Early ringers catch the bird

Insect predators arrived in Finland at record time this year. We were able to make a rare visit to an enclosed bird island.

At the end of Porkkalanniemi is a barren and windy island where only the military and birdwatchers have access.

Finland’s second oldest lighthouse stands on the island. It faithfully guarded seafarers in the dangerous waters of Porkkala since 1800, until the light was finally extinguished at the beginning of the last century.

The island currently belongs to the Defence Forces and no one is allowed to land there without permission.

The morning air is serene, and you can clearly distinguish the Tallinn TV tower from the lighthouse.

The place is just perfect for the bird station, as migratory birds that crossed the Gulf of Finland often descend to the first place dry land.

We got to know the bird station on the closed island on April morning, in the middle of the fierce spring migration.

After drinking coffee in the Bird Station’s living room, we go for a web tour. A little rarer catch has immediately faded into the network: Hemppo.

Hemppo often does not stay online because it is so -called local and can avoid foreign gear at the familiar home corners.

Bird of happiness, robin

Migration birds, on the other hand, are easier to sniff. At this time of the year, the power of these islands is the red breast.

On the busiest days, when the currents just hit, more than 200 red breasts can be ringed on the island.

At Rönnskär, the birds spend a day or a couple, eat themselves saturated according to how food is available and then continue to nest in the spruce forests.

The Red Breast is one of the most abundant birds in Finland and nowadays general to Lapland.

The red breast is a happy exception, as one third of the bird species nesting in Finland are endangered.

The red breast has been considered a species that benefits from climate change. Thanks to the warm autumn, the birds have two litters in the summer and overwinter in southern Finland more and more.

However, climate change will increase extreme weather phenomena. For example, the April snow and frost periods such as the backworm in 2024 can kill the red breasts that have already been largely north to the north.

Despite its abundance, even in the midst of spring, there will be quiet mornings when the bird does not gear.

Then Miettunen-Nordström pulls a new trick from the giggling bag: provocation.

The increased red breast also indicates the restructuring of Finnish forests.

Because the species favors spruce, the growing position says what the statistics are: Finland is spruce – even too much, say forest professionals.

In Central and Southern Finland, up to 70-80 % of seedlings planted are spruce. The red breast is thankful, but so thank the pests, such as the printers.

Spring migration broke records

Many insect eaters arrived in Finland this year in record time.

In mid-April, T-shirts hit the weekend, and exceptionally, the temperature rose to more than 20 degrees.

– It was such a warm crash. When we are in the outer archipelago, it is not noticeable: the sea is cold and the wind is all the time, but Tallinn had 24 degrees Celsius. Even though it is thought that there are birds in Finland and the Baltic States, it won’t come here from Estonia if you want to come, says Miettunen-Nordström.

The heat wave especially attracted insect eaters to cross the Gulf of Finland.

-In mid-April, I saw the earliest first shrub pockets, alder birds and eaves on this island, says Miettun-Nordström.

Miettunen-Nordström’s findings are in line with Birdlife Bird Organization in Finland.

In April, all of the above birds were observed many times more than usual – as much as ten times the eaves swings compared to the previous peak year 2013.

There are species-specific differences in the preparation of migration, but according to Miettun-Nordström, the long-term trend is clear: the change is earlier.

The bird station has seen the rise and fall of species

Although Rönnskär is a modest island that walks all over half an hour, the history of it and the bird station is colorful.

There were pilots on Rönnskär Island since the 17th century, and over time, the island formed its own small community. At its best, up to 70 people lived on the island, and there was also a school for children.

After the wars, during the Porkkala parenthesis, the rental period, the island was occupied by the Soviet Union. Shortly after the parental, in 1961, a bird station began operations.

After the ringing round, we once again make coffee and the people of the Bird Station remembers the most special coincidences over the years.

One of them was when the female forest, Koppelo, accidentally jumped from the mainland to the boat.

The bird was shipped to Rönnskär, ringed, and so the books got another mark on the books.