Rare bird spotted in Finland for the first time

The Pallas's reed bunting has been sighted fewer than 10 times in Europe.

A bird species previously unseen in Finland was spotted in the Kirkkonummi archipelago, according to Birdlife Finland, the local chapter of an international bird conservation organisation. The Pallas’s reed bunting was spotted at the Rönnskär bird station off the southern municipality's Porkkala peninsula.

The bird's last sighting in the Nordic countries was in October 2016 when it was seen in Sweden, the organisation stated in a release.

Pallas’s reed buntings breed across northeast Europe and northeast Asia. The European side of the species has spread to only a small region of the Urals in the northern part of the tundra. The bird has been sighted in Europe, outside of Russia, fewer than ten times.

The Pallas’s reed bunting resembles the Common reed bunting, but is smaller than the Great tit.

A new bird species was last spotted in the country in 2017, when an Oriental Pratincole made an appearance in Joroinen, a southern Finnish municipality.

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