My bird observations around wetlands

-

Season has started and I´m spending time around lakes and ponds watching birds. I´m wondering if there has been some study about positive effect of observing ducklings on human psychological well-being. I think it would have to bring clear results because I always feel so good when watching ducklings. How they are cutely searching for food, following the hen and other siblings. 

I succeeded to take some nice photos of birds which I would like to share. Some of the photos are taken in Nuuksio and some in Helsinki. 

Let´s start with some large herbivores which are increasing worldwide, Finland being no exception. Specifically swans and geese.

Whooper swan 

Whooper swan (Cygnus cygnus) is the national bird of Finland. Last decades its population has been increasing and expanding. But it hasn´t been always like that. Whooper swans were near to extinction in Baltic region during 19th and the beginning of 20th century because of hunting. After conservation activities, specifically its declaration as a protected species and the hunting ban, population of Whooper swans recovered. Yay!


Whooper swan on its nest


Barnacle goose


Barnacle geese (Branta leucopsis) in Finland usually nest in Helsinki archipelago. After hatching, parents take their offspring to the shore of mainland where they graze on nearby park lawns. Barnacle geese are becoming so abundant that during the rearing period of goslings, they often cause trouble to traffic as they move freely on the  roads, no rush.
I met on a small creek in Malminkartano this formation which was moving silently without any visible moves. Don´t they look a bit scary?!


Barnacle geese

Barnacle geese


Canada goose 

Canada goose (Branta canadensis) breeds in archipelago, but also on lakes in Finland, so it´s possible to see it further from Helsinki. My observations are from Nuuksio. In one case it had taken the breeding raft intended for Red-throated divers. 


Canada goose

Canada goose on the breeding raft intended for Red-throated divers. Pair of divers in the back.

Red-throated diver

Red-throated diver (Gavia stellata) can be well seen on lakes in Nuuksio where they breed every year. We´ve seen some pairs this spring, so everything seems to be as it should to be –⁠ apart from the invading Canada geese. Nesting will start soon! I wrote more about breeding of Red-throated divers in Nuuksio here. 


Red-throated diver


Common tern


In Nuuksio there is one nice rock where Common tern (Sterna hirundo) colony regularly breeds. Seems that this year it will happen as well!


Common tern colony


Black-headed gull


I succeeded to capture Black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) in flight. I tried to make a photo of a flying gull a couple of times and finally it´s sharp.


Black-headed gull


Common crane


On one way from Nuuksio we saw from the car a Common crane (Grus grus) very close. And then two more. Very elegant birds. Along with their increase, Common cranes became more abundant even in agricultural lands causing some conflicts.


Common crane

Mallard


The most common duck to meet in Helsinki is Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos). I´ve alredy seen two duck broods and I took a photo which I call "duck dance". The female was cleaning herself, and I caught her in a position with her wings in front of her face which reminds me an oriental dance with fans. This female duck had ducklings that were foraging in the nearby vegetation of the shore line. 


Mallard female with seven ducklings


Mallard "dance"

Mallard male


Eurasian wigeon


Eurasian wigeon (Mareca penelope) is more herbivorous than other ducks, and in Helsnki Eurasian wigeons often during day switch from ponds to nearby lawns where they forage on grass. They are so used to people there, that they make their travel very relaxed. 


Pair of Eurasian wigeons


Pair of Eurasian wigeons heading to forage on the grass

Common Goldeneye


As the Mallard, Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula) is an early breeder, so I´ve also seen already two broods. Common Goldeney nests in tree holes, or nexting boxes, where it´s warm and cosy, so the early breeding is possible. In Nuuksio I´ve seen Common Goldeneye pairs, and in Helsinki firstly pairs and then broods.


Common Goldeneye female with six ducklings

Common Goldeneye female with twelve ducklings

Pair of Common Goldeneyes

Common Moorhen


Common Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) spend most of the time in the shore vegetation, and during breeding it moves even more secretly. Therefore, it´s challenging to see Common Moorhens with chicks, especially with very young ones. In Helsinki it´s easier as they are more used to people.


Common Moorhen

Common Moorhen chicks

Eurasian coot


Eurasian coot (Fulica atra) is also an inhabitant of Helsinki ponds. They spend a lot of time on the open water, where they are easily visible.


Eurasian coot

White wagtail


White wagtail (Motacilla alba) is often present around wetlands where it catches small insects. 


White wagtail


Location: Finland

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cooperative feeding of Common Mergansers

-
Image
 September 2022 Common mergansers ( Mergus merganser ), also known as Goosanders are diving ducks who mainly eat small fishes. Their daily requirement of fishes is around 400 g. Mergansers have different strategies of hunting them. They fish individually, but also cooperatively in small or large flocks. Fishing in flocks is a very impressive strategy. Their aim is to target a fish, or better a fish school, and push it together to shallow shore water where fishes can be easily caught. Mergansers are usually firstly moving slowly in loose formation, looking in short intervals under water surface for prey. When the fishes are located, the chase begins: birds rush rapidly on the water and drive fishes to the shore. In short distance runs, Mergansers have wings folded, but in distances more than few meters, they run with the aid of their wings. During this chasing run, Mergansers pack into a dense formation. When the fishes are pushed to the shallow water, some Mergansers dive repea...
Read more

Finnish Laskiaispulla - heaven in the mouth

-
Image
Laskiaispulla is one of my favourite Finnish sweet pastries.  It´s a light fluffy yeast dough, in Finnish pulla , cut and filled with almond paste or strawberry marmalade and decent amount of whipped cream. Extremely delicious! Now it´s a very good time to enjoy it, because it´s connected to the fasting before Easter when the meat is avoided. It pops up in cafes and shops, but the best is homemade anyway. Baking feels cosy and it´s nice to fill home with cardamon smell. For me, yeast dough was always challenging. Czech sweet pastry is also based a lot on yeast dough, and I like it very much, so I tried it several times. But the result wasn´t often as it should be. Sometimes my trials ended up hard and dry or had strong yeast smell. I think that I was making mistake in the method. Perhaps when the dough was supposed to be rising for couple hours and I couldn´t catch the right moment when it was ready.  Also, my dough was often too liquid, so I was adding later more and more ...
Read more

My traditional Christmas in Finland

-
Image
 December 2022 A real winter fairy tale awaited us when me and Petri celebrated Christmas in the Finnish countryside with his mum and her husband.  The travel itself was incredibly romantic. Four hours in the train, a snowy landscape with frozen lakes passing by, and we were excited for Christmas. For the first time in my life, I was in a dining wagon. I had already discovered that Finns are not used to prepare homemade sandwiches. However, they don't mind buying something in a shop, where they often reach for a karjalanpiirakka , but they won't prepare the classic bread with something. That's why they need trains with a dining wagon, which are not common in the  Czech republic , because there we have supplies from home. When we travel in the  Czech republic , our backpacks are stuffed with food and the only reason someone would visit a dining wagon is for a beer. I am a classic Czech who doesn´t travel without at home prepared snack. So, the day before our trip I wa...
Read more