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Greater spotted eagle Tõnn, hatched last year in Estonia, spent nearly the whole summer in Finland on the west coast between Pori and Vaasa.

 

Tõnn spent nearly a month at this rather wet meadow, far from human settlements. Quite often he perched on the rocks in the foreground and on old hayrolls. The year was wetter than usual in this area too and some fields couldn’t stand haymaking – but all this suited Tõnn very well. Merikarvia, or Sastmola area.

 

He became restless already around July 20, and made some longer flights towards north. On July 26 he left the bog near Närpio where he had been staying for some time ...

 

The overgrown lake where Tõnn spent several weeks. Particularly he liked the small islet in the middle of the bog, and the tall spruce, from which this photo was taken. The place is far from human settlements but at one end a newly built grilling pavillion shone proudly, and caused some conflicting emotions in Tõnn’s followers ... Tõnn had moved northwards already two days earlier, but whooper swans and the short-eared owl could be encountered in this almost impenetrable terrain, and there were delicious cloudberries too.

 

... and set off on a tour of the area between Kokkola, Kajaani and Jyväskylä. Because the days were now quickly turning shorter, instinct made him move somewhere – and a southerly direction seemed most attractive, particularly when the sea could be used for orientation.

 

It seems that for a greater spotted eagle the sea is an uncrossable obstacle, and so yesterday, August 5, Tõnn was already moving eastwards across Helsinki.

 

The most recent transmission data from Tõnn plotted on the map. He has finally also been seen, yesterday at least three times around Helsinki, for instance in Espoo (interesting - are there no birdwatchers elsewhere in Finland ...).

 

Whether he also will visit his homeland on the second autumn migration of his life we will know in three days – that is when we have the next transmission session with Tõnn.