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The chief editor of the German bird journal der Falke, Norbert Schäffer, asked the director of the Estonian Ornithological Society to forward the reports about our greater spotted eagle Tõnn who caused great excitement by appearing in Germany (there is also a discussion on whether such a “sighting“ can be officially approved by the rare bird observations committee).

 

A short summary of the reports that were published in two issues of Der Falke, follows here:

 

In October the eagle Tõnn, provided in Estonia with a GPS transmitter, flew through Germany, without being observed by local birdwatchers, on to France. There contact with the transmitter was at first lost. But when the transmitter switched over to winter schedule as programmed on November 21st, 2008, data again started to arrive every 10 days.

 

On November 28th, 2008 Tõnn’s position was established again. The eagle was in the east part of Spain, near Torre Pacheco in the province of Murcia. The local climate is quite dry and there is intensive agriculture (melon cultivation, large glasshouses), so not the best environment for a greater spotted eagle.

 

The further travels of spotted eagle Tõnn can be seen on Looduskalender’s Eagles’ travels diary page. If all goes well, he will cross Germany again in early spring on his way back to Estonia. All who manage to observe him, or even take a photo, please contact the editorial office of Der Falke.

• Falke_Heft_12-2008.pdf
• Falke_Heft_01-2009-2.pdf

Comments from Kotkaklubi (Eagle Club Estonia):
As all Looduskalender readers already know, Tõnn has found his winter grounds somewhat to the north in the Alicante province, in the El Hondo wetlands. A data transmission session is foreseen for today, so tomorrow morning we should know how Tõnn has fared in the storms that have ravaged Spain...
It is not certain that Tõnn will fly back to Estonia in his first spring – spotted eagles are not mature for breeding until at three years. And even then he will not necessarily come to Estonia for nesting. But it is realistic to guess that he will fly to Germany in the spring.
But until spring, and especially to nesting, it is still a long time to go, ...