A photograph exhibition called The White Death
of the North on the snowy owl is on view at Siida in Inari over the summer.
Martti Rikkonen, a nature photographer from Inari, has watched and photographed
these gorgeous birds for more than thirty years. The exhibition consists of big
prints that tell an impressive story about the ways and habitats as well as the
breeding and “the family life” of this migrating owl species.
“In the red sunlight, above the fell top, an unreal bird of fine lines hovers
lightly but determinedly – as if from another dimension. In a masterly way, the
white owl preys on the smaller animals of the fell country. All that exists
culminates in this effective figure. The white death is on the move. Nature
could not offer more to its observer.” (Martti Rikkonen)
In 1974, Martti Rikkonen was taking a university course in
botany in Oulanka, when he heard that snowy owls had begun breeding in the
north-western corner of Finland. He dropped the course and went for a few days to
the fell area – that he was already familiar with – and found
several breeding couples. This was the beginning of an interest in this big
white bird that has lasted for decades.
The next time snowy owls was observed breeding in Finland was in 1987–88;
they bred in Utsjoki. It took another twenty years – until 2007 – before the
species bred in Finland anew, again in Utsjoki. In the wilderness area of
Kaldoaivi, adult males that hunt the willow grouse are found almost every year,
but breeding requires a peak year for mole populations.
Unfortunately, the snowy owl has seldom succeeded with its breeding in
Finland in the past few decades. The breeding seems to begin in favourable
conditions but ends in an almost total catastrophe. Watching such a development
almost destroys the joy that a nature enthusiast feels about meeting this white
migratory bird. Therefore, the big broods of 1974 and 1988 gave cause for great
delight. Maybe one day, a group of snowy owl males will shine in the summer
night of the highlands of Utsjoki, guarding their territories.
The snowy owl is a species of the northern
tundra zone. Its range covers the northern circumpolar area. The species is extremely well
adapted to its arctic environment: the plumage is airy and works as good insulation
against the cold, and the feet and the bill are protected by long feathers.
The male is white as snow in summer and winter, but the females and the young
birds have dark scalloping.
The snowy owl breeds in Finland only when there is a mass appearance of small
rodents – and not even always then. Outside the breeding season, the snowy owl
is a migrating species: the birds cover long distances in the tundra and the
fell country while looking for food; the young can also migrate south and, in
Finland, as far as the outer archipelago of Turku. The snowy owl is an
endangered species in Finland.
The photograph exhibition on the snowy owl has been produced and arranged by
the Northern Lapland Nature Centre. It is open at Siida from June 6 to September
27, 2009. Welcome!
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