What´s new this season? Steller´s Eiders, owls and a Lynx

Steller´s Eiders usually arrive at their wintering grounds off Saaremaa Island between late November and last week of December. This winter the first flock seen in Estonia were 43 birds flying along the North-Estonia coast on 8th December, while a small group of 15 birds were located at the main wintering area already following day.  Over the coming weeks numbers should grow to 300-500 birds.

Steller's Eider / Photo: Mati Martinson

We are delighted to say that our popular Steller’s Eider trip is proving more popular than ever this year with two trips already full!!  More people are showing an interest, so for the first time, we have decided to put on a third tour.  As well as seeing Steller’s Eider there are other great birds on offer at this time of year including Ural and Pygmy Owl and with a bit of luck perhaps even Hawk Owl plus Nutcracker and several woodpecker species. Tour dates are 19th- 22nd February and you can book flights from London Gatwick with Easyjet, or from other airports with Finnair, SAS, Ryanair or Air Baltic.

If you prefer to book through a UK agent so everything is included there are still places left with Wise Birding Holidays  from 26th Feb – 2nd March 2016 while Sunbird, Birdfinders and Naturetrek are also offering trips to see Steller’s Eider, owls and other forest bird species such as grouse. For the first time, Spainbirds will be visiting Estonia with a trip in March, their tour is already fully booked! With private groups booking too it seems that Estonia and Estonian Nature Tours are very popular in winter 2016!!

The situation with Owls seems to be great this winter, especially  our most common forest owls. Although Ural Owls are mainly nocturnal, in some winters they tend to show themselves also at daytime and we have been enjoying lots of such sighting this December. We think that January and February are likely to be the best months to observe hunting Ural Owls in Estonia. Some of the more unusual owl species have been reported during the last month too with at least four Hawk Owls found so far this winter and even a Great Grey Owl in the north-east.

Pygmy Owl / Photo: Remo Savisaar

Winter time is not only a good time for owls, but also for several raptors and, due to the rather mild winter conditions, Rough-legged Buzzards and Hen Harriers have been surprisingly numerous this winter.

We are also continuing to work on developing our exciting Eurasian Lynx trip. The very first Lynx tour, which we ran with Wise Birding Holidays in early March 2015, was incredibly successful.  Such a species is never going to be guaranteed on any trip but we are working to develop this trip to increase the chances to an even higher level... we have some ideas, so definitely stay on the line. Wise Birding still have a few places on their 2016 trip, take a look and click here to make a booking...

Wise Birding tour report 2015: Pygmy Owl and Mr Lynx were seen in first 2.5 hours! Read more...