Finnish Focus on... Hawk Owl

Hawk Owl. The Best Bird in the Universe.

Hawkies are simply the business. No argument can be produced or countenanced to the contrary.

Like with Pygmy Owl, their diurnal habits make them a lot more attainable than the nocturnal species, but their size and tendency to sit prominently on wires, treetops etc make them even more obvious than the aforementioned Pygmies.

This in no way, however, reduces their desirability or awesomeness. They are simply stunning birds.

 

Hawk Owl has a range of facial expressions, varying between quizzical and outright menace. It's hard to feel anything, whist watching them, other than that they have utter disdain for you. It's part of their overwhelming charm. 




Hawk Owl is often exceptionally tame around the city, at times completely ignoring members of the public who walk up to them and stick even a camera phone directly in their face, as I and visiting friends from Ireland witnessed with the Hietaniemi bird a few years back. This one above was also happy to perch and hunt directly above people, completely apathetic to comings and goings.

I saw an Irish birder, several years ago now, saying online that if a Hawk Owl turned up in Britain they would twitch it. I thought this nonsensical, relative to the ease, efficiency and cost of simply booking a flight to Helsinki with a couple of months advance notice.

There's always at least one accessible around the city (this winter there's several), return flights from Dublin can be had for as little as 75 euro, and you have a range of back up species providing more bang for your buck.

Contrast that with a spur of the moment twitch to Britain. Last minute flights will be extortionate. You can safely assume it would be somewhere completely bonkers, like Shetland, meaning additional flights/ferries, or at the very least car hire and a long drive on the mainland.

If you want Hawk Owl, Helsinki is the place to be.

 
 
Of course, the other option is a summer trip to Lapland. They aren't hard to find up there either, again with a nice supporting cast of birds. Pricey trip though.


Your typical drive by scenario when you find a Hawk Owl in winter. That distinctive shape on a wire or treetop always requires a U-turn.

The hovering behavior of Hawk Owl is relatively rare in comparison to their perch hunting behavior. When you do come across it, however, the structural similarity to Kestrel is striking. 


I love these curious expressions
 
 
I'm never going to get enough of these birds. There are few sights more beautiful than a hunting Hawk Owl in the snow. Even if you're shaking with the cold watching them! 

Raise a glass to the best bird in the universe! 














Amazing






Chubby







The look of death!







  

I'm never going to get enough of these birds. There are few sights more beautiful than a hunting Hawk Owl in the snow. Even if you're shaking with the cold watching them! 

Raise a glass to the best bird in the universe!

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