|
July 2010
DUE SOUTH The Spotted Redshank is slender and beautiful, a real aristocrat among redshanks, an inhabitant of the wet marshes of the North. It builds its nest on a pine heath, quite far from the marsh, and only few have actually seen it. A brooding bird waits until you are a few feet away before escaping. There aren't many wanderers in the forests surrounding the marshes of Lapland, anyway. The Spotted Redshank arrives at the end of May, most often you will hear its beautifully melodious courtship chant tryyi, tryyi... There aren't many wanderers on the frost damaged marshes in June, when there already is a cloud of mosquitos around you. Therefore, the Spotted Redshank is often thought more rare than it actually is. In the Kuusamo area, their younglings hatch around mid-June. The female migrates when the brooding is incomplete, and it is the male's job to take care of the offspring. All in all, the spotted redshanks stay in Finland for the shortest time, compared to other waders. In the marshes, the bird scurrying over the younglings is always the male, the female is already at the beaches of the Mediterranean. Salla, Renttimanselkä, June 1981 |
 |