Birding cruise

Last Saturday was the day for the traditional auk birding trip of Helsinki region ornithological society Tringa. Thus, at 7 am in the morning the bus started its journey from Helsinki towards Kotka, where we boarded Vikla III, that was going to be our tour boat.

1. Ferry M/S Otava passing a small island with cormorants


Our way to west was taken on slightly more sheltered route thru archipelago as the wind was fairly significant (6-8 m/s on average, more on gusts) and coming from the west/southwest. But that route offered some possibilities for bird observations:

2. Great cormorant colony


3. Closer look to the cormorant colony


4. Slightly smaller cormorant colony


The cormorants' feces is the reason why those trees they are nesting on have died.

5. Osprey


6. Ospreys' nest


Eventually, our destination was on sight:

7. Haverören


Nope, we did not land there, but there was no need as the auks started to buzz around our boat.

8. Razorbills


9. Razorbill in flight


10. More birds on the rocky island


And although, razorbills was the most numerous species, there were some also some black guillemots and common murres (which is the least common auk in Finland). In the above picture there is at least one common murre...

11. Flying razorbill


12. Razorbill


Eventually, way too soon, it was time to start heading back towards Kotka, this time using more direct route.

13. At sea, it was now clear skies, but over the mainland there was clouds


14. Rexaled mood on the sun deck


Also on the return, it was possible to spot some birds:

15. Black guillemots


16. Common murres


17. Red-throated loon


18. Arctic loon


19. Great cormorant


20. Cranes at Mussalo harbour


And eventually we arrived back to the starting point of our boat trip:

21. Sapokka marina


On the way back to Helsinki, we stopped at Pernaja, Loviisa, to see if we could see a lesser yellowlegs that had been observed there...

22. Somewhere on the pond behind the field it was supposed to be


But it was too hard to identify that particular bird as the distance and thermal radiation made observation hard, so after a while our bus continued back to Helsinki.

Thanks for looking, any questions and comments welcome. The photos were taken with α1 + Sony FE 5.6-6.3/200-600 G OSS and α7R IV + Sony FE 4/24-105 G OSS.

MichelvA wrote: Looks like you had challenging light in the beginning.

Yes, little after passing the osprey nest island we actually met a small rain cloud that made space on the sun deck as majority of us (including me) decided to head indoors for a while and enjoy the offerings of onboard cafe. Luckily, that was slightly more boring part of the journey. And then it was all sunny for the rest of the day, which perhaps isn't the most ideal condition for photography either.

amazing tour, Heikki, TYSM! (how many birders did you take with you? :O).
my faves would be the cormorant-loaded trees, what a sight!