Eagle owl visits Citykäytävä indoor walkway in central Helsinki

Bird spends seven hours observing shoppers observing him

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"Hell's teeth, that’s an OWL!” shouted a man in his early twenties in Helsinki’s Citykäytävä on Monday.
      He was not the only passer-by taken by surprise by the presence of the rather large Eurasian eagle owl (Bubo bubo) in a public indoor space in central Helsinki.
      Apparently the winged predator had arrived inside the covered central Helsinki walkway already at around 10 in the morning. This was confirmed in the afternoon by Tuovi Nöjd, who had observed the bird for a couple of hours.
     
In the course of the day hundreds of other people stopped to marvel at the creature.
      “Is it Bubi?”, asked one onlooker, referring to the famous eagle owl that made international headlines by appearing fearlessly at the Olympic Stadium in June 2007 during Finland’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Belgium. The owl, nicknamed after the Finnish Broadcasting Company’s sports reporter and commentator Bror-Erik “Bubi” Wallenius, was later chosen as the Helsinki Resident of the Year for 2007.
      “Yes it is”, another observer confirmed with total confidence, although the truth of the matter is that Helsinki does have more than one of these impressive beasts on the population register.
     
In any case, the eagle owl - observing the hustle and bustle underneath from the rafters at the 4th floor level - was not bothered by the numerous camera flashes and barking dogs.
      Nor was it interested in a more common hooded crow (Corvus cornix) strutting around noisily in the same indoor space. Then again, the two birds would be competing in a rather different weight-category if the crow had had ideas above its station. An eagle owl is a BIG bird by any standards.
     
The onlookers established that it is a real urbanised eagle owl.
      The bird sat still, majestically moving its head in an owl-like fashion and pecking occasionally at its feathers.
      “It is looking for fleas. Those things have fleas, you know”, Tuovi Nöjd pointed out.
      Nöjd took upon herself the task of making sure that as many passers-by as possible would notice the fleecy bird of prey. Plenty stopped to get a good look.
      At 17:22 the bird had finally had enough of the Citykäytävä bustle and exited the open atrium space in the direction of Kaisaniemi.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Bubi wins Helsinki Resident of the Year accolade (18.12.2007)
  One big beautiful bird (12.6.2007)
  At least five eagle owls live in Helsinki (an article from March 2007) (12.6.2007)

Links:
  Eurasian Eagle-owl (Wikipedia)

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