MARKUS VARESVUO

KUUSAMO, FINLAND

Kuusamo attracts photographers with its many taiga species.

Kuusamo is a fascinating location for bird photographers because, from a European perspective, it’s on the western edge of the taiga, in the northern part of the boreal forest, below the arctic tundra. This affects the avifauna of the region, and many species are found in the Kuusamo region that are difficult to see and photograph elsewhere in western Europe.

The second appealing factor for a bird photographer is that Kuusamo is covered with snow for more than half the year. In winter the temperatures dip extremely low, and almost every year the snowpack is nearly a meter (3.3 ft) deep. There’s snow still in May, and during the months between February ...

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