The good thing about taking a flight at about 20-00 on a cloudy day is you get to see the sun again. We took off at 20-10 and were airborne for about 90 minutes in bright sunlight. A 2 hour wait at Riga airport, Latvia soon passed by as I caught up on some notes, arriving Tallinn at 00-50 this morning. The welcome was as expected, with a light meal and good bottle of wine a great springboard I thought for my now 17 days in Estonia.
To bore the reader with a few statistics, the overall bird total for my wanderings ended at 66 which, considering this was not a 'birding trip', I thought reasonable.
Blackbird, House Sparrow
Cirl Bunting, Goldfinch
Swallow, Herring Gull
Hooded Crow, Blackcap
Serin Common, Sandpiper
Lesser Kestrel, Starling
House Martin, Feral Pigeon
Black Kite, Pallid Swift
Hen Harrier, Grey Heron
Common Buzzard, Jay
Chaffinch, Great Tit
Collared Dove, Common Kestrel
Turtle Dove, Magpie
Stock Dove, Pheasant
Grey Wagtail, Peregrine
Mute Swan, Cormorant
Jackdaw, Swift
Marsh Harrier, Canada Goose
White Stork, Mistle Thrush
Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gull
Little Gull, Lapwing
Chiffchaff, Mallard
Wood Pigeon, Blue Tit
Chiffchaff, Coal Tit
Nightingale, Fieldfare
Booted Eagle, Wren
Moorhen, Corn Bunting
Whitethroat, Skylark
White Wagtail, Black-eared Wheatear
Cuckoo Great, White Egret
Golden Oriole, Long-tailed Tit
Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow
Song Thrush, Lesser Whitethroat
The total number of countries visited ended here in Estonia at 17 and included:-
Croatia*, Slovenia*
Austria*, Czech Republic*
Slovakia*, Hungary*
Serbia*, Montenegro*
Albania*, Kosovo*
Macedonia*, Bulgaria
Romania*, Moldova*
Ukraine*, Latvia
Estonia
Those asterisked were new to me, with my personal countries tally now standing at 120. As for the Blog stats, it is currently read by as many as 1,450 people at any one time from 59 countries including Pakistan, Costa Rica, Algeria and Italy. The latest country to join the readership was Bolivia.
To bore the reader with a few statistics, the overall bird total for my wanderings ended at 66 which, considering this was not a 'birding trip', I thought reasonable.
Blackbird, House Sparrow
Cirl Bunting, Goldfinch
Swallow, Herring Gull
Hooded Crow, Blackcap
Serin Common, Sandpiper
Lesser Kestrel, Starling
House Martin, Feral Pigeon
Black Kite, Pallid Swift
Hen Harrier, Grey Heron
Common Buzzard, Jay
Chaffinch, Great Tit
Collared Dove, Common Kestrel
Turtle Dove, Magpie
Stock Dove, Pheasant
Grey Wagtail, Peregrine
Mute Swan, Cormorant
Jackdaw, Swift
Marsh Harrier, Canada Goose
White Stork, Mistle Thrush
Tufted Duck, Black-headed Gull
Little Gull, Lapwing
Chiffchaff, Mallard
Wood Pigeon, Blue Tit
Chiffchaff, Coal Tit
Nightingale, Fieldfare
Booted Eagle, Wren
Moorhen, Corn Bunting
Whitethroat, Skylark
White Wagtail, Black-eared Wheatear
Cuckoo Great, White Egret
Golden Oriole, Long-tailed Tit
Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow
Song Thrush, Lesser Whitethroat
The total number of countries visited ended here in Estonia at 17 and included:-
Croatia*, Slovenia*
Austria*, Czech Republic*
Slovakia*, Hungary*
Serbia*, Montenegro*
Albania*, Kosovo*
Macedonia*, Bulgaria
Romania*, Moldova*
Ukraine*, Latvia
Estonia
Those asterisked were new to me, with my personal countries tally now standing at 120. As for the Blog stats, it is currently read by as many as 1,450 people at any one time from 59 countries including Pakistan, Costa Rica, Algeria and Italy. The latest country to join the readership was Bolivia.
This evening there has been a bit of trouble with the Internet plus a lot of trouble with the operator. This has meant there are no photographs of tonights little party. Helis, the lady friend of Ille's youngest son Herkko, had a birthday yesterday with, fortuitously the celebratory dinner being this evening, so it seems I got here just in time!
Also today, I have started an Estonian 'bird list' which because I stayed within the city all day only reads -
Herring Gull, Black-headed Gull
Great Tit, House Sparrow
Feral Pigeon, Hooded Crow
Jackdaw, Cormorant
Blackbird, Blue Tit
Chaffinch, White Wagtail
