On January 27th and 28th, bird enthusiasts across Finland participated in the annual Pihabongaus event, recording bird sightings from their yards. This year, a total of 29,220 people joined in, scanning their yards or other locations for an hour in search of avian species. We took part as usual and spotted many common winter birds visiting our bird feeders.
The event’s observations report approximately 400,000 to 800,000 individual birds and around 100 species annually. The most common species are expectedly very similar from year to year: the great tit, blue tit, and magpie consistently form the top three every winter. These were the most commonly spotted species this year:
Talitiainen – Great tit
Sinitiainen – Blue tit
Harakka – Magpie
Käpytikka – Great spotted woodpecker
Punatulkku – Bullfinch
Pikkuvarpunen – House sparrow
Urpiainen – Redpoll
Närhi – Eurasian jay
Mustarastas- Blackbird
Keltasirkku – Yellowhammer
The list of the most plentiful species varies more from year to year, depending, among other factors, on the abundance of berry-eating birds each winter. The most abundant bird species this year was the redpoll with 155,888 individuals spotted across the yards. Following closely were the great tit with 141,859 individuals and the yellowhammer with 102,186 individuals. This was the top ten by number of individual birds:
Urpiainen – Redpoll
Talitiainen – Great tit
Keltasirkku – Yellowhammer
Sinitiainen – Blue tit
Pikkuvarpunen – House sparrow
Punatulkku – Bullfinch
Naakka – Jackdaw
Harakka – Magpie
Varpunen – Sparrow
Viherpeippo – Greenfinch
See detailed results in Finnish here and read more about the event in Finnish and Swedish of the official website.
It’s worth noting that the Pihabongaus event doesn’t determine Finland’s most common winter bird species, but the observations shed light on changes in bird populations. Many trends observed during Pihabongaus align with other bird monitoring results. The Pihabongaus continues to provide valuable insights into Finland’s birdlife while fostering a sense of community among birdwatchers.
Our birdwatching hour’s most abundant bird species this year was the yellowhammer, followed by great tit, blue tit, and house sparrow. We did not see any redpolls, magpies, jackdaws, nor sparrows. We were especially delighted to see several coal tits, the smallest member of the tit family found in Finland, visiting our yards.
Did you take part? What did you spot? Or are you going to take part in this event next year?
Test your knowledge about birds in our fun quiz: Out in the Nature Quiz – Winter birds in Finland
