Winter in Turku, Finland is typically not great. Dark, wet and cold, yet not cold enough to get proper snow coverage. It's gray and boring, and as a nature photographer, I usually get quite melancholic about the whole thing. Spring, in contrast, is the season for me. The sun is out, sunsets happen after I get off work (after 4-5pm), and animals start running around. And the birds. All of them. It's amazing.
Last year, a colleague of mine who also takes awesome bird pics went up to Lapland to take images of eagles from a blind. His images were amazing, so I scribbled down the name of the place and decided I'll go there next year. And this year, I actually did. After a few cancellations because of the flu (the not-as-welcome part of spring), and a bought car, I packed my stuff and drove almost 1000km to Oulanka National Park in Kuusamo.
Took me one and a half day, that.
I had never been further than Mikkeli in that direction before, so I was quite excited to drive even though it would take a while. The first day went well. The second, the snow hit.
That's a lake somehwere north of Kuopio.
I arrived in Kuusamo late on Saturday evening, just in time to go to the store to get some food for the next day. Unfortunately, I had a tight schedule; due to the flu I had a single day for photos, and i wanted a photo of an eagle. When you photograph from a blind, you can't get in or out in the middle of the day, because you'll scare away the animals, so I basically had no time for landscapes. Next time, I'll plan better.
Even though it was cold and snowing, I was optimistic. The forecast for the next day was -5 degrees and sunshine, and the organizer said that the eagles had been spotted recently and were likely still active tomorrow. So, the next day, I got a hearty breakfast (mmm, bacon...) and drove into the park. Following the instructions, I parked in the middle of nowhere, strapped my rucksack on my back, and started walking up the hill. The blind is quite big, with enough room for 8 photographers at the same time. Because the eagle pair that live nearby already had eggs, the main season for photos was over. I had the whole blind for myself.
View from the blind. There is a feeder for smaller birds to the left, with some lard strung to a tree for woodpeckers. On the right in the snow is a mostly-eaten pig. In the middle, I put out a fox as bait, kindly provided by the organizer.
The organizer had said that the eagles were active mostly in the evening, but might of course show up at any time. So, with the baits set up and the heater on, I settled in for the day. The first birds that showed up were old friends, Great Tits (Talitianen in Finnish). Common everywhere in Finland, I already had some nice images of them. Nothing like these, though.
Other birds soon followed, many of them new acquaintances to me. Crested Tit (Töyhtötiainen):
Willow Tit (Hömötiainen):
Siberian Tit (Lapintiainen):
After a while, bigger birds arrived too. I was happy as a bunny, and kept shooting.
Great Spotted Woodpecker (Käpytikka):
Siberian Jay (Kuukkeli):
Jay (Närhi):
A few hours in, there was a short lull in bird activity, so I decided to get something to eat. I stood up from the stool and took a final look around the area, and HOLY MOLY THAT'S A WEASEL!
Short-Tailed Weasel (Kärppä). I got three frames, all of them missed focus. Don't look closely, OK?
I already had photos of seven bird species and the weasel, but the main attraction hadn't showed up. I had sat in the blind for five hours already and I was getting antsy. I waited and waited. Snapped a few pics here and there, but my concentration was fading. The organizer had said 'afternoon'; the clock turned 3pm, then 4. No eagles. A Black Woodpecker turned up, though:
Black Woodpecker (Palokärki)
No eagle. I waited and waited. I heard crows nearby, but couldn't see them. Not a big deal, crows aren't exactly awesome birds to photograph. But this time their screeching was different, somehow. I know from following eagles in the archipelago that crows don't like eagles, so I stiffened up. Suddenly, the crow noise wen't up in pitch, and a huge shadow landed in the forest to my right with a loud thunk. I couldn't see it, but I knew. I had waited for seven hours, and the moment was finally here.
