My ringing patch at Siikajoki Tauvo, Finland, is a Sisämaan Seuranta Pyynti (the Finnish equivalent of a Constant Effort Site in Britain). It is situated on the Finnish west coast south-west of Oulu, in Northern Ostrobothnia. On Saturday 6 July I arrived at the ringing site early morning just after 4 am. I had a quick look along the beach and out to sea with my binoculars – seeing nothing special – and hung up the mistnets.
A short while later I began to hear a melodious song that reminded me of Pallas's Reed Bunting (sirr sirr sir, the series being repeated four or five times). I started searching for it while recording the sound at the same time. The bird was soon found singing at the top of a willow. It looked to have a very white underside. Moving farther away and to the other side of the bird, I hoped to see grey feathers on the lesser coverts which would help to clinch the identification.
Against a partial backlight, the bird's upperparts appeared rather dark. Too dark, I suspected, for Pallas's Reed Bunting. It moved to a different bush and I checked the nets. Every once in a while, it would sing while I was ringing, so I went to watch it a few more times and filmed it with my phone. The ID remained uncertain. At times, it sang on top of a bush right next to the net – but frustratingly wouldn't fly into it.
At one point I heard a sharp tik call, similar to that made by Little and Rustic Buntings. Shortly afterwards, a bunting was found in the net from the direction of the tik call; however, its cheek was red and its flanks were streaky. I thought it was a Little Bunting, which breeds nearby. At the top of the net was a Pied Flycatcher, which I collected first, as the bunting seemed to be very well attached and on the other side of the net. I was quite astonished when I noticed that the bunting's supercilium was clearly yellow. My mind raced with thoughts of a female Yellow-breasted Bunting or a Yellow-browed Bunting. In my hand, I identified it as Yellow-browed.
Kalle couldn't believe it when this Yellow-browed Bunting appeared in his nets, a first for Finland and 17th for the Western Palearctic (Kalle Hiekkanen).
I photographed, ringed and released the bird, after which I tried to put out a message on the Finnish bird-alert system. But I was surprised that the app didn't appear to offer the species as an option. "Whatever, I'm writing its name on there anyway," I thought to myself.
I sent the message, but was left surprised when the message didn't appear in the sent list. What was the problem? I put a picture of the bunting on the local twitchers' WhatsApp group and asked if there was a message about the bird in the countrywide alert system. There was not. Then someone pointed out that Yellow-browed Bunting would be a new species for Finland!
"Is it really?" I was asking. Yes, it was. OK, let's start a message with text "NEW species, Yellow-browed Bunting …" I really thought that there would have been some old records or observations of this species. It was much easier to ring it without knowing it was a first for Finland – less shaky hands and a calmer heart rate!
One mega leads to another
While checking the nets again I received a few phone calls regarding the Yellow-browed Bunting. During one of these calls, while checking the nets, I noticed a bird with its wings wide open in front of me in the net. It was a bunting which clearly displayed grey lesser coverts on both wings: a male Pallas's Reed Bunting! Finland's second record, lying at eye level, right in front of me. I said on the phone that I didn't dare utter what species the bird in the net looked like. I hung up the call and started to extract it from the net.
The Pallas's Reed Bunting caught by Kalle was only the second record for Finland, following one at Rönnskär Bird Observatory in May 2019 (Kalle Hiekkanen).
The bird wasn't attached at all but, luckily, was at least lying at the bottom of the net. I took pictures of the bunting, ringed and released it and then announced its presence. I put a picture in the same WhatsApp group as before with the text 'Pallas's Reed Bunting also ringed'. Soon, the group was even more incredulous, suspecting my account had been hacked and it was some sort of practical joke. Luckily, I took selfies with both birds which I was able to send as proof. Next, they started asking me to send out a countrywide alert message. When I checked it in the system, it was still pending without final approval. However, eventually, I managed to send it.
At least 70 twitchers visited the site throughout the remainder of the day and the following morning, but disappointingly there was no further sign of either bird. Frustratingly, a shy tik-calling bird flew into nearby bushes during the evening, but its identity could not be confirmed.
Despite approximately 70 birders searching, there was no further sign of either bunting after Kalle released them (Steve Bell).
