 842

lesser black-backed gull 1 1st. cy.

herring gull 786

caspian gull 4 1st cy.

Little gulls

Little gulls, among other gulls, were moving today. The vaste majority were unfortunately very far out in the haze.

Notes from the cape:

long-tailed duck 1100

velvet scoter 297

smew 10

little gulls 447

common gull 665

herring gull 1050

Cold

Nice flocks of Smew cheered me up this cold day.

Notes from the cape:

red-throated diver 51

whooper swan 50

tundra bean goose 1

brent 3

barnacle 1442

mallard 92

long-tailed duck 636

common scoter 59

velvet scoter 223

goldeneye 109

smew 102!

merganser 107

goosander 30

lesser black-backed gull 2 1st. cy.

A beginning of an ending

The autumn has now started to fade into winter here in the Gulf of Finland. Most birds has now fly south even if there are still long-tailed ducks, scoters and divers still flying by. And of course the Steller's eider has not come yet. The last of all. The peak isn't untill november/december but hopefully will see one or two before I go home on Sunday.

Notes from the cape:

divers 288 (282 red-throated)

whooper swan 5

bewick's swan 4

barnacle 324

porchard 10

long-tailed duck 3771

common scoter 50

velvet scoter 1113

merganser 78

lesser black-backed gull 1 1st. cy.

Gull-fest!

The gull-fest at the cape continues. Today over 2000 gulls. As usually, mostly herrings. But a couple of caspian were picked out from the rest.

The long-tailed duck migration was a disapointment. Has the peak passed and most of them far from land or has they not come yet? We will see...

Notes from the cape:

divers 27

barnacle 145

long-tailed duck 867

smew 1

grey plover 2

purple sandpiper 2

black-headed gull 120

common gull 331

lesser black-backed gull 1 1st cy.

herring gull 1778

caspian gull 6 (2 1st cy. & 4 2nd. cy.)

Storm!

Today was a very windy day! Up to 15 m/s north-easterly. Sometimes I thought the wind shelter I was standing in should blow away.

Good number og gulls today, over 3000. Mainly herring. The long-tailed ducks didn't start migratng until 1300, when the rain stopped.

Notes from the cape:

wigeon 352

shoveler 14

tufted duck 65

scaup 108

long-tailed duck 10628

velvet scoter 220

smew 6

black-headed gull 178

common gull 387

lesser black-backed gull 5 1st cy.

herring gull 2442

caspian gull 2 (at least 1 1st cy. and 1 2nd cy.)

The first night with frost

Today was really cold...

But some late-autumn species cheered me up.

Notes from the cape:

divers 114 (105 red-throated)

mute swan 12

whooper swan 41

barnacle 1658

mallard 326

long-tailed duck 1900 (one albino/leucistic)

common scoter 131

velvet scoter 401

smew 91

merganser 190

herring gull 2000

Notes from the cape:

divers 283 (218 red-throated)
whooper swan 7
brent 888
barnacle 7197
wigeon 655
shoveler 142
long-tailed duck 2591
common scoter 200
velvet scoter 1528
smew 35
merganser 242

No ending

The barnacle will not stop migrating. 

The day was pretty dull until 1600 when barnacles started migrating in large flocks. Over 20.000 was counted until it was too dark. Barnacles was still heard in the dark.

Notes from the cape:

divers 134 (79 red-throated, 47 black-throated)

brent 837

barnacle 25338

long-tailed duck 1397

smew 10

merganser 156

purple sandpiper 1

little gull 126

The day after..

As expected, there was no enormous numbers of birds today, but still a nice autumn day. Weak wind, good light and small flocks passing by, almost all day.

Notes from the cape:

divers 576 (295 red-throated, 275 black-throated)

red-necked grebe 24

brent 1846

barnacle 7830

wigeon 526

tufted duck 201

scaup 230

long-tailed duck 10694

common scoter 514

velvet scoter 122

goldeneye 211

smew 6

merganser 471

little gull 49

lesser black-backed gull 2

grey wagtail 1

Mass migration

Fantastic day! Good weather and lots of birds. The day started with lots of long-tailed ducks and divers. In one hour over 5000 long-tailed and 500 divers was counted. At nine o'clock the geese were starting to move, and in three hours, between ten and one, 50 000 barnacles had passed!

Over 100.000 waterfowls was counted today!

Notes from the cape:

divers 1593 (745 black-throated, 591 red-throated and 257 divers sp.)

red-necked grebe 19

great crested grebe 40

bewick's swan 2

greater white-fronted 30

brent 754

barnacle 70906!

wigeon 816

pintail 205

tufted duck 1347

scaup 883

long-tailed duck 20994

common scoter 407

velvet scoter 294

goldeneye 451

smew 7

merganser 670

pomarine skua 1 3cy?

lesser black-backed gull 2

Now hoping for more tomorrow...

Teasing

A discharge is upcoming. Best day in a week. 

A siberian chiffchaff is resting in the village of Spithami and yesterday I had an adult yellow-billed diver 200-300 meters from the shore.

Notes from the cape:

divers 368 (272 red-throated, 85 black-throated)

barnacle 565

wigeon 142

pintail 137

tufted duck 145

scaup 221

eider 660

long-tailed duck 6272

common scoter 265

velvet scoter 1547

goldeneye 145

smew 8

merganser 114

caspian gull 1 2cy.

serin 2

In anticipation of something good...

Still same f'***ing shit weather!! Warm southwestern all the way up to the white sea. No wonder no birds want to migrate south.

Though, I find a siberian chiffchaff in the village of Spithami.

Notes from the cape:

8/10

divers 459 (245 red-throated, 212 black-throated)

red-necked grebe 19

tufted duck 47

scaup 113

eider 455

long-tailed duck 3427

common scoter 656

velvet scoter 424

golden plover 4

grey plover 13

curlew sandpiper 3

dunlin 7

bar-tailed godwit 1

little gull 25

7/10

divers 270 (red-throated 177, black-throated 93)

red-necked grebe 10

great crested grebe 13

eider 1170

long-tailed duck 887

common scoter 144

goldeneye 138

little gull 63

lesser black-backed gull 2

A new start?

After three days of very slow movement over the sea, a nice push of l-t ducks and eiders as well as divers were passing by today. Maybe a start of a new peak?

Notes from the cape:

divers 615 (403 r-t, 188 b-t)

red-necked grebe 17

great crested grebe 18

eider 2330

long-tailed duck 6544

goldeneye 522

lesser backed gull 1 2cy.

common tern 1 1cy.

Calm...

With south-south western winds all way up to the White sea, you really can't excpect any migration at all. And that is what it has been the last three days. It has been a struggle only to count 1000 birds per day. It still quit warm up in the tundra, but hopefully this will change next week and I will get some good migration.

Jacob has now left me and I have three more weeks to spend here at the cape.

The first push of Long-tailed ducks

There has now been a couple of days of good migration of long.tailed ducks. Over 40 000 has been counted the last week. Among other observations, I can mention yellow-billed diver and a hawkowl that came from the woods and fly straight out over the sea, probably migrating towards Sweden?  Another hawkowl was seen at Tuksi on wednesday.

Over a half millions waterfowls has now been counted since the last week of august. There is a long way to the expected million birds, but hopefully there are plenty of divers, ducks and gees left up in Russia.

Notes from the cape:

2/10

divers 459 (384 red-throated)

yellow-billed diver 1 summer

bewick's swan 81

brent 3231

barnacle 1241

long-tailed duck 3388

velvet scoter 1320

1/10

divers 615 (438 red-throated)

great crested grebe 38

brent 2701

barnacle 4860

long-tailed duck 16547

velvet scoter 702

merganser 243

hawk owl