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Lithuania Eagle Club members were unable to rest having not found Son of Priidu (and Piia) and decided to give it another try on September 11th. This turned out to be a good decision, regardless of the bad weather and the storks' shyness.

Son of Priidu rested during the daytime on a plowed field.

Son of Priidu wasn't at all alone at his stopping point—he was found together with an additional eight black storks. Among this group, four were this year's young birds (including Son of Priidu), two from last year, and three had the appearance of old birds. One of the older birds was banded—banded in summer 2006, some kilometers from this stopping point. This is interesting news for us, since before now we believed that before nesting the young birds didn't journey to the northern countries! Well, Lithuania isn't exactly northern…
In all cases, Son of Priidu was in full health and his behavior didn't differ from his companions in any way. When eaglemen visited the creek below the crumbled dam, it became clear why this was a gathering place for storks...

The valley below the dam.

…there a mass of dead, dying, as well as live fish was discovered. The reason for the situation wasn't clear, but hopefully it isn't a case of poisoning which would make the fish dangerous to those who feed on them… In all cases, it seemed the entire stork gang had stuffed themselves.

The crumbled dam is being repaired, which will obviously make this stopping point less attractive next year.

Many thanks to Lithuanian eaglemen Deivis and Saulius for the good news and their help!

Today we know that Son of Priidu and his group of traveling companions left Lithuania on the 12th of September and have probably made it to Ukraine (if not farther).

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