Bright snow and northern lights lit up Helsinki over winter. Different owls, woodpeckers, crossbills and other northbound specialties show up randomly over cold breezes, turning outings harsh but rewarding.

A Cape gull from Southern Africa and a laughing gull from the Americas have shown up in Northern Spain. We enjoyed awesome birding while twitching these stunners on a roadtrip.

Summer season brings an array of specialties to Helsinki, including broad-billed sandpiper and common rosefinch in Viikki, red-breasted flycatcher in Haltiala and stakeouts of Blyth’s reed warbler and river warbler.