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April 29 Jeroen Scheffers (VNF-Apeldoorn) and I flew via Helsinki to Kajaani, in NE-Finland. We rented a small car and drove to the Boreal Wildlife Centre ( www.viikisimo.fi ) in Kuhmo, very close to the Russian Border. We arrived late and, on the way, we managed to picture the sunset over one of Finlands numerous lakes. The next day we killed some time photographing birds around the lodge, the most abundant of all was the Brambling (see next picture of a male).  Later that afternoon we took a small drive and made some pictures of the taigavegetation. One of the plants was looking quite remarkable, because the colours looked more like autumn than spring.  After having dinner the people from the lodge brought us to a Capercaillie-lek in the forest, about 1 km from the border. Jeroen was lucky and I was not in a way that it was a perfect evening, with snowfall, lots of noises, like the mystical clicking sound of the male Capercaillies, but in the end there was only one bird visible, that is to say: he was mostly visible for Jeroen and he managed to make some nice shots. When I finally saw the bird, the light was gone, so I can merely show a sort of an atmosphere picture:  Just the prove that we didn't only heard them but also saw one..... Next evening was even worse: Wind was blowing severely and that meant: No capercaillies at all, just camping in a windy tent in the middle of nowhere, while lying on a carpet made of raindeerhide.... So 2 days were gone and no reasonable results. The third night we were bound to stay in a bearhide. While we were driven to the hides, who were situated in a sort of no-mans land between Russia and Finland, it started snowing heavily. This evening we were both lucky. Our 2-personhide was located on the right spot. The first bear arrived out of the forest and stood along our hide for a while in the blizzard, before he took off again:  Seeing bears in wheatherconditions like this was new for me.... When it got later, bears appeared, all together about 5 or 6. They are attrackted by the carcasses of moose and raindeer. One big male was coming close to the side of our hide:  Next morning we were picked up at eight and had breakfast at the lodge. The following evening Jeroen went to the hide alone, because I was ill, had a fever and stayed in bed for almost 24 hours. On Wednesday we left Boreal Wildlife Centre and drove a little bit more north to Vartius, a small bordercrossing with Russia. Here in the forests is the place where Wild Brown Bear is situated. Runned by Ari Sääski ( www.wildbrownbear.fi ), together with a German guy and a French-born woman, called Sabrina. She is doing the kitchen in a wonderful way(very good food!!) and is also busy with the birdhides, specially for Black Grouse and Capercaillie. We arrived with warm weather, there were only two more people, both from The Netherlands and everything looked very promising....but.... After a great dinner a touringcar arrived with students from a place along the Finnish Soutwest Coast. They had driven 700 km to get here. The majority was looking forward to see wild bears but some were less motivated and the teacher put the latter group in 1 hide. To make a long story short: After 1 hour we heard people screaming, they smoked in their hide and one guy even went out of the hut to piss. So we really had fantastic evening light and no bears what so ever... But the next days were way better and one of the things which made everything worthwhile was the presence of wolverines and of motherbears with cubs. The last three times we've spent in the hides, every evening a mother with 4(!) cubs showed up. They call her Tatjana and it was her third time to raise 4 cubs, which is an outstanding effort. She is obviously a very good mother, avoiding dangerous situations and, at the same time, succeeding in finding enough food to feed all 5. Our last evening was the very best: Great light, lot's of bears (about 12 different) and good sightings of a wolverine. Tatjana and her cubs showed up several times, were chased by a male bear, came back again, it was just fantastic!  Tatjana and her cubs...  Standing on hind legs..... See also : Picture of the month May, the album Recent Pictures and Wild Taiga Apart from mammals there were some interesting birds around the forestpond, like Goldeneye.  Goldeneye in golden light.... At daytime we pictured birds from a birdhide like Bullfinch and Great Spotted Woodpecker.  a male Bullfinch It was my third visit to Wild Brown Bear and it will probably not my last. Jeroen and I had a great time here and we would like to thank Ari and his staff for contributing highly to a remarkable stay.  the rare and elusive Wolverine |