Finally, and after two years, I managed to spot all the owl species of Helsinki. Nine species of owls can be detected in the capital region, some of them only sporadically while others local residents that the birders of Helsinki know well. Looking for these discrete birds, most often hidden during daytime and vocal during the cold winter nights, became a little challenge of mine and ended up with satisfying views of some of these species, quite often shared with my friend Mihika Sen, who is part of many of the stories coming next.
The species I detected more effortlessly has been the long-eared owl (Asio otus). Luckily enough, at least one owl seems to live in the area between Viikki and Latokartano, right where I leave. Before snow came in November 2022, I observed this awesome bird during night walks several times, flying over the fields of Viikki Campus and perched on traffic signs and campus fences. In March 2023, I contacted probably this local bird several timed, as I could hear its hoots from my doorstep. Later, in late June 2023, I spent a whole night with Ossi Saarinen in an undisclosed location close to the city center photographing three owlets as they played around and were visited by their parents.
Another local species is the Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo). Known in Finnish as ‘huuhkaja’, it is one of the most famous birds in Helsinki as it is the symbol of the local football team due to a story about an eagle-owl visiting the field during a match. The eagle-owls of Suomenlinna are quite well known, and despite facing the important tourist numbers that this beautiful island-fortress receives, they seem to do well. Indeed, it usually takes some time and patience to spot these birds, despite their size. Mihika and I got great looks of one of them in June 2023.
I have been quite lucky with a taiga owl species that only visits these latitudes sporadically: the northern hawk-owl (Surnia ulula). I saw this bird for the first time in Hermanninpuisto in November 2020, during my first time in Helsinki. When I arrived to this urban park, birders were already leaving. All of a sudden, as I sat in the middle of some birches, the hawk-owl flew to a tree next to me! This species has become very special for me ever since. Afterwards, and thanks to the tips of Mihika, I could enjoy a bird that spent the winter of 2022 to 2023 in the area of Pornaistenniemi near Viikki several times, also with Darío Gijón.
Instead, I haven’t been too lucky with the tawny owl (Strix aluco), a local resident that is usually seen in chimneys and tree holes of city parks. Although I have heard this species in Helsinki in 2020 and 2022, I only got good looks of this owl in Finland in Lammi Biological Station, some hours north.
An unusual winter visitor that breeds in forests not too far from Helsinki is the Ural owl (Strix uralensis). I saw my first Ural owl with Mihika and Riku Kangasniemi in the forest of Hallainvuori, very close to home, in November 2022, while the very first snow of the season fell on top of us. Then, just some days ago in March 2024, I twitched a bird sleeping in a tree next to the main path of the Viikin Arboretum, under an amazing light. The size and color of this species make it very attractive.
The most impressive owl one can with to find in Helsinki is undoubtedly the great gray owl (Strix nebulosa). This large taiga owl is very rarely spotted in the city. So when a bird showed up in a forested area not too far from Siltamäki in November 2022, and Nico Ordax kindly informed me, I rushed after work and managed to observe this fabulous bird as it got dark, before it flew away into the forest. Nico said seeing this bird in Helsinki might have been one of these once-in-a-lifetime experiences with birds. However, a second chance came in form of a bird downtown in Tähtitorninmäki park in late October 2023. Mihika, who had been looking for this mythical owl in its prime habitat up north without success, was happy to see this species for the first time, and still with proper light.
Quite surprisingly, there was a boreal owl (Aegolius funereus) in Tähtitorninmäki only about 200 m away of the great gray owl on that day of October 2023. The bird was very well hidden in the middle of a dense tree — I really admire the ability of birders to find these roosting birds, their kindness to report them, and the respect of overall all birders in the city when twitching them. Under similar conditions, and also with Mihika, I saw my first-ever boreal owl in Lammassaari some days before, also in October 2023.
A strongly migratory species that is often reported as it flies over is the short-eared owl (Asio flammeus flammeus). Therefore, it’s one of these species for which you must be in the right place at the right time. Mihika and I got to see a bird that unusually rested in one tall spruce in Viikin Arboretum in early April 2023, along with some other birders.
But I took the longest time to find what is possibly the most abundant owl species in Helsinki. The Eurasian pygmy-owl (Glaucidium passerinum) is relatively easy to spot in winter, when leafless trees give away their presence. They can be quite active during daytime, and tend to visit bird feeders in winter as they attract many potential preys. Only now, in April 2024, I managed to hear and spot one bird near the bird feeders of Keinumäki near Viikki, as it rested, called, and flied looking for preys. The size of the pygmy-owl contrasts importantly with most of the other species, but its behavior is equally interesting.
To really complete the list of owls of Finland, the snowy owl (Bubo scandiacus) is missing. This legendary bird breeds in low numbers in high Arctic tundra, but individuals have stranded further south in Finland only in very rare occasions.