Birdwatching in Kuusamo – Wilderness nature experiences

Birdwatching in Kuusamo was a wonderful opportunity for me to discover more about Finland’s fascinating birdlife. I had actually travelled to northeastern Finland in July to observe brown bears in their natural habitat. But while waiting for these impressive animals in a bear hide, I also had the chance to make numerous exciting bird sightings. In this blog post, I’ll share which birds I encountered and the impressions I took away from my time in the Finnish wilderness.

Birdwatching in Finland

Whooper swans and black-throated loons on the countless lakes, little gulls flying above the water. Capercaillies, black grouse, great grey owls and Siberian jays in the vast taiga forests. And far up north, in the tundra, you may encounter snow buntings, European golden plovers and rock ptarmigans.

And this is just a small glimpse into Finland’s fascinating birdlife. From its countless lakes and vast taiga forests to the Arctic tundra, Finland is home to an incredible diversity of bird species, offering endless opportunities for discovery and admiration (Photo: Snow bunting, taken on Grímsey, Iceland).

My journey began in Oulu. There, I encountered numerous jackdaws and white wagtails, as well as hooded crows, house sparrows, fieldfares, mallards, rock doves and chaffinches. I didn’t actually see any common blackbirds, but I certainly heard them – by now, I know their song and the distinctive tone of their voice very well.

The common swifts were a particular surprise. I hadn’t expected them to venture so far north! Naturally, I was delighted to see them. Common swifts and summer simply belong together for me.

And then there were the Arctic terns. I was already very familiar with these birds from my time in Iceland, of course (Photo: Arctic tern, taken in Iceland).

During a short walk, I spotted a common redshank along one of the many waterways in Oulu. It seemed rather agitated, and I soon realised why: there was a young bird nearby. I quickly moved away to avoid disturbing them any further.

I also spotted an oystercatcher in a meadow.

Unfortunately, I hadn’t brought my camera along on this walk, so I can only share the stories of these encounters rather than my own photographs. The pictures shown here are therefore from other trips (Left: Oystercatcher on Heligoland, Germany. Right: Common redshank in Barbate, Spain).

When I travelled to Finland in July, I actually had a very different goal in mind: I wanted to observe bears in their natural habitat. The opportunity to go birdwatching in Kuusamo came about more or less by chance.

More specifically, my journey took me to Kuusamo in northeastern Finland, just over 200 kilometres from Oulu. Although I love birds and naturally always keep an eye out for them, I wasn’t actively looking for them on this trip. My main focus was on bears.

But while patiently waiting for the bears to appear, I found myself with a wonderful opportunity to enjoy some exciting birdwatching along the way. And so, the hours spent waiting in the bear hide turned out to be anything but boring.

In this blog post, I’d like to share some of my encounters with Finland’s fascinating birdlife (Photo: European golden plover, taken on Grímsey, Iceland).

Birdwatching in Kuusamo

White-tailed eagle

One of the most impressive sightings near the bear hides was undoubtedly the white-tailed eagle. Or rather, the white-tailed eagles – because there wasn’t just one around. No, there were several! It was an unexpected encounter that showed me how birdwatching in Kuusamo can become one of the highlights of a trip that was originally all about bears.

Most of the time, they were perched somewhere in the trees, keeping a close eye on the activity below. Numerous gulls and corvids were also around, adding plenty of movement to the scene. Every now and then, things got quite noisy as the birds squabbled over food or tried to chase one another away. Meanwhile, the white-tailed eagles sat quietly in the background, seemingly completely unimpressed, patiently waiting for their moment.

The white-tailed eagle is a bird of prey belonging to the family Accipitridae (hawks and eagles). This family also includes species such as the booted eagle, western marsh harrier, common buzzard and northern goshawk.

While I regularly encounter northern goshawks and common buzzards in Berlin, the booted eagle (left photo) is a species I have so far only been able to observe in Andalusia, Spain.

I’ve also come across western marsh harriers in Andalusia, as well as in Portugal, around Lisbon (right photo), and at Lake Kerkini in Greece.

I, on the other hand, have already had the opportunity to observe a black-collared hawk in the Pantanal region of Brazil.

It’s always fascinating to see just how diverse the habitats of these birds of prey can be – and how many different species you can discover while travelling.

For me, however, this was the first time I had ever seen white-tailed eagles in the wild, and I was absolutely thrilled! With a wingspan of up to two and a half metres, they are among the largest birds of prey in Central Europe. Their impressive size alone makes them easy to spot, even from a considerable distance.

The white-tailed eagle is characterised not only by its impressive size but also by its powerful yellow beak and short, white tail. In adult birds, the head and neck are noticeably lighter in colour than the rest of the plumage. These distinctive features make the white-tailed eagle particularly easy to identify in flight.

Every now and then, individual white-tailed eagles began to call. As soon as one had uttered its call, another would join in shortly afterwards. It was a fascinating spectacle, and one I could happily have watched for much longer. However, as I only had a few hours to spare before shifting my attention to the bears, I could only observe and begin to understand the behaviour of the white-tailed eagles – particularly their vocalisations – to a limited extent.

White-tailed eagles mate for life. Every now and then, I spotted two eagles perched together in a tree. Could they have been a pair? I assume so. Adult birds are territorial and defend their territory, generally tolerating only juveniles and immature white-tailed eagles within their territory.

Territorial disputes between adult white-tailed eagles can sometimes lead to fierce confrontations. These fights can even result in serious injuries or the death of one of the birds.

I didn’t witness any such conflicts during my stay. However, my observation time was relatively short, and later on, my attention was focused mainly on the bears anyway.

Still, the eagles seemed to keep a very close eye on everything happening around them.

When hunting, the white-tailed eagle usually flies low over the water. It often soars and glides, occasionally interspersed with powerful wingbeats that can appear somewhat heavy and laboured.

Naturally, I tried to photograph the white-tailed eagles in flight. However, this proved to be anything but easy. By late afternoon, the light was already beginning to fade, although the conditions were still reasonably good. On top of that, the birds’ flight patterns were highly unpredictable, making it difficult to anticipate their movements.

When photographing wildlife, knowing your camera and how to use its settings is only part of the equation. It is just as important to understand the animals’ behaviour as well as possible and to anticipate what they might do next. With such a large yet surprisingly fast bird as the white-tailed eagle, this can be a real challenge.

A particularly special moment for me came on the second day, when a white-tailed eagle landed by the pond right in front of the bear hide I was sitting in. The previous day, I had watched from the main hide, whereas on the second day, I was in one of the smaller, separate hides. Looking back, spreading my observations across several hides turned out to be a very good decision.

One important thing to note, though: During the observation period, from 6 pm to 10 pm, nobody is allowed to leave the hides.

On the third day, I was already sitting in a different hide from 5 pm onwards. Although I didn’t get to see any white-tailed eagles there, I did spot numerous other birds. So even this more secluded hide was by no means lacking in birdlife.

Nevertheless, the white-tailed eagles weren’t alone on the first two days either. Numerous other birds literally crossed their paths or shared the same trees with them.

Seeing so many white-tailed eagles in the bear-watching area wasn’t unusual. White-tailed eagles prefer habitats around lakes and rivers surrounded by forests – exactly the kind of landscape they find here in Finland.

But the white-tailed eagles aren’t the only birds that have made this place their home. Numerous corvids live here too. I’ll take a closer look at the other bird species in the following sections.

Corvids

Among the corvids, hooded crows and common ravens were particularly numerous.

Hooded crows and common ravens are easy to tell apart, especially by their plumage. While common ravens are entirely black, hooded crows have distinctive ash-grey areas. As with the common raven (right photo), the hooded crow (left photo) has a black head, wings and tail.

Hooded crows and common ravens often perched in the trees, seemingly tolerated by the white-tailed eagles. Since corvids are such common birds, I have to admit that my attention was more often drawn to the species I was less familiar with.

Nevertheless, I don’t want to leave out the Eurasian magpie. It belongs to the corvid family too, and I actually managed to spot one in the Finnish bear-watching area. However, magpies were much less common there and clearly outnumbered by the other corvids.

It’s precisely these unexpected encounters that make birdwatching in Kuusamo so exciting for me: you never quite know which feathered inhabitants will eventually appear in front of your camera lens.

Gulls

Alongside the white-tailed eagles, corvids and gulls were the most common birds I encountered during my observations. But which gull species were actually present in the bear-watching area?

Identifying gulls is always one of the biggest challenges for me. That’s why I often turn to iNaturalist for a little help with species identification.

Herring gulls were particularly common around the ponds in the Finnish bear-watching area. I find them quite similar in appearance to other large gull species, which can make identification rather tricky. However, their distribution is mainly further north, including Finland.

While I was enjoying particularly good bear sightings from the more secluded hide on the third day, a break in the bears’ activity brought a little surprise: suddenly, a gull came walking through the forest.

Could it have been a common gull?

I needed a little help identifying this gull, too. At first glance, it looks quite similar to the herring gull. However, the common gull has a somewhat gentler appearance and, at least to my eyes, a less grumpy expression.

But the gull parade wasn’t over yet. Just a few minutes later, a black-headed gull made its way through the forest to the pond in front of the bear hide.

I also encountered black-headed gulls in front of the other two hides. However, they spent less time in the trees and were more often seen on the water. Perhaps this was their way of avoiding the other gulls and corvids.

And what species of gulls do you think these are? Do they both belong to the same species, or are they actually two different ones?

One interesting thing I noticed was that the gulls and corvids, in particular, often became noticeably quieter several minutes before the first bear appeared. However, this didn’t always happen. Sometimes everything suddenly fell silent, and I suspected the birds had sensed a bear nearby – only for no bear to show up.

And then, on other occasions, a bear really did appear shortly after one of these sudden silences. Of course, I couldn’t say for certain whether the birds actually detected the bears before we did. But it was certainly a striking behaviour to observe.

Wood sandpiper

One bird I was able to observe quite frequently and at close range in the bear-watching area was the wood sandpiper. I’m always particularly careful when identifying waders, and this was actually my first encounter with a wood sandpiper.

An experienced birder would probably recognise it straight away, but I find it quite easy to confuse with the green sandpiper and the common redshank. I was already familiar with green sandpipers from Portugal, while I had previously seen common redshanks in Iceland, Barbate and – as mentioned earlier – Oulu.

The wood sandpipers gave me several excellent opportunities to photograph them on each of the three days.

More birds

As mentioned earlier, white-tailed eagles, corvids and gulls dominated the ponds. The wood sandpipers, by contrast, tended to keep a much lower profile. Spotting other bird species also required a keen eye and a bit of luck.

I actually saw Eurasian teal only once, on the third day, at the more secluded bear hide.

On the second day, when the bear-watching was proving rather frustrating, I spotted some western yellow wagtails instead. It was a lovely change of pace and another unexpected find while birdwatching in Kuusamo. However, due to the considerable distance, even my long telephoto lens made it difficult to get decent photographs of these agile little birds.

Brown bears in Kuusamo

The real reason that brought me to Kuusamo in Finland this time – I have to admit – wasn’t the birds. As mentioned earlier, it was the brown bears.

The bears are particularly easy to observe from the wildlife hides. However, there’s one thing you’ll need above all else: patience. If you want to observe brown bears more intensively and over a longer period of time, spending a night in one of the observation hides is well worth considering.

Of course, there is no guarantee of seeing bears, but the chances of spotting them are very good.

Here, I’d simply like to share a few photographic impressions of these magnificent animals.

More information

Have you ever been birdwatching in Kuusamo or anywhere else in Finland? Which bird species did you manage to spot? Feel free to share your experiences in the comments!