Photographing beasts
On the 20th of July a short holiday started and in the afternoon we started driving towards north. We stopped in Kontiolahti Linnunsuo where we hoped to see more waders but saw only a couple of Dunlins, a Ruff, 3 Spotted Redshanks, a Green Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover and of course some Wood Sandpipers and Greenshanks. Also a couple of Red-backed Shrikes were seen.
In the evening we continued to Kuhmo Jongunsalo where we put up the tent and were soon ready to go to sleep. Next morning we walked about 10 kilometers and visited Hiidenportti. White walking we saw some Common Crossbills, Bramblings and a Waxwing.
Then we drove to Widlife Safari Finland center where we got a room where we still rested for some time before about at 5 p.m. we left with other photographers to hides. We got a private hide for ourselves and organized everything ready while food was put in front of the hide to the shore of a pond. And then we started to wait for animals to arrive.
After 30 minutes Lesser Black-backed, Herring and Common Gulls and some Ravens and a few Hooded Crows arrived. But soon we saw a Grey Wolf standing on the shore!
We of course started to take pictures while the Wolf was moving on the shore. Soon another very similar-looking Wolf followed it and it was easy to see that the first one was a young and the second was an alfa. The first one was moving slowly and carefully and kept its tail between the legs but the second one was relaxed and strong-looking. Another Wolf took a piece of meat when a Brown Bear was getting close and left. But another Wolf and the Bear stayed on the shore for a long time and it really seemed that the Bear was going to eat everything!
Finally the Wolf left with a meat and also Bear had eaten enough. Then we had to follow gulls and corvids for some time. It was funny to see that a Barn Swallow was breeding over a window of one hide where a photographer was inside. They didn’t mind, the parents were feeding the youngsters all the time.
Finally at 8:30 p.m. a couple of big Wolverine males visited and also a small female that stayed much longer. Then it was quiet again until at 9:15 p.m. a Bear was walking towards our hide along the path. It was already very close when I had to move a little bit so it jumped away from the path and went behind our hide and then continued to the other side of the pond to eat.
When it was getting dark we decided to get some sleep as we were now on photographing-trip. It had also started to rain and there hadn’t been any animals for some time.
It was raining very hard. Hanna had awaken once and seen a couple of Bears eating. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. when I heard a Bear coming. Soon it went to the pond to swim and I had to wake up Hanna to see it too. The Bear was swimming around the pond for almost 10 minutes before it got up and walked to the dark forest.
Still at 4:40 a.m. I saw a Bear searching for food. But when we finally woke up there were no animals anymore, just a Goldeneye, gulls and some Yellow Wagtails.
During the day we slept in our room and at 5 p.m. we left again towards hides. This time we went to bog where we saw a Bear already waiting when we were getting inside the hide. So we had to be quick with our equipment. And once the food was ready we soon saw a couple of Bears coming over the bog. Another one was coming slowly but the other one was running.
Also Ravens, gulls and a Black Kite arrived to get some food and we of course tried to get flight-pictures of the kite. It was very fast but we managed to get some pretty good shots. Surprisingly was saw also a Wolverine coming close but it wasn’t brave enough to come to eat as the bears were still there. It disappeared somewhere behind our hide.
When the Bears finally left, we heard a slam behind our hide and there the Wolverine was again. It was probably been in the terrace of our hide waiting for the Beard to leave! It would’ve been quite a surprise if one of us had visited a toiled and found a Wolverine there!
Pretty long we followed Ravens, Hooded Crows, gulls and a Mistle Thrush family until at 7:10 Hanna saw a Wolf briefly but soon it arrived to visible and was showing well for a short time. Then an hour later we heard a Bear grunting somewhere further but it never showed up. But then behind the bog a Bear and a Wolf came together. And this Wolf came really close and even sat in front of one of the hides but unfortunately that hide was empty. Anyway we got lots of pictures and then alfa-male also arrived and walked between the hides. It is good that cameras are completely silent nowadays so animals didn’t hear anything even though we took pictures all the time.
After a long quiet moment we heard a Wolf howling behind us and then answers behind the bog. We guessed that alfa-male was calling the pack. I even managed to record the howling! And soon we could see that we had been right when one young wolf came visible and started to walk towards us. And then there it was; a stunning pale female that we had seen also 4 years earlier. It also walked through the bog and we got pictures even though it never came very close. And then one more young Wolf followed and walked nicely in front of the hides.
Before we started to sleep a Bear still visited a couple of times but it was already too dark to get good pictures.
In the morning we woke up too early but there was thick fog on the bog. We managed to get some nice pictures of a Bear in foggy landscape. But soon it disappeared to the fog. When the sun rose the light was very nice but we saw only some gulls and Ravens.
At center we ate well and loaded our batteries before started driving. On the way we saw a family of Hazel Hens and on one walk in a stunning old forest Hanna found a nest of a Capercaillie. It still had eggs! Finally we drove until Lieksa Rauvunvaara to camp.
In the morning we walked 8 kilometers in Lieksa Patvinsuo Teretti. There weren’t many birds but on Ilomantsi side from Teretti bird-tower we saw a couple of Peregrine Falcon and a Smew.
Pretty early we continued to Erä-Eero where we soon met Eero himself. We had something to eat inside while talking to Eero and waiting for the other groups to arrive. But for some reason two groups that should have come, never arrived.
So after all we left to the hide while Eero still stayed waiting if anyone was still coming. On the way to the hides we saw amazing numbers of Mourning Cloak butterflies and there were more on the hides too. While we were checking which hide to go, we saw a Wolverine already coming, so we chose to stay in that hide where we were then. A male Wolverine came right in front of us and we got good pictures already before there was food at all. As it found nothing, it soon swam over the bay to the other side and disappeared to the forest.
Soon Eero came to bring the food and soon we started to wait for more animals to come. But it took some time and at 6:30 a female Wolverine arrived and stayed for 30 minutes before it left with a big meat. It probably had cubs somewhere? And soon another female came and acted very similarly.
At 7:55 the third female-looking dark Wolverine arrived but it showed only shortly, but soon came again before left with meat.
Then at 8:45 p.m. a female Bear arrived with 3 tiny cubs! They were coming closer very carefully and then mom just picked up the first big meat it found and they all rushed to the forest.
Soon a couple of female Wolverines came again in same time but they were visiting quite briefly. Then at 10:10 p.m. we heard a slam and then some grunting under the hide – a Wolverine was checking if there was meat hidden under the floor! Almost same time, there were 3 small Wolverines on the other side of the bay. Two of them were chasing each other and were probably youngsters but only the third one came closer and was one of the females that we had seen earlier.
At 11 p.m. we still saw the mama Bear with cubs on the other side of the lake but they soon climbed to the hill and disappeard to the forest. Then we saw nothing before we started to sleep.
At 3 a.m. I checked that there was a female Wolverine in front of the hide and after one hour I checked again and saw another small Wolverine on the other side of the bay. But when we woke up there was no action anymore, just some gulls and Mallards. Still at 7 a.m. we heard something turning stone behind the watching-hide. It was probably a Bear but it never came visible. At 8 a.m. we had packed everything and walked to our car.
We still heard a Cuckoo calling and when we were driving we saw first a male Capercaillie and later a female with chicks and then still one young Black Grouse and a family of Hazel Hens. Then we stopped again in Kontiolahti Linnunsuo but saw even fewer birds than on the previous visit. Only birds to mention were a Temminck Stint and a family of Red-backed Shrikes.
Finally we were at home and on the trip we had taken abou 20 gigas of pictures both! And we still take Jpeg-pictures, so we had taken lots of pictures of amazing animals!
J.A.