If you’re searching for a rare encounter with the elusive Great Grey Owl – sometimes called Big Face – there is one of the very few places where your chances are real.
This rare owl can be seen in eastern parts of Poland,particularly in Sobibor Landscape Park (Sobiborski Park Krajobrazowy in Polish) – a hidden gem for birding tours in Poland.
Far on eastern Poland border, lies one of the country’s most extraordinary wildlife destinations. It is a true biodiversity hotspot – an untouched mosaic of wetlands, forests, and lakes that offers some of the finest Poland birding tours opportunity and unforgettable bird watching experiences in Europe.
The Ultimate Birding Target
The crown jewel of any visit to Sobibor Landscape Park is the magnificent Great Grey Owl. Silent, ghost-like, and incredibly rare in Central Europe, this specie draws birders from across the world.
- Around 10 territories recorded in the area
- 7 active nests monitored recently
- 13 young successfully fledged in 2025
Approximately over 30 birds on a relatively small area in 2025 season! For anyone passionate about bird watching in Poland, seeing the Great Grey here is not just possible – it’s one of the most thrilling wildlife moments you can expect and experience.
An Ideal Habitat for Great Grey ghost-like owl
Sobibor’s uniqueness lies in its remarkable diversity of habitats that can be found on whole so called Polesie Lubelskie. You’ll find there an astonishing variety of ecosystems:
- Dystrophic lakes with dark, nutrient-poor waters
- Vast peat bogs and marshlands
- Flooded forests and open wetlands
- Pine forests mixed with swampy alder groves
- Xerothermic grasslands and sandy habitats
These habitats create ideal conditions for the Great Grey Owl. And such a diversity makes Sobibor a dream destination for wildlife tour, supporting 18 habitat types listed under the EU Habitats Directive. Including 6 priority forest habitats and 10 wetland ecosystems.
Superb Hunting Skills
The “Big Face” owl is well known for outstanding hunting skills. Through centuries they’ve adapted to hunting in the cold, northern climate. In a winter perched on a branch – mostly around 3-5 meters above the ground – with head tilted down, owl listens for rodents burrowing beneath a thick layer of snow. They can hear rodents even through snow up to 50 cm deep and break through the hard crust to catch their next meal.
In summer time they silently dive to the ground, breaking with their claws through leaves and loose soil to catch small mammals in shallow burrows.
Their incredible hearing allows them to detect a prey from dozens of meters away. No matter the season, its favorite meal all year-round are Voles (scientific genus name: Microtus). Voles are stout rodents with short ears, legs and tails. They feed on green vegetation such as grasses and sedges in summer, and grains, seeds, roots and bark at other times.
Best Tips on Locating and Spotting the Bird
Staying quiet and listening carefully for the owl’s call is your best strategy. It gives rather quiet call, but a trained ear can hear it from over 100 meters away.
They are most vocal from late February through March, up to July. Highest vocal activity occurs at dawn and dusk. Chicks, after leaving the nest, loudly beg for food (from June for about next 3 months) throughout the day. However, they are most vocal from evening until around 1 am.
When you’re in the middle of the forest and have no idea where a bird might be – your ears are your best friend. Instead of pushing through the underbrush and making noise – stop frequently for at least 15 minutes and listen carefully. It really helps. In fact it helps a lot!
During the day, this owl most often stays deep in the forest, perched near a tree trunk, around 5 meters above the ground level or higher up. At dawn and dusk, it moves and appears in more open areas: peat-bogs, forest swamps and clearings, where it can be found hunting. When it hunts, we usually find it much lower, 1–3 meters above the ground.
Your best chances of spotting it are when it moves and flies between the trees. A motionless owl is very hard to spot for the untrained eye. And its camouflage makes it even harder, as it blends perfectly with the forest background, even when it is perched just few meters away.
Why Choose Sobibor for Bird Watching?
There are many places for bird watching in Poland, but few offer such a combination of rarity, wilderness, and authenticity.
Here, you don’t just tick species off a list – you step into a landscape where nature still writes its own rules.
You walk through mist rising from peat bogs at dawn…
You hear cranes echo across silent wetlands…
And if you’re lucky – you lock eyes with that ghost-like owl emerging from the forest shadows…
Experience the Wild Side of Poland
For birders, photographers, and wildlife enthusiasts, Sobibor is more than a destination—it’s an experience that stays with you.
If you’re planning Poland for birding tour, don’t miss this hidden gem. Few places in Europe offer such a raw, emotional connection to nature – and such a real chance to encounter the legendary Great Grey Owl in the wild.
Ready to explore Sobibor Landscape Park? This is bird watching at its most authentic.
