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Spring is an interesting notion in Finland. For me, when days start getting longer, and sunnier, and the first migratory birds show up, then it's spring. Sure, there might still be ice and snow around, but there are signs of greater things to come. Much of the Finnish culture and language has been shaped by nature and the rythm of seasons, so it's no surprise there's a bunch of sayings related to the arrival of birds. Here's one I learnt this year: Kuu kiurusta kesään, puoli kuuta peipposesta, västäräkistä vähäsen, pääskysestä ei päivääkään. One month from the skylark to summer Half a month from the chaffinch A little from the wagtail Not even a day from the swallow  Eurasian skylark (Alauda arvensis) In March, I met my friend Eero near Lake Tuusula for a spring outing. There were Eurasian skylarks (Alauda arvensis) singing in the sky, so it was spring, right? It was also kinda warm and beautifully sunny, so we enjoyed our time outside.  Lakes were still frozen, though Skylarks are often difficult to see well, let alone photograph. They sing high in flight for extended periods of time, and can be deceivingly difficult to find in the immensity of the sky. To land, they "parachute dive" quickly and disappear into the grass. Fortunately, there's no grass in early spring, so that helped a bit. In addition, the larks that day made a few (somewhat) close fly-byes, so I managed some shots I was happy with.  Eurasian skylark
 Eurasian skylark, parachute landing  Eurasian skylark With the skylarks, the Whooper swans (Cygnus cygnus) and the Common cranes (Grus grus), the Northern lapwings (Vanellus vanellus) are another one of those early and noisy arrivals. I love their squeaky toy calls and their broad rounded wings! They are also difficult to shoot: on land, they are wary and thus difficult to approach, and in flight they are fast.  Northern lapwing (Vanellus vanellus)  Northern lapwing  Northern lapwing, composite image of one bird diving  Northern lapwing One month passed, and it was quite the ride, as you saw in my May and June newsletters. Was it summer at the end of it? I think so. It's been good since then... BIRD INVENTORY
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