Osprey's early September: vacation in Turkey and Mediterranean night
Text: Ülo Väli
Photo: Akkinvet
Map: Google Earth
Translation: Liis
Towards the end of August our osprey Erika reached Turkey and found a pleasant spa place for herself at Lake Marmara. The lake is well known as a bird refuge and has been declared a bird area of all-European importance. According to BirdLife for instance thousands of Eurasian wigeons, common pochards and pied avocets winter here. Since it is also a well-known fishing area our eagle decided to rest here for a while. Erika has done so in the two previous autumns too.
Might it be this idyllic evening view at Lake Marmara that inspired Erika to her night flight across the Mediterranean?
In the morning of Sunday, August 6, Erika decided that she had gained enough strength to take on one of the most difficult parts of her migration - around noon she started towards southeast, and reached the Mediterranean at about 6 o’clock in the evening. Most eagles avoid flying across large waters, but this doesn’t deter ospreys. To start with Erika made a test flight across the sound to the island of Megisti. She probably felt sufficiently confident to fly on, so she went bravely on across the Mediterranean. At sea there is nowhere to rest and so Erika had to fly all the night. Not until the next morning, about ten o’clock, our eagle reached the shore of Egypt near the Nile delta. This might have been expected to be a good stopping place for a tired osprey, but no – she was in a good flying mood, and continued her journey, stopping only after a flight of more than 24 hours in the afternoon of September 7, when she had reached the edge of the desert. Here she stayed sitting on a high-voltage power line – there wasn't much else to choose from.
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