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"Tõnisepäev", St Anthony's Day, today January 17
Congratulations, Tõnn, and good hunting!
No new moves for Tõnn in Birdmap, but his every-10-days data transmission might be due later (latest data now from Jan 6/7)

St Anthony was turned into more familiar Tõnis and merged with ancient Tõnn in Estonia.
Quote in Kristel Vilbaste's weekly chronicle: "On Tõnisepäev, January 17, all men and boys named Tõnn were tied to their beds" (from Suure-Jaani parish, Central Estonia) ...

PS. Great news about another Birdmap bird: GSE (hybrid?) Luule in south of Italy, no signals since early December, is still around (in Sicily now).

EDIT: Latest data from Tõnn are now from Jan 17, still of course in El Hondo.

Today's birdmap shows Tönn in the south of France. Now,will he or won't he find a partener ? Its time.

He is not in France yet, but very close to it, near Andorra.

So this is the earliest start yet for Tõnn: March 25/26.
March 31 last year (2011); April 4 in 2010; April 15 in 2009

(+/- 1 day - depends on how to count "start" ...)

Tõnn is in France (as of March 31), not very far from Montelimar. Chocolates?
Mother Iti in Bulgaria, near Dragoman.
Who gets first to Estonia - or will Tõnn head straight for Sweden?

Edit: Montelimar - nougat, the chewy (gluey ) - crunchy variety.
Soft chocolate nougat is Viennese or German nougat

By current data Tõnn arrived yesterday to Germany.
Don't know by now, if through Switzerland or directly from France - we will hopefully see it late evening.

What wonderful news that Tönn arrived in my country. I hope he will have a good flight to Eestland to appear very soon for watching.
I am looking forward
Bleggi

Bleggi

Today I found myself, when being outside, always watching the sky above ..... if there couldn´t be a silhouette of a BS ....

Bea, Tõnn is the Greater Spotted Eagle, but Black Storks might be around as well. They are back in Germany, but they are more secretive than their white cousins. The white ones, by the way, partly already sit on their eggs!

Felis - thank you for the correction!

Arrghhh .... I mixed up GSE Tõnn with BS Raivo Shame on me

When I was out with my dog last week in the fields I saw the silhouette of a dark bird in the sky with a pretty large wingspan .... not the well known birds here in my region, it was a strange one.

Unfortunately here are no storks nesting in my region, but at migration time sometimes White Storks can be seen here in the meadows for a stop - searching for voles for a meal :)

Oh, with this many different birds it is sometimes difficult to keep in touch!
Maybe you saw a black one - who knows? Somewhere they have to travel!

Is Tõnn on his way to Estonia, or to Sweden - maybe even via Denmark this year?
And crane Ahja seems to know that it is cold and snowy in Estonia, and stays in the south.

Tõnn and Iti were both in Poland yesterday 8th April.

You are a true friend of Tõnn, Macdoum!
Will the paths of mother and son cross?
(Urmas Sellis told us that Iti probably is Tõnn's mother, didn't he?)

Yes Liis. Iti is his mom. I am watching Tõnn like a hawk. I am so hopeful he will find a mate and start nesting soon.

... and Tõnn in Lithuania, between and a little S of both Vilnius and Kaunas. After a curious little loop in Belarus, as of April 9.
Iti very nearly on the 3-countries border meeting point of Belarus, the Ukraine and Poland.

(Birdmap is a great way of learning some geography )

Tõnn is in Estonia since April 9th, and heading fast for Finland it seems. Just passing? Not even visiting home?
Dear Tõnn, if the target is Sweden, there is not much hope of meeting a lovely mate, neither greater nor lesser SE.

Mother Iti made some turns and loops in Latvia.

Thank you Liis. I'm very sad Tõnn is only passing through. As you say,Sweden is a bad bet but you never know. He might surprise us yet. (I hope)

Seems Tõnn is in Finland ?

Yes. He crossed the borderline in Brusnichnoe/Nujamaa(hope he didn't spend too much time on passport controls), passed Imatra and moved to Savonlinna.