Spring hike in Nuuksio: frogs, waterbirds and more

Previous year, one of the last visits to Nuuksio were during the autumn season on the wave of top harvesting. Mushroom, blueberry and cranberry picking. Spring hikes are about bird surveys, watching happenings in the nature, enjoying different smells and sounds. It feels very rewarding after the long Finnish winter.

I´ve been following the breeding cycle of frogs in Nuuksio. Just for fun and interest. On the first of May, there was a huge amount of mating frogs. We could see them by the shoreline of every lake.

 But the highest concentration was in Väärä Musta -lake where we spent quite a lot of time. 

There were two species, Common toad (Bufo bufo) and Common frog (Rana temporaria), and I could very well listen to their calls which are very different from each other. While Common toad makes singular high-pitched sounds, Common frog has a deep guttural continuous growl. 

There were also large clumps of Common frog spawn. I haven´t seen any Common toad spawn, but that´s because Common toads lay their spawn in the form of long chain deeper in the water, so it´s not so easily visible. 

Common frog spawn

Approximately one month later, the shores were full of swarming tadpoles. I want to go back there also in next month to see small frogs.

I had some nice observations of waterbirds as well. I saw Goldeneye female (Bucephala clangula) on its nest box. I bet she had a clutch there. She was behaving suspiciously, and there was a male on the nearby lake keeping watch.

There were also many Red-throated diver pairs (Gavia stellata), and later on, some of them were incubating their nests on small islands and artificial breeding rafts. 

Red-throated diver trying to be invisible

Canada geese (Branta canadensis) have found their way to Nuuksio as well and use some of the Red-throated diver breeding islands for own nesting purposes. 

Usually, Red-throated divers can breed there later after Canada geese, but this year, we saw something interesting. On one island, there were at the same time both Red-throated diver and Canada goose incubating their nests . 

Red-throated diver on the nest, standing gull, and on the other side of the same island was also Canada goose on its nest

Next time, around one week later, there was only Canada goose and no signs of Red-throated diver. What had happened? 

Canada goose on the nest

First brood I saw this spring in Nuuksio were Whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) with four downy cygnets. 

In Nuuksio, one can meet different kind of creatures on the way such as the Eastern slowworm (Anguis colchica) which has strongly declined in many places.

Then...

...dragonflies...

...Water-lily beetles (Galerucella nymphaeae)...

...marks of Birch bark beetles (Scolytus ratzeburgii).

As I got a bit hot on our hike, I decided to have a swim in the lake - and the water was surprisingly pleasant! Not cold at all, very suitable.

Important part of retki (hike) is to always have an eväät (packed snack) with us.

Coming blueberry season seems to be very promising!

Last year chanterelles. Interesting how they kept the shape through the winter.

From the high cliffs in Nuuksio, there are beautiful views.