Investigations of the avifauna of Karelia, NW Russia, have been conducted for more than 40 years using traditional zoological methods and further advanced techniques. Among others, we focus on the investigation of large areas, observations in difficult to access landscapes, and nest finding during route surveys. For these purposes we organized aerial winter surveys covering about 60% of Karelia. We used a helicopter flying at an average survey altitude of 140 m. Thus, we mapped the winter distribution of grouse across the territory. In addition, many nests of birds of prey were found during the aerial surveys. This would have been more difficult and less successful during the usual spring and summer investigations ‘from the ground’ without the support of a helicopter. Another interesting tool we constructed and tested ourselves is the ‘robotized goose’, a remotely controlled observation system mounted in an artificial body designed to look like a real goose. The tool was very useful for closer observations of geese feeding on fields during spring stopover, identification of color neck bands and looking for the birds hidden in drainage ditches and other relief asperities. The system was installed on an all-terrain platform and comprised a camera with online translation to an operator. Minimal distances between our system and the birds observed varied species-specific between 2 and 20 m. The third type of advanced equipment we collected experience with, is the usage of a thermovision camera to help us locating nests during route bird surveys. The camera very effectively supported the detection of nests and hidden birds during our surveys in open and forested landscapes. In our presentation we discuss our experiences in using these approaches and the results obtained.