Big owls night

I had promised to take my sons Roni (8) and Petro (11) to owl trip during this early spring. Now, when the Easter vacation had started, the time was right. And the weather was almost perfect, no wind at all, totally calm, no overcast and full moon. Only a bit too cold, -6.1 degrees Celcius (21,02 deg. Fahrenheit), so I was a bit afraid whether the owls would be calling or not...

Our first stop was a success; male Eurasian Eagle Owl (Bubo bubo) was calling and my boys heard it well - they were both very happy at it. Well, and me too, of course.

After this first owl it took quite a long time before we heard the next one. We stopped in many places where should have been owls, but tonight they were all mute.

But finally we found what we were looking for; the Great Grey Owl (Strix nebulosa). For me this was an exiting moment - I had never before heard the call of Great Grey Owl, though I have seen this splendid owl several times.

So we managed to hear two of the three biggest owls of this continent - not a bad owl trip, although it would have been fun to hear more species. I was also waiting to see Aurora Borealis, but no luck with them tonight, maybe next time then.

My sons want to hear more owl species, so perhaps we have to make another owl trip during Easter still.

P.S. the night was not as dark it may look at the photo above; the moonlight reflected from snow so it was relatively easy to see around even without torch.