looduskalender.ee

 

Hatched last year in Lääne County, greater spotted eagle Tõnn didn’t stay long after his spring migration brought him home. Only a couple of days after his arrival, Tõnn flew east along Estonia’s northern coast. On the evening of May 21st, Tõnn arrived at the Lomonssov village near St. Petersburg where he overnighted near a large artificial body of water. His journey ran its course over Kronstadt toward Lake Ladoga, but then a large body of water presented itself and Tõnn turned in a northwestern direction and arrived after lunch in Finland (about 15:00 hours). A very quick flight carried him over Roukolahti, Juva, and by evening he’d arrived near Jyväskylä-Laukaa. He spent the night 27 kilometers northwest of Jyväskylä. On some exact map you can find places in that area named Ilola, Havumäki, Riihimäki, Nurkkala, Höytiä...

 

 

Since Tõnn flew quite high, 400-800 meters from the land’s surface, it’s highly probable that he wasn’t noticed—though almost every rare bird that crosses the Finnish border is noticed by the birdwatchers. It should be added that a greater spotted eagle very rarely nests in Finland. Maybe Tõnn is now looking for a future location where he can build a nest after two years… He certainly lucked out finding a place to winter!