Greater spotted eagle Noname in Bulgaria

 

The adult greater spotted eagle Noname, caught in Läänemaa near Tõnn’s home, has already covered nearly 1200 kilometres of its spring migration journey this year. Noname started travelling from the Göksu River delta on the shore of the Mediterranean on March 10, and reached eastern Bulgaria near the Serbian border on March 20.

 

Here is a wetland, locally known as the Dragoman Marsh. The map shows that  such wetlands aren’t a very common landscape type there, but greater spotted eagles like watery landscapes.

Dragoman  Marsh, seen from the neighbouring hillside

 

In the morning of March 24, Noname was still in the Dragoman Marsh area. A refill of the energy stores was obviously needed. Many migrating birds probably stay in the wetland, and quite likely there are native rodents to catch.

The wetland attracts a great number of birds, and the birds in turn, birdwatchers.

 It has been stated that the Dragoman marsh is treated as a nature reserve area. This means that the former drainage ditches are filled in or simply left without maintenance, and so the earlier water status is slowly restored. The airport on the edge of the marsh is soon only suitable for hydroplanes ...

Dragoman airport...