Twitching the white elks

The moose (used in North America) or elk (used in Eurasia) (Alces alces) is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus Alces. Elks are common here in Finland, but white elks - they are extremely rare!

Elks and White-tailed Deers (Odocoileus virginianus)

As I have seen almost all possible mammal species in Finland, I don't have nowadays many species left to twitch and add as ticks to my personal Finnish mammals list, I have started to twitch rare, exceptional looking mammals, like these white elks.

This year, a good friend of mine (who wants to stay anonyme), gave me a hint of these animals and I started a trip to other side of Finland with my son Roni. The exact location stays secret, as the landowner does not want his private road to be filled with nature photographers.

We arrived to site just in right time, when the elks walked from the forest to field. They began to eat grass and hay in peace and stayed there almost an hour. It was simply an amazing experience! 

I wonder what will be my next mammal experience in Finland, could it be the Eurasian Least Shrew (Sorex minutissimus), Arctic Fox (Vulpes lagopus) or albino Eurasian Red Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)? Who knows, I'm sure that something will come, but I have no idea what will it be and when.

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Author

Olli Haukkovaara

email: olli.haukkovaara @ proton.me

Valkeakoski
Finland