Face to Face with a Great Grey Owl

What an evening...it was so great to see this beautiful creature. Sitting in the tree, looking for prey.

picture that Mika caught

I sent Mika a message at noon "Let's go for a trip after I come home from work - we both need it." He was very ready, and had packed our backpacks for us. Before we left, Mika said "I will leave the objective (Nikon 300mm) home. There aren't going to be any special birds with this amount of snow and this time of day."
"Well, I will take the little objective anyway, I might want to take photoes of something", I replied. And luckyly we had at least one camera.
Off we went for the trip. Bus took us to the fields, and we started walking by the them into the forest, to check if the hawks were home. Only voices of bullfinch and great tits. Proceeding forward and enjoying the calm and nice weather. Sun started to go lower and we decided to visit the tower for birdwatchers and drink our tea. On our way, we suddenly saw a hawk, Mika noticed it to be a goshawk. Yey, I thought. That was a beaut creature.
Close to the tower, we saw a birdwatcher who said there were already some gooses in the bank. "If only I would see the owl", he continued.
We both thouth it was strangely said, as it is so rare to see an owl in that area. "We can wait for that luck!" I said. Only few steps a head was an older birdwatcher and he started to talk and said he has been looking for the great grey owl (Lapinpöllö).
Now we were really surprised. "Really?"
The man told this one was spotted already for couple of days, so it's a good luck if it's still here. The first b-watcher came to us and told the location were it was last seen, and said he will go round a bit and come back.
The older b-watcher said to us: "I have a new strategy" and looked at me "I will trust your beginners luck, and thus we all three shall go together."
This man had seen many owls several times, but it is always a special moment, every time. I can believe that. Off we went again, old b-watcher with skiis, me and Mika walking behind, checking the trees. Suddenly skiis quieten. The first b-watcher showed handmarks, the owl was there. We exit the path and went next to the firs b-watcher. He showed us were this great owl sat. Unbelievable, was only word I thought. Such a beaty. It wasn't even too far away, and there was good light to see it well. Binoculars are always a must on a trips like these. Only thing that Mika punished himself, was that he left the objective.
We saw the owl changing place three times and once attacking rodent (didn't catch it). During this time, the sun had gone down completely and we could see only silhouettes. Time to go home, but the feeling was high. I was tired when we came home and went soon to bed. As the older birdwatcher said, even though it's always a beautifull sight, you'll remember the first one.