One day free in Helsinki in October - any advice? (1 Viewer)

[tomjenner]

I will be attending a conference in Helsinki near the end of October and on the final day (October 21st) I will be free from midday and I will not fly out until the following morning. If I hired a car, is there a site within reasonable distance that could be reached for some interesting local birding? Top priority would be for any of the owl specialties of the region. If not, maybe there is a coastal area that will have some interesting gulls or other seabirds at that time of year.
Any advice appreciated.
Thanks

Tom

 

[Jos Stratford]

Locals will provide more detail, but be aware it is pretty much going to be dark by 5.30 or6.00 p.m. in late October, so being free from midday is not going to give you much time once allowing for getting out of Helsinki.

Of course for owls, no problem, but the specialities of this group tend to be much further north.

 

[rosbifs]

There is a statistic somewhere that says that 80% of owls in southern finland use nest boxes and are in the vacinity of the local tip!

I'm sure that there are sime good sites close to and in and arund helsinki. Black woodpecker maybe even grey headed wood. Try and see whether there are any locals or even finnature....

 

[tomjenner]

Thanks for the comments. I have just been doing some searches on Google for 'Owls in Helsinki' and came across lots of photos taken at a place called Seurasaari. This is a small forested island, linked to the mainland by a bridge, which is near to the city center and only a few km from the hotel where I am staying. The photos include Ural Owl, Pygmy Owl, Eagle Owl and Tengmalms Owl, all of which would satisfy my needs very nicely. There also appear to be a few good woodpeckers present. If I hire a car I should easily be able to get over for a few hours general birding before dark, followed by some owling. If anyone has any further advice on where to go on the island I would really appreciate it. Many of the photos were taken in winter, so the birds may not be present all year. Any advice on this would also be helpful, so that I know which species to target.
Thanks

Tom

 

[rosbifs]

http://www.birdingpal.org/Finland.htm

Might be an option.

http://www.easybirder.co.uk/Viikki.html has some info.

Searching for woodpeckers and owls can be soul destroying...

 

[Hauki]

Another nature reserve in Helsinki that is easily accessible by public transport is Viikki Nature Reserve.

http://www.gardenia-helsinki.fi/viikkinature/index.htm

 

[Warixenjalka]

I recommend Viikki, even I haven´t never seen owls there. Altough it´s not my local path and I visit there only couple of time in year (I live about 150 km east from Helsinki). But if you are lucky, the arctic gooses (and swans) might be there still if they haven´t moved on south. Lots of waterbirds anyway - gulls too.
Espoos Laajalahti (west of Helsinki) should be good place too for waterbirds. Also in Espoo situated forested natural park called Nuuksio. There should be owls too.

Somebody from Helsinki would know better.

You might wanna look at www.birdlife.fi - there is some info in english too.

 

[McMadd]

Hi Tom

Same day 2011: file with all Helsinki region by spp. and site and then just for Viikki which would get my vote also.

Data sourced from Tiira (www.tiira.fi)

cheers
McM

 

[rosbifs]

Come on Tom put us out of our misery - how did you get on?

 

[tomjenner]

Hi
Realising that I would have literally no daylight time at all most days and only a couple of hours on my one half day, I chickened out and didn't go birding at all. Thanks for the comments. Hopefully the sites mentioned above will be useful for anyone visiting Helsinki who has a bit more time available.

Tom