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The Black Storks' migration routes have carried them far enough that they can rest a bit. When they leave their nesting sites, many never arrive at their wintering grounds—but this is an ancient journey, and only the best survive it. Or perhaps those who are lucky… but of course you know who luck favors! Adult birds are better at conserving their strength, and they know where it pays to stop for a meal or a rest. But sometimes even they make mistakes…

Adult birds on migration in the Jordan Valley

The young birds have still yet to gain these skills, and it's no mystery why the majority of them are lost on their first migration. You already know the fate of our Estonian backpack-bearing young birds, but our German colleague Carsten Rohde met up in Israel with one of last year's young birds from our camera nest—band number 703F!
We have the following current information about our adult birds with backpacks:
Raivo – his third fall stopping at a fish pond in Israel;
Priidu – his second year in the Sudan's Darfur region;
Piia – her second year with a transmitter, her last signals (Oct. 7) came from the Sinai Peninsula;
Valja – last transmissions (Aug. 28) came from near the Syria/Israel border;
Kaku – flying around in Israel;
Lembit – stopped in Ukraine on the plains near the Black Sea and now is in an interesting wetland between two deserts in the Sudan;
Valdur – after a stop at a fish pond in Israel, he flew on to northwest Ethiopia;
Oss – spends his days in Israeli fishponds, flies by night to the limestone cliffs of Jordan.
You can see their journeys more exactly from the map below:

Click to enlarge