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The national bird of Estonia is the Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica. Of course, in Estonia the bird is not called Barn Swallow. Before Estonia switched over to the Euro the back of the 500-kroon note was graced by the national bird. Estonia is not the only country to have the Barn Swallow as the national bird.
I only scored 43 in March, but that was because I was away birding in Portugal and Estonia. It wasn’t a year tick, of course, as I had seen them in Estonia, but it was the last new bird of the year for my British list, and a highly satisfying one at that. My overseas trips did boost the overall year list considerably.
A rutting Fallow buck, photographed in Norfolk, England Elk (or what the Americans call Moose) I’ve encountered several times in Scandinavia, Estonia and Poland. I always enjoy watching them when I see them in Europe: the individual above was in Estonia last March. I’ve only seen European Bison in Poland, in the Bialoweiza Forest.
Some years ago I was surprised to see one while birding in Matsalu National Park in Estonia. It must have been one of the first to reach Estonia, but I gather that they are now well established there. My only wolf sightings have been in Spain, in December, and at great range.
Dave Gosney’s Finding Birds Series covers mostly the Western Palearctic and describes birding in various regions of Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France, Finland, Estonia, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, etc., with some additions, namely South Texas, The Gambia, and Goa (India).
It’s been interesting to note that a solitary Sandhill Crane first seen in Finland in recent days migrating with Common Cranes has now provided Estonia with its first record of Sandhill. Like many birders I wonder what happens to some of these off-track migrants and whether they recover their orientation.
On the following day we took a short day trip by boat to Old Town Tallinn, Estonia, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Tip: if you do attempt this day trip, be sure to arrive 20 minutes before scheduled departure, otherwise you will not be allowed to board the vessel). Old Town Tallinn, Estonia. Trumpeter swan visible from bird tower.
A year ago I was delighted to find a small flock in Estonia – it may have been late March, and so (in theory at least) spring, but it certainly felt more like winter. These birds alerted me to their presence by their delightful ringing calls.
This Slavonian ( Horned ) Grebe was photographed in Estonia Digiscoping is great for capturing distant, wary birds, such as this Great Bustard in Spain I’d opted for an angled eyepiece on the Swarovski as I had found that angled scopes are far superior when the scope is being looked through by people of different heights.
Barnacle geese breed mainly on the Arctic islands of the North Atlantic, while the nearest wintering areas also lie along the northern coasts of Europe: the Netherlands and the Baltic Sea (Estonia, Finland, Denmark and Sweden). Here in Serbia, in the south of the continent, this species is a proper rarity.
I’ve since seen individual Red-breasts in winter in the Netherlands (with Brent), in Estonia on spring passage (always with Barnacles), and on the Swedish island of Öland in autumn (again with Barnacles). That was in October 1991.
Eurasian Nuthatch – a pin-sharp shot with the 100-400mm lens, taken hand-held at maximum magnification and with a shutter speed of only 1/100sec Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in Estonia, with 100-400m lens plus 1.4 converter Close focussing makes the Zuiko 100-400mm lens great for butterfly photography.
Oh to be under blue skies in Estonia … Most of us in the temperate zones of the Northern Hemisphere tend to come together in support of at least one cliche, that of the White Christmas. This is to say that, unless inclement weather scuttles your meticulously calibrated travel plans, a blanket of snow makes the holidays more merry.
Taiga Bean Geese with Greater Whitefronts in Estonia. Incidentally, the Collins Bird Guide still lumps them, and continues to use rossicus rather than serrirostris. All very confusing.
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