On our third and final day at Pyhä-Luosto National Park we once again found ourselves heading towards Isokuru and again I heard the cuckoo. Just like the previous days it tricked me again and I never did get to see it. We descended the same set of stairs we were becoming quite familiar with and turned left walking over the lichen covered boulders again. We followed the path toward Noitatunturi Fell, the highest peak of the Pyhä-Luosto fell chain at 540 meters. While I would have loved to see the view from the top…

Our second day at Pyhä-Luosto National Park in the Finnish Lapland began with me pointing out that we had not yet seen the bird on the park’s logo, a Siberian jay despite descriptions of the park saying they were very common and regularly investigated visitors. No sooner had we entered the park that morning, than the eldest kid in our group pointed out a bird, which was none other than a Siberian jay. They are curious birds, like other corvids, and this one came closer and closer, tree by tree, until it was literally sitting above us….

O tell her, Swallow, thou that knowest each, 

That bright and fierce and fickle is the South, 

And dark and true and tender is the North. 

                                            – Alfred Tennyson

When I last visited Finland I stayed only in Helsinki. This time I was eager to travel north, as far north as possible and see the Lapland. After exploring the western coast of Norway, followed by the Scottish Highlands, I found I was developing a strong draw to the north. So we…

One of the most memorable places I visited the last time I was in Helsinki was the Viikki Nature Reserve and I wanted to return again this trip. Although we spent time exploring the Kivinokka area this summer, it isn’t technically part of the nature reserve. There are many different habitats in the nature reserve and last trip I walked through the north part of Viikki which is fields and some woods. I thought I remembered walking on a boardwalk through reed wetlands, but couldn’t remember where that was. I made my best guess and we decided…

A month ago I attended a dragonfly class at Magnuson Park with dragonfly expert, Dennis Paulson. He talked about the dragonfly’s life cycle during the class portion, then we went out to Magnuson Park in Seattle to look at the odes. The season had already begun to fade as many he had seen just a week ago were no longer flying. We did see many blue-eyed darners, cardinal meadowhawks, eight-spotted skimmers, blue dashers and western pondhawks. A single black saddlebag patrolled the pond. There were a few tule bluet and California spreadwing damselflies as well. I spotted one unfortunate…

Harakka Island is a stone’s throw from the shore in Helsinki and as we waited for the boat to arrive to shuttle us there, I watched large groups of Barnacle Geese wandering around the park and swimming in the water. Some had goslings, but they stayed apart from a large group of geese without young. Walking down to the dock, a Common Tern sat on the hand rail, occasionally leaving to dive after fish in the water below. Along the shore oystercatchers stood with, but apart from the geese and out in the water Common Mergansers swam. 

Our first stop…