I started a challenge trying to see a different bird every single bird this 2026. January brought nice sights in northern Spain, mountains and wetlands of Alicante and ultimately frozen forests in Finland.

Short days and bad weather make birding challenging in Helsinki during autumn. However, flocks of geese, waxwings, thrushes, cranes and raptors plus the chance of connecting with vagrant passerines are truly magical.

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.

What started as a joke ended up as a quest. Through living between Finland and Spain and travelling across Africa and Asia, I managed to find 1,000 bird species in 2024.

My last days in Helsinki are coincident with the arrival of thousands of migrant birds and the vegetation green-up. Scenic walks with friends result in European otter, red-breasted flycatcher, corn crake, and much more.

I finally managed to spot all nine owl species in Helsinki after two years: long-eared, short-eared, tawny, Ural, great gray, boreal, Eurasian pygmy owl, Eurasian eagle-owl and northern hawk-owl