Long-tailed and yellow-eyed hawk owls can be seen this winter sitting on electricity lines in search of food. Birdwatcher Lassi Kujala believes that hundreds of the birds of prey have arrived in Kymenlaakso alone.
“We’ve spotted many of them just from the roadsides; that means there will be many more out there in the wild,” he said. Kujala believes that this year the conditions may be right for pairs of the owls to nest in Finland – something that is last thought to have happened in the 1980s.
“In all my 50 years as a bird enthusiast, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large migration,” Kujala told Yle. “It’s obvious there are pairs here looking to nest."
Hawk owls can hear sounds made by rodents such as voles even over the noise of a car. When the bird nabs its prey, it either brings the unlucky animal back to its nest, or digs in, starting on the vole’s head before guzzling its innards.
”It looks rather like eating spaghetti,” Kujala says. “Not particularly pleasant to witness but that’s just how it is.”
