It took me a long time to have my own photos of the eagle owl. For many years I had no opportunity to watch an eagle owl - the largest owl included in the fauna of Poland. And again, thanks to kindness and selfless help from others I finally managed to take pictures of an eagle owl. Krzysztof, Halina - thank you very much for the tip, because without your help there still would be a vacancy in the eagle owl gallery on my website. This gallery starts with photographs of young eagle owls. Although at sunrise we could see an adult individual but only for a very short while and to make matters worse there was not enough light to take a picture. Well, it often happens that such galleries especially of the species difficult to photograph are created over years and are constantly being improved. The eagle-owl gallery seems to be one of them and I hope it will be better and better. I did not manage to record the voice of the eagle owl. In the evening, quite unexpectedly it gave a sound for a moment. The birds at night caught up so many rodents (rats)that during the day the young ate what their parents left in their nest. The photos I have taken are good enough and there are so many of them to be the basis for the start gallery of the eagle owl. In quite an amazing place where eagle owls accepted staying in proximity of human environment, it was finally possible to observe and admire these beautiful birds. In memory of this meeting – here we have photos that are worth coming back to...
Last minute news-06-2024-Finland
Waiting years for my first Eagle owl photos was an exercise in patience. Although I had a gallery, it was missing pictures of adult individuals, and I was determined to change that. However, photographing an Eagle owl is a formidable challenge, especially in Poland. Firstly, obtaining a formal permit to photograph this species is essential and not easily acquired. Even with a permit, success isn't guaranteed—it only makes the photography legal. In Poland, there are several hundred pairs of Eagle owls, and strict regulations protect their breeding areas. From the beginning of the year until July, there is a year-round protection zone extending 500 meters from the nest, which decreases to 200 meters outside the breeding season. Additionally, the owl's nocturnal habits complicate matters. I have mentioned before, perhaps in my reports from Costa Rica, that I prefer not to use artificial light when photographing wild birds. While sometimes necessary, it often results in an unnatural image with a stark black background. Eagle owls are elusive and shy, often fleeing at the sight of humans, which abruptly ends any chance of capturing a good photo. Given these challenges, I decided to search for better opportunities and discovered that northern Europe offered a promising solution. In early June, the days in northern Europe are extremely short, lasting from midnight to around 2:30 AM. This brief night is merely a dimming of light rather than complete darkness, making photography possible, though still difficult. Additionally, in these regions, Eagle owls are active during daylight hours, a time when it is already quite dark in Poland. This led me to Finland in my quest to photograph the Eagle owl. Beyond the legal and lighting challenges, the behavior of the owl itself posed another hurdle. To maximize my chances, I planned a four-day stay in an owl hide. Despite its limitations in comfort and the swarms of mosquitoes, I remained hopeful. The warmer and more humid it got, the more mosquitoes there were, making photography and sleeping in the hide a struggle. The Eagle owl's behavior was unpredictable. It appeared once on some days and up to four times on others. Its arrival times varied: before 9 PM, at 10:30 PM, at 2 AM, and even at 6 AM. To ensure we didn't miss any opportunity, we needed to be alert from 6 PM to 8 AM. Shifts in sleeping allowed us to stay alert during this time because the motion sensor at the bait station didn't always work. We couldn't risk missing the arrival of a bird. Once, an owl appeared literally for a few minutes, and that was our only chance to photograph it that day. After four days of partial, interrupted sleep, one is truly exhausted and simply has had enough. But enough about all this logistics, which fade away and are forgotten when, after many hours of waiting, almost in complete silence (we only spoke in whispers, knowing how keen an owl's hearing is), suddenly, silently, it appears – the largest owl in Europe! Powerful, majestic, with an incredible gaze. The joy is hard to describe. Always, after landing, it calmly checked the surroundings, being very alert, before starting its meal. Here arose another difficulty in photographing. A sitting bird required a telephoto lens with a focal length of 500 millimeters. With my 600mm, there were times when the owl just barely fit into the frame. When it spread its wings while tearing at the bait (up to 1.8 meters, and the sitting bird had 1/3 of that span), a lens with less than half that focal length would have been useful. Additionally, a departing bird required shorter focal lengths, provided it was flying in our direction. This too was unpredictable. But in the end, we succeeded! I left the shelter with daytime photos of an adult Eagle owl! The eagle owl gallery on my site finally features images that capture the owl's charm, majesty, and beauty. Photographing owls requires dedication. In Canada, the bitter cold made photographing the Snowy owl difficult; here, it was four days without normal sleep, enduring the constant presence of pesky mosquitoes. But owls are worth it—I assure you. The photos make up for all the hardships, and it's something to look back on with pride, especially the incredible gaze of the owl and its silent flight. After six years since photographing young eagle owls, the gallery is now enriched with photos of adult birds. The new gallery is featured in the news section and among my favorite galleries on my site. With the Eagle owl, it couldn't be any other way! An amazing bird, difficult to photograph, but it finally happened!
This wasn't a traditional birding trip, but a four-day stay in a hide. We left the hide around 9 AM and returned around 5 PM. During this break, we explored the area for birds, making it feel like a Finnish safari. Finding birds wasn't easy, with mosquitoes everywhere. Nevertheless, after capturing at least one proper photo of each species, they were added to the gallery, enabling the creation of the "Finland - Birds" gallery. The biggest updates occurred in the galleries of the curlew, bullfinch, and pied flycatcher, but I also managed to take a few interesting shots of the blackbird.
Traditionally, after returning from a trip, I post in the information section of each gallery a list of newly created and modified galleries with photos from the trip. The list also serves as a collection of links to these galleries. If the name of the species is followed by the letter "T" in parentheses, the gallery contains a text about that species. To quickly browse all bird galleries updated after photographing in Finland, simply search for "Finland - Birds" in the "Tags" tab on the right side of the browser.
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