Many thanks Andrew, perhaps we were lucky with the weather. Our elf told us that most December days were grey and overcast, but we actually had two days of sunshine.
My Pine Grosbeaks.........purely down to CAU and a bit of luck !!
This short four day break to the city that is officially the 'home of Santa Claus' was undertaken so that I could get married. The wedding package and holiday was expensive but all credit to First Choice. Everything was superb.
This was not a dedicated birding trip and will be of little use to anyone other than those who may also go to this small city to enjoy the 'Santa' Xmas experience. But as virtually all Finland reports are from late spring time for the owls and other specialities, it may just help a few. So you have been warned!
At this time of year, temperatures can dip to minus 30C, though when we were present it was just minus 1C and therefore quite bearable, and you are given a winter suit from a nearby warehouse after arrival. It is only a short fifteen minute drive from the small airport to the centre of Rovaniemi. We stayed at the aptly named Hotel Santa Claus ! With the rate of exchange, and cost of living in Finland, most UK visitors will find anything and everything expensive. In our hotel for example, it was 4 euros (approx £4) for a small beer, but just 5 euros for a large one (we only found this out later on!).
My immense gratitude must go to a regular poster on Birdforum (CAU). I know his name but he is known as CAU on Birdforum so I respect that privacy and indeed therefore refer to him as CAU. He provided me with as much detail as he could find (it is not his home town), keeping me updated with local gen and local reports, even emailing me whilst I was on location. It is very difficult because birds wander around the large forested areas and within the city itself, and so it was always going to be hit and miss. Daylight birding hours are limited, and really only possible from around 9.30a.m. to 3pm approximately, and for half of that time the light is quite-to-very subdued, depending on cloud base. Some days the quality of light is never good. Photography would be a real challenge I suspect unless you just love those beautiful Waxwings!
At times I wondered whether there were any birds in Rovaniemi, but as I was to find out there were one or two hotspots.
Transport was going to be an issue, I was unsure whether I would be brave enough (or even have the time) to hire a car, bearing in mind the snowy condition of country lanes especially. Car hire is certainly an option, 'Budget rental' car hire are just one in the city. Taxi's were always an option, but again they are not too cheap. I had been given details by CAU of a site approximately 10kms south of Rovaniemi at Taavivaara graveyard. It seems that a feeder is maintained by the graveyard entrance at this isolated, rural location, where a Grey Headed Woodpecker currently visits with some frequency (since October) just after 9a.m. and then again it had been reported with some frequency around 2pm and after. Siberian Jays also visit the feeder area at times. Capercaille and Black Grouse can be seen eating gravel from the road early morning (tho easily flushed by any advancing traffic), and there maybe the possibility of Hazel Grouse here. Alas I was unable to get to this location, I had little opportunity timewise, and a taxi would have cost me at least £100 if I had asked him to wait an hour. I could have asked him to drop me off and pick me up later, but again I was a little concerned about possible non-reappearance and the prospect of then being stuck in the middle of nowhere in freezing cold conditions worried me somewhat. But a great bit of local gen I thought! I am still disappointed I did not get to this spot. Of course there are no guarantees of seeing specific species mentioned. Common and Parrott Crossbills can be seen with luck in any forested area around the town. But of course they move around.
So what did I actually see?
Well, close to the hotel were just a couple of Hooded Crows, Magpies, Feral Pigeons and a Great Tit !! But upto 1000 Waxwings were reported as being around the city (which I believe has a population of about 25000?), and on the 25th December I stumbled across around 300 of these a few hundred metres from my hotel. Also had a Mistle Thrush here and an unidentified small passerine flitting around high in a tree (light was poor!). They were not relocated here subsequently, so again this demonstrates the fluidity of the situation.
On 26th December we all went on an organised trip to "Santa Claus Village" just 8kms north of Rovaniemi. OK it may not conjure up great images, but this was a delightful place, with a series of 'expensive' gift shops (£33 for a children's 20-page story book regards Santa Claus!!), coffee shops, Santa Claus official post office, and snow slides for the kids. Entrance was free. It was not tacky in any way, and everyone was enthralled, especially my fiance who probably would have eloped with Santa Claus if she could have ! At the entrance a few Great Tits and House Sparrows fed on feeders provided, and at either end of the village (about a five minute walk) birds congregated, especially at one end where seed was placed adjacent to a single tree that was lit up with icicle shaped lightbulbs. I enjoyed great views of upto 60 Waxwings, 2-3 Willow Tits (Scandinavian 'Borealis' sub-species), as well as common species like Great Tit, Greenfinch and a prominant House Sparrow flock. 5 Ravens passed overhead, and a couple of Magpies were around. A single Red Squirrel (very grey in colour but with obvious ear tufts) was also seen.
I got married at 3pm on 27th December in an ice chapel, but in the morning I went for a pre-wedding walk. After a leisurely breakfast (avoiding my bride to be as it is bad luck to see her on the day) I decided that I could walk to spots CAU had informed me that Pine Grosbeaks had been seen in small number on a couple of December dates. I left the hotel in good light at about 10.30a.m. These two spots were within twenty minutes walk of my hotel in the central area of Rovaniemi, so find Hotel Santa Claus and this is your starting point for this easy walk. Hotel Santa Claus is situated at the junction of roads named "Korkalonkatu" and "Koskikatu". You need to get onto Koskikatu which actually starts off from the river a few hundred metres downhill, and by my hotel it continues as a pedestrianised shopping area with market type stalls, it then continues across a main road where it is no longer pedestrianised, past a McDonalds on the right, and over a frozen river, and then on into a residential area. So I just walked out in a straight line on a slight upward gradiant for about half a mile along Koskikatu's pavements, until I reached a turning on the left named "Palkisentie". The only street map I found of Rovaniemi was at :-www.hostelbookers.com/hostels/finland/rovaniemi/map/
(By holding the left click on your mouse down, you can move around the city map. Even though it sometimes takes you back to the single hostel the site wants you to book-ironically on Koskikatu - I found this map useful and I printed off a few pages and carried it around with me. So I always knew where I was and I would recommend that you do this.)
Around 100-200 metres along "Palkisentie" I became aware of a lot of birds gathered in trees and bushes, adjacent to houses on this quiet side lane. Yes as you guessed, around 60 Waxwings were present, but as CAU had advised, this spot had been reported as holding Pine Grosbeaks. And at exactly the spot he had highlighted and outside the exact house on the right hand side, I was delighted to find 3 males. 2 were superb red adults, with the 3rd bird being an immature male. I enjoyed views of these lumbering giants down to a few metres in a low bush !! Superb stuff. Maybe I was just dead lucky, or maybe they just go under-reported. It was bang on 11a.m. and the light was pretty good. This spot was clearly somewhat of a food-source 'hot spot' for wintering birds. A Great Spotted Woodpecker drummed away noisily, and a male Common Crossbill alighted on top of a spruce. A number of Greenfinches and House Sparrows were present, and a couple of Fieldfares and at least one Blue Tit. Nearby, 10 Mealy/Lesser Redpolls dangled from trees but I could find no Arctic's amongst them. I walked on a few hundred metres, until this road (Palkisentie) came to a t-junction, and with only two options I then took the right turn and walked on to a second recommended 'Grosbeak' spot a further few hundred metres along just past a road junction / left turn marked "Rinteentie" (well they had been reported here too on 18th). Here I watched another 40 or so Waxwings closely eating rowan berries, and there were a few Fieldfares present too. Clearly another recommended little hotspot. I then crossed down onto "Rinteentie" and this road led down a short distance to the railway station on a main road called "Ratakatu" (turn left towards the station which is then after a few hundred metres). I noted Raven and Hooded Crow overhead. I aimed to locate the timber yard adjacent to the railway station somewhere as I had seen a report that stated that up to 10 Three-toed Woodpeckers had previously over wintered. But despite walking around, I could not even find the timber yard! I did not fully circumnavigate the station as I was running short on time. I did fiind yet more Waxwings and another Redpoll flock that showed briefly in bushes by the road, adjacent to the railway station car park. I am sure at least one of these 10 or so birds was an Arctic Redpoll, with white rump and fluffy mouse-like white flanks, though I did not get a good view of the bill shape in increasingly subdued light. If you can find the timber yard good luck!
I jumped into a taxi, at a taxi rank a few hundred yards across the road from the railway station, though it would be possible to retrace the same steps on foot. I had only walked about a mile overall, and even though the area I covered was largely residential, the houses all contained trees and bushes and I never felt I was being observed by curious residents. A nice comfortable bit of birding!
So there you go, I guess if I had not seen the Pine Grosbeaks it would have been perceived as unproductive. But I enjoyed it, this morning walk could be taken with some regularity in conjunction with the other Xmas-related social activities, and you only need your binoculars.
I am returning to Finland in May to see owls hopefully, and I liked the country and the easy going friendly people a lot. They made our stay and wedding very enjoyable and special.
As part of the wedding package we were even assigned our own elf! She would have been the perfect Xmas present!
Bird list: (no comments please I know its miserly but a few gems)
Pine Grosbeak (x 3 males)
Willow Tit (Scandinavian race-Borealis) (x 3)
Bohemian Waxwing ( x approx 400)
Common Crossbill ( x 1 male)
Arctic Redpoll ( x 1)
Common (Mealy) Redpoll ( x several)
Lesser Redpoll ( x several)
Great Spotted Woodpecker ( x 1)
Hooded Crow ( x 6)
Raven ( x 6)
Magpie ( x 5)
Greenfinch ( x 15)
House Sparrow ( x 50)
Mistle Thrush ( x 1)
Fieldfare ( x 5)
Great Tit ( x 6)
Blue Tit ( x 2)
Feral Pigeon ( x 15)
Nice report. I was actually in Rovaniemi in June this year, so was interested to read about the contrast. I'm impressed with your Pine Grosbeaks, which I guess are a bit easier in the winter. Surprisingly, it wasn't much warmer when I was there - mostly only around 5-10 degrees. It was light almost 24 hours a day though!
[QUOTE=Andrew Whitehouse;1366589]Nice report. I was actually in Rovaniemi in June this year, so was interested to read about the contrast. I'm impressed with your Pine Grosbeaks, which I guess are a bit easier in the winter. Surprisingly, it wasn't much warmer when I was there - mostly only around 5-10 degrees. It was light almost 24 hours a day though![/QUOTE]
Many thanks Andrew, perhaps we were lucky with the weather. Our elf told us that most December days were grey and overcast, but we actually had two days of sunshine.
My Pine Grosbeaks.........purely down to CAU and a bit of luck !!