UTÖ ISLAND ON THE BALTIC SEA
Utö Island is an absolute gem.
This remote little island in the Archipelago Sea is the most southerly piece of land in Finland with permanent habitation. It lies on the edge of the open sea, and as the first larger piece of land when crossing the sea northbound, it attracts birds on their spring migration. In autumn it offers birds a good place for refueling before they start their journey across the sea. At about 2 km (1.2 mi) long and just over 1 km (0.6 mi) at its widest, Utö sports a couple of little groves, a fair-sized meadow, some dry heath, a few sheltered coves, a shallow shore with seaweed, and a little village with gardens—many and varied locations for birds to rest and feed.
Part of the island still belongs to the Finnish Defence Forces, even though it’s not manned. The military zones are off limits, and visitors should check the latest maps upon arrival. It’s also important to respect the local people’s gardens and boat houses with small docks. Use discretion when photographing around the houses and gardens. The island boasts Finland’s oldest still-functioning lighthouse.
A ferry runs between the mainland and the island daily from June to August and five times a week in other seasons. Normally the journey takes about five hours, but in the winter, depending on the ice situation, it can take up to 10 hours. The island has a hotel with a good restaurant, cabins for rent and more economic hostel-type lodging, plus a small grocer. The island has a good Internet connection. You can read more at www.uto.fi, and firsthand and local information from an experienced birder and bird photographer is available at www.jtenovuo.com/blogi (in Finnish).
I would argue that a bird photographer finds spring to be the best time on Utö, although I wouldn’t underrate the flurry of action on the wader shore at the end of summer or the semirarities seen in autumn.
In Finland the migration peaks in April and May, and a place like Utö gives you the chance to witness the progress of migration in miniature scale. In addition to passing migratory birds, Utö has its own avifauna, which also returns during this high season. The birds that land on the island—some for a short stay, others for the breeding season—are rather hungry after their trip across the sea, so they focus on eating, which makes them quite fearless and thus relatively easy to photograph.
Sometimes winter on Utö comes with lots of snow, and then it’s possible for the snow to partly cover the island as late as March and even into April. The first birds to the island then have to find their food in the few open patches.
European Robins are among Utö’s most numerous and common birds in April (Erithacus rubecula)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6, 1/250 second, f/10.0, ISO 500, one-shot focus with a central focusing point, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head, blind. Utö, Finland, April 2010.
A sheltered cove on the eastern side of the island becomes very busy in early April with thrushes, Rock Pipits, Reed Buntings, Northern Wheatears, and many wader species looking for food among the seaweed on the shallow shore. The best chances to photograph the secretive Jack Snipe is in mid-April. On the shore, the best photos are taken from a blind.
In April and May a few Ring Ouzels are usually seen in the island’s juniper bushes, as the birds are on their way to Lapland. They are mostly shy, but sometimes there are more trusting individuals. And occasionally some of them feed on the seaweeds on the eastern shore, where they can be photographed from a blind.
The numbers of insect-eating birds start to grow in the beginning of May. Common Redstarts, Bluethroats, Blackcaps, Lesser Whitethroats, and Chiff-chaffs are everywhere. There are some good chances for Ortolan Buntings, and the Collared Flycatcher is one of the rare species that is spotted on Utö in May almost every year. A blind is not necessary for photographing small birds on Utö; instead, you get the best results by waiting patiently and quietly near where the birds come to feed.
For a bird photographer the most interesting of Utö’s breeding species are probably the Barred Warbler, which is declining fast elsewhere in Finland, and the Common Shelduck, Horned Grebe, Velvet Scoter, and Eurasian Wryneck. The communal display rituals of the Velvet Scoter peak toward the end of May, with the birds flying above the island in small groups early in the morning. The dirt road leading to the southern tip of the island is the best place for photographing them in display flight, because you can stay out of sight in the rocks by the road.
A Jack Snipe feeding on the east shore (Lymnocryptes minimus)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 500mm f/4.0, 1/1000 second, f/9,0, ISO 800, one-shot focus with a central focusing point, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head, blind. Utö, Finland, April 2010.
A Ring Ouzel feeding on juniper berries (Turdus torquatus)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6, 1/1250 second, f/5.6, ISO 1600, one-shot focus with a central focusing point, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head. Utö, Finland, April 2010.
The Collared Flycatcher is an Utö specialty (Ficedula albicollis)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6, 1/640 second, f/10.0, ISO 400, one-shot focus with a central focusing point, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head. Utö, Finland, May 2010.
Velvet Scoters in display flight make a lovely sight (Melanitta fusca)
Canon EOS-1D Mark III, 500mm f/5.6, 1/1000 second, f/4.0, ISO 2000, continuous focus with an extended central focusing point, handheld camera. Utö, Finland, May 2009.
The end of May sees lots of Common Whitethroats; Garden, Willow, and Wood Warblers; and European Pied and Spotted Flycatchers. Less numerous but regular enough are Icterine, Greenish, Marsh, and Blyth’s Reed-Warblers, as well as Red-backed Shrikes.
In May on the east shore there can be a few Broad-billed Sandpipers, Spotted Redshanks, Common Greenshanks, Dunlins, and Curlew Sandpipers. Other regular visitors to the shore include Northern Shovelers, Gadwalls, Common Eiders, and Common Shelducks.
Adult waders start back on their autumn migration as early as mid-June. The first to return are handsome Spotted Redshanks, still in their elegant breeding plumage. Around the second half of July or early August the east shore sports Dunlins, Curlew Sandpipers, and Little Stints returning from their breeding grounds in the Russian Arctic. Among the migrating birds, Utö’s own breeding species, such as Common Ringed Plovers, Eurasian Oystercatchers, and Ruddy Turnstones, feed regularly on the east shore.
Greenish Warblers can be seen on Utö toward the end of May (Phylloscopus trochiloides)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6 plus 1.4x extender, 1/500 second, f/11.0, ISO 400, one-shot focus with a central focusing point, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head. Utö, Finland, May 2010.
Most of the waders on Utö from early August to early October are young birds. In addition to those mentioned, there are Wood Sandpipers, Ruffs, Red Knots, Whimbrels, and European Golden Plovers.
The migration of small birds has already started in August, but it’s most visible in September and October, with lots of Common Chaffinches, Bramblings, Winter Wrens, Goldcrests, tits, and European Robins, with some rarer eastern species among them, such as Pallas’s Leaf-Warblers and Yellowbrowed Warblers.
Short-eared and Long-eared Owls are the more common owls on Utö in autumn, with some less frequent visitors, such as Eurasian Pygmy and Boreal Owls. With quite a few rowan trees, Utö also draws berry-eating birds, and in a good berry year there can be hundreds of thrushes and waxwings swarming the trees.
When the vole populations are healthy, many raptors stop at the meadow to hunt. If you hide in the cover of the trees and bushes, it’s possible to photograph Western Marsh Harriers and Northern Harriers. Sparrowhawks and Kestrels are a common sight on Utö in autumn and are often quite easily photographed.
The appearance of the handsome Spotted Redshank on Utö is the first sign of the autumn migration (Tringa erythropus)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6, 1/500 second, f/5.6, ISO 500, one-shot focus with a central focusing point, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head, blind. Utö, Finland, June 2010.
Curlew Sandpipers, in their summer plumage, come to Utö in mid-July (Calidris ferruginea)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6, 1/3200 second, f/8.0, ISO 1250, one-shot focus with a central focusing point, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head, blind. Utö, Finland, July 2010.
A Yellow-browed Warbler hunting insects (Phylloscopus inornatus)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6, 1/400 second, f/5.6, ISO 2000, continuous focus with 45 focusing points, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head. Utö, Finland, October 2010.
As autumn turns to November, the birds fade from both the audio and the visual world. Even though the winter landscapes can be spectacular, especially those with more snow and in lower temperatures, a bird photographer would struggle to find birds to photograph. There are swans, waterbirds, cormorants, and White-tailed Eagles in the area, but they are usually not within easy reach.
In the outer archipelago the winds are often strong and the weather changes fast. In spring the strong north winds can bring migration to a screeching halt for days, and nothing much happens in the birding world. A short island trip may end without many photographs, but a week is often long enough to ensure that there is at least one good day.
A Rough-legged Hawk hunting over the east meadow (Buteo lagopus)
Canon EOS-1D Mark IV, 800mm f/5.6, 1/2000 second, f/9.0, ISO 1250, continuous focus with an extended central focusing point, Gitzo tripod, Manfrotto 501 video head. Utö, Finland, October 2010.