Birds | A record number of rare red-footed hawks have been seen in Finland

On the weekend A record number of red-footed hawks, which rarely visit Finland, were found in Finland, says the bird organization Birdlife Suomi.

Since Saturday, there have been hundreds of bird sightings. At best, birds have even been seen in flocks of more than twenty individuals. Most of the observations have been made in southern and southeastern Finland. A lot of birds have also been observed in North Karelia, and individual birds have been found all the way to Ostrobothnia.

Red-footed hawks breed in a wide area in Asia and Eastern Europe. The birds seen in Finland have mainly been young birds that have left on their migration journey to the north with the strong southeast current. The background of the strong migration must be the species’ successful nesting year in Eastern Europe.

Observations of wandering red-footed hawks are made in Finland every year. The last time there was a strong appearance of red-footed hawks was in 2019, but the numbers observed over the weekend have been record-breaking.