OWLS OF FINLAND
Jari Peltomäki
”When is the best time to see or photograph the owls in Finland?”; is question what I hear fairly often.
I think the best answer is: ”Then when they are ”available”!”. Depending on year the best time could be January, February, March, April, May, June or even July.
Occasionally good photo-opportunities for owls appears in autumn as well. Therefore the best way to avoid possible disappointments is to book late when we know
for sure that the owls are here. Naturally nothing is 100 % sure with wildlife, but when the good owl situation is on it can continue for many weeks and sometimes many months!
Some of Finnish Owls are resident species and they stay in their territory throughout the year, but some of them are moving fairly long distances during the autumn. Then they are looking for good areas for voles. When they find suitable area, they will settle their winter territory there.If the food supply is still good in spring, they might breed in the same area.
The vole situation is the major factor when we are talking about seeing or photographing the owls. When vole situation is good owls are breeding in good numbers, but when vole population is low owls might be more easily observed and photographed especially during the winter! Vole populations vary in cycles and also geographically. So one year there could be good vole situation in Southern Finland and next year in Middle Finland and following year in Northern Finland! It is possible to predict the vole situations in different parts of country roughly one year beforehand.
Great Grey Owl
According to professional wildlife photographer David Tipling, Great Grey Owl is “the sexiest bird species in Finland”!
In some winters Great Grey Owls are hunting in open fields (January- March). But they only hunt out in open in full daylight when they are struggeling to find enough food. When the vole supply is plentiful Great Grey Owls are usually hunting actively only during the night time. Then they are not so easy to find! The best way to find hunting area of Great Grey Owl is to look for tracks in snow. They leave very characteristic “angel” sign in snow when they hunt voles under the snow. They locate voles by hearing and they are able to hit through ½ meter snow cover! However, sometimes snow cover freezes so hard that Great Grey Owls can struggle to hunt enough voles and especially then they can be seen on move during the daytime.
In some languages, including in Finnish, Great Grey Owl is called “Lapland Owl”, but this is slightly misleading name, since this species is actually quite scarce in Lapland. Middle Finland from North Karelia to Norhern Ostrobothnia (Oulu) are the main breeding grounds .
During breeding season (May- June) Great Grey Owl is quite easy to photograph, since they are often quite approachable. Then Great Grey Owls are most actively on move during dusk and dawn. Occasionally good photo-opportunities with Great Grey Owl continues until end of July!
