"Everyone in the region knew him, him and his brother. Ever since he was born two years ago, it was impossible not to notice him whenever he came onto the scene. White as snow, that brown bear was only brown in name."
Hello friends. Many of you already know that we spent almost a week traveling around Finland photographing the country's wildlife. We'd been planning this for several years. this trip and finally the stars aligned for it.
We will talk at length about all the animals we encountered on this trip, but in this article I wanted to focus on the grizzly bear, and specifically in a very particular one that we were able to photograph: a white-furred bear.
But let's put ourselves in context. We chose to travel to Finland, and specifically to the Finnish taiga, for several reasons. All of them very important reasons when it comes to influencing the success of seeing brown bears, wolves, wolverines, and other wildlife.
First of all, the taiga region is a very sparsely populated area, with coniferous forests interspersed with lakes and swamps. Because it is so sparsely populated, animals roam freely and can feed and reproduce peacefully. The taiga is the perfect habitat for large mammals that in other areas of Europe have been confined to high mountains and the steepest and most difficult to access places.
Secondly, during the summer months the area of the globe that includes the taiga enjoys more hours of daylight than other points in the northern hemisphere. More daylight hours mean more chances of photographing an animal. If there's one thing cameras need (although they're getting less and less of) it's light, especially when we use long telephoto lenses as in wildlife photography.
Long hours of daylight, sparsely populated areas, and abundant forests and swamps where we could find shelter and food. Now all that was left was to choose the right spot. Did you know that the taiga is the largest forest on the planet? It encircles the entire globe from Russia and the Nordic countries to Alaska and Canada. So we chose the region of Kuhmo, in Finland, precisely because other nature photographers had recommended it to us before.
The first thing you do when you arrive at a place like this is ask other photographers, fans, and general crazy people about their "captures" from the previous days. Visitors and locals told us that they had seen a mother with 3 bear cubs, something that was frankly very difficult to see in other regions. But what impressed us most was the description of a young male they had seen the night before. The peculiarity of this male was that he had a fur completely white!.
The quietest place on earth!!!
We've reached our final destination. At 4 p.m. local time, we have dinner, a 4:30 p.m. meeting, and at 5 p.m., we'll be locked in the hides, where we'll stay until 7 a.m. the next morning.
During the short Finnish night we will have the chance to see bears, wolves, wolverines... (Published in Facebook).
With expectations high after these comments, the best thing one can do is check their equipment, check the battery charge and prepare for a long "evening"waiting in the hide. And I say"evening"because it didn't really get dark until well after 10 pm and dawned again before 4 am.
A summer day in the taiga is very very very peaceful...but it is also full of action and shocksAs soon as we sat down in the hide, the first bear appeared, barely giving us time to set up our gear. A huge black male who commanded respect and fear with his mere presence.
It searched for food leisurely. It knew it was the largest mammal in the area, and the human scent that wafted through the area didn't bother it in the least. Even the crows and seagulls that were foraging around the lake in front of our hide immediately disappeared when the bear appeared.
It was truly impressive to hear the footsteps and splashing of this large brown bear as it made its way through the swampy area while searching for food. It was hair-raising to think about meeting him face to face in the middle of the forest. Although we knew that attacks on humans are rare. But the I respect for such a large animal it was palpable in the environment.
Capture the moment a female brown bear emerges from the forest with her three cubs bear cubs It's something highly sought after by all wildlife photographers. I was particularly speechless watching the three bear cubs play and run around happily while their mother searched for food in the swamp.
Much more touching was witnessing a whole scene like that. BBC documentaryAt some point in the game, two of the cubs became distracted and wandered away from the mother, who continued to search for food at a leisurely pace, followed by the third cub.
At that moment, the two cubs began to growl in distress, even though their mother was barely 30 meters away inside the forest. But they were alone and exposed above the swamp. Their mother growled quietly, with a deep growl that tried to calm the cubs while showing them the direction they should go.
Little by little the cubs calmed down and found their way back to their mother. A true spectacle of nature before our eyes!
And as the icing on the cake, late at night the famous came into view white-furred male. Shy, almost afraid to emerge from the shadows and leave the protection of the trees. Or at least that was the impression this semi-adult gave us. He seemed wary of going out into the open. As if he knew his fur made him more visible to potential enemies, large, strong adults who would fight over food in the same territory.
Later we found out that this wasn't the case. We saw him defending his territory against a huge glutton He wanted his piece of food. Swift and aggressive, he launched himself at the wolverine without hesitation, aiming to drive it out of the swamp. In fact, the photo above was taken moments before the attack, and you can clearly see the tension in the bear's body.
We can also find wolves, deer, reindeer, birds of prey... and mustelids. And from among the whole family (weasels, bison, stoats, martens...) the largest of the mustelids decided to pass in front of the hide: the glutton (better known by its Anglo-Saxon name, wolverine).
It was the first time we'd seen one in the wild. It's no wonder we couldn't initially identify the grunts it made as it fought with crows and seagulls over a piece of food. Wolverines are animals fierce, with large fangs that can do a lot of damage, but apparently for crows they do not inspire as much fear as an adult bear.
The birds dared to fight with the wolverine for the little food left after several bears had passed by. Luckily for the wolverine, he finally managed to get his hands on a large piece of salmon, as you can see in the last photo.
This trip to Finland was spectacular and will remain forever in my memory. Personally, I'll remember the sensations and emotions I experienced inside a small wooden hut when we saw the first bear appear, and the second, and the third... and then the mother with her cubs... and then the wolverine... Those emotions didn't diminish, no matter how many animals passed in front of us.
All this while we watched the sunset over a swamp as peaceful and quiet as if humans had never set foot there. One of the few regions still untouched by humans, where animals roam freely without fear of displacement or destruction.
Guys, we're heading home feeling like we've had a fantastic summer after this trip. But don't think fall will be any quieter... We still have many more surprises for 2019!
PS: If you want to see the images of this trip, don't miss the following video.
