We were fascinated by the pictures of Great Grey Owls we saw in London Bird fair 2012. Since then we simply fell in love with this bird. Great Grey Owl also known as a Lapland Owl is distributed across the Northern Hemisphere and is the largest but not heaviest of the northern forest.
We’ve chosen to go to Finland as it is famous of having 10 different Owl species breeding in a good vole year. As in winter Great Grey Owls are more easily approachable, we kept checking info on the internet about any good sightings of these owls as they lead a nomadic life and tend to travel vast distances when local prey is scarce.
Good news from local guides reached us in February. Great Grey Owls were performing well in Oulu region. We packed up our equipment to return to Finland and to photograph Great Grey Owls and Golden Eagles for the first time.
The first day with the Great Grey Owls turned out to be very challenging because of freezing temperatures. Before we headed to Finland, we checked the forecast which was around 10 - 15o C below zero. To our big surprise we had to face -23o C... It was almost impossible to stand still while being outside all day in such conditions. Press ups, excises and jumps helped our stiff bodies and numb feet to get warmer.
We witnessed an unmistakable sight of Great Grey Owl in the early afternoon.
It was the first and only owl we saw that day; quite unusual for this Great Grey Owl location with an average 3 owl sightings a day. Probably such owl behaviour was related to a reduced activity of small mammals (main prey of owls) which became less active due to high temperature drop.
Luckily our immune system managed to cope with the harsh conditions and we were ready for our second day of photography. Temperatures were not higher than – 10oC and it was much easier to keep our hands warm comparing to yesterday’s tough weather which resulted in having an index finger with pale skin and light blister.
The first Great Grey Owl was spotted in the afternoon perching on a wire ready to hunt. It listened and watched the prey, then swooped down the wire... It was amazing how accurately it located the prey even under deep snow.
Our presence didn’t bother the bird at all and it gave us a really good performance for half an hour.
Later that day three more owls were spotted. One of them was very tame and didn’t react to us standing five meters away. The light was very poor, so we couldn’t manage to get decent photos but it was fascinating to see such an incredible owl from such a close distance. We left the field with the owl still calmly perching on a tree overlooking a white meadow and like it seemed enjoying a quiet winter evening.
The third day of our journey was scheduled for golden eagles - beautiful but shy birds. This day turned out to be one of the worst photographic experiences we had so. Our guide informed that for the last couple of weeks golden eagles avoid the site because they were badly scared possibly by a snowmobile. We still had hope because one or two eagles were visiting the field but poor behaviour of the photographers in the other hides destroyed our expectations. It was so frustrating and upsetting to see people who were only interested in pressing the button of a camera as much as possible without looking at the bird’s reaction. As the result 99 proc. of the day we were left with woodpeckers, great tits, Siberian tits and some black grouse further away. There are a few images of golden eagles we managed to get...
On the last day before our flight we went to see a hawk owl which happily settled down in a yard of a homestead. On the way to the air port we visited another Great Grey Owl location. We were delighted to spot two Great Grey Owls there. They preferred to stay further away from us but waiting for couple of hours gave the results – one of the owls flew closer to us and gave the most incredible show in the falling snow... It was simply amazing.
Unfortunately we were running out of time as we had to go to the airport to catch our flight. It was so difficult to leave the Great Grey Owl ...
Back in London Heathrow airport our happy faces turned to very gloomy and worried faces as we realized that one of our bags was missing. Luckily there was a very happy ending; after three days of nervous waiting the bag was finally reunited.