News

Since autumn 2011 the movements of white-tailed eagles equipped with satellite transmitters have been followed on this news site. The pages will be updated always when something interesting has happened. The latest information of the bird locations can be found clicking the adjacent map links. To keep the maps understandable, the locations have been split into maps for each year and season.

The aim is to distinguish four periods: breeding, autumn migration, winter time and spring migration. Exceptionally, however, the autumn of 2011 and winter 2011/2012 were shown on the same map. Because the white-tailed eagle is partly migratory, the division into seasons is sometimes artificial.

Additionally the individuals move in very separate rhythms: on the same day one individual may still be on its wintering grounds, the second on its spring migration and the third already back on its breeding grounds i.e. spending “summer”.

Via the link beside the text you may open the map describing the latest season of the very individual. The maps from earlier seasons and also the histories of the individuals from the years 2009 and 2010 before the autumn 2011 can be found here. The background information and home ranges of the followed new individuals since 2011 may be found here.

The bold dates give the information of the updates of the text and the corresponding maps. The maps may be opened via the links on the right. By clicking the name of the individual, its map opens. When clicking the icon, the locations are shown in Google Earth.

May 14th 2012

Cilla continued making an inland trip towards E and reached the delta of the river Strelna. Strelna is as Varguza one of the famous salmon rivers of the Kola peninsula. Even Finns are traveling to those rivers for fishing.

There is not too much to be told about the other satellite eagles. On May 13th Aava has been staying on the island of Halsö.

May 7th 2012

Cilla continued its trip to N and reached the middle part of the Kola Peninsula (Russia). Cilla travelled further to the N coast of the White Sea and the delta of Varguza, the best known salmon river within the Kola Peninsula.

There is nothing to be told about the rest of the satellite eagles.

May 2nd 2012

On Apr 28th Junnu returned from Sweden to Finland.

Meri has continued staying on the island of Raippaluoto.

On Arp 28th Ivar continued towards N and the island of Halsö.

Since Apr 23rd Tuuli has been in the neighbourhood of Stockgrundsfladan in Korsnäs.

Hilkka has been living in the archipelago of Raasepori.

On Apr 19th Eetu still continued to the vicinity of Lake Pielinen where from it turned towards W and further to the SE side of Lake Isojärvi in Kuhmoinen. There it was localized by the satellite in the morning of Apr 21st. For some reason there were no signals on Apr 20th. Also on Apr 22nd there were some problems with the signals as the first was received only at 17 o’clock (summer time). At that time Eetu was in Urjala where it also roosted at the Lake Nuutajärvi. The following day Eetu was found on its familiar area in Säkylä where it also roosted. Its trip to the province of N-Carelia had ended at its starting point. Further Eetu headed for SW. The first location was received on Apr 25th at 20 o’clock (summer time) in Uusikaupunki, the region where it had hatched in 2011.

On Apr 26th Cilla was still in the most SW archipelago of Närpiö between Kaskinen and Kristiinakaupunki. The signals of the following day are missing. The signals of Apr 28th reveal that Cilla had headed for the N and reached the waters of Monåfjärden within the borders of Uusikaarlepyy.

The following signals show that Cilla had spent a day and couple of nights at the small Lake Långsjön by the border of Pietarsaari and Pedersöre. On Apr 30 th Cille moved towards NE. At 10 o’clock local time Cilla was still within Pietersaari, at 14 o’clock it was flying at the border between Yli-Ii and Pudasjärvi. At 17 o’clock it was passing the Russian border on the SE side of Kelloselkä in Salla. At 19 o’clock it was on the Russian side 21 km straight towards E from the border curve at Puitsitunturi in Savukoski. Thus Cilla is the first white-tailed sea eagle equipped satellite transmitter in 2012 to visit Lapland.

Johannes is still staying on the Polish sea coast.

On Apr 22th Aava headed for the N from SW-Finland and stopped at Eurajoki. The following day it continued to the archipelago of Luvia, where it stayed next two days. The following stop was tree days at Lammela in Merikarvia. Further Aava continued towards N and reached the shores of Hästskärsfjärden in Närpiö.

Apr 23rd 2012

After circling sometime around Raippaluoto and Björkö Junnu returned on Apr 20 th to Umeå region in Sweden.

On Apr 20th Ivar returned to good fishing waters of Stockgrundsfladan in Korsnäs.

On Apr 15th Eetu headed from W Finland towards E. At 12 o’clock Finnish summer time it was still on the ice of Lake Pyhäjärvi in Säkylä, but at 16 o’clock it was found in the province of Häme and the shore of Lake Jokijärvi in Hauho. That was also its roosting place. The following day it visited Lake Vanajanselkä checking the ice cover of the fishing waters of author Pentti Linkola and later returned to the vicinity of Lake Jokijärvi. The following night Eetu roosted on a swampy area called Suurisuo in Janakkala. On Apr 18th after a flight towards NE Eetu found the next roosting tree on the E coast of Lake Höytiäinen in N Carelia!

Cilla spent the night from Apr 17th to 18th on the island of Töijensalo on Lake Päijänne. The following night it roosted in the national park of Isojärvi. On Apr 19th Cilla continued towards NW and roosted at the Lake Suksenjärvi in Teuva. On the following day Cilla continued to the most SW archipelago of Närpiö.

Johannes has been staying at least until Apr 20th on its wintering grounds which means a 100 km strip of the Polish N coast. Especially the small lakes along the sea coast haven been popular.

Visiting its starting point of the spring trip Aava headed for the NW, later towards W and arrived via the outer archipelago at the S side of Uusikaupunki in the evening of Apr 19th.

Apr 17th 2012

On Apr 10th Ivar returned to the archipelago of Närpiö and the island of Grytskäret on the coast of S Ostrobothnia.

Tuuli has been flying up and down the coast between Pietarsaari and Kaskinen.

Cilla’s movements can be followed from now on via its pages Spring 2012. On Apr 9th Cilla left the S side of the island of Jurmo where it had arrived on Mar 23rd. In the afternoon it stopped for a while in the SE corner of Kemiönsaari, about 1 km from the village of Jeriko. Cilla continued only on Apr 9th a.m. and stopped in the afternoon on the E side of Muurla. Further it flew on Apr 14th to the vicinity of the Turku highway in Suomusjärvi. The following day (Apr 15th) Cilla flew quite a distance to Lappeenranta where it was located by the satellite at 16 o’clock Finnish summer time. Later Cilla turned towards NWW and reached Lästilänvuori (hill) at Lake Päijänne in Kuhmoinen in the evening of Apr 16th.

Also Aava will be from now on followed on the map Spring 2012. Like Cilla Aava started its trip in the morning of Apr 9th towards E and roosted in Lammi. The following day Aava first headed towards N over lakes Vesijärvi and southern Päijänne. Later it turned towards NW and roosted on a swamp area called Porrasneva at the border of Virrat and Alavus. On Apr 11th it continued towards NW but Aava stopped at 14 o’clock Finnish summer time for roosting at the N edge of Pitkänsillanneva (swamp) at the border of Jalasjärvi and Ilmajoki. The next roosting (Apr 12th to 13th) took place in Laihia, from where it turned towards SW and reached the coast of the open sea on Apr 13th staying on the island of Storkaldon in the archipelago of Närpiö. The following evening at 20 o’clock Aava was located on the mainland where it most probably roosted. There after it returned along the sea coast towards S. In the evening of Apr 15th it was in Kolpanlahti on the NE side of Pori and already the following day in Säkylä, only 24 km from the place that it left on Apr 9th. Aava made a 750 km roundtrip in the provinces of Häme, Central Finland and Southern Ostrobothnia in eight days.

Apr 10th 2012

All the maps have been updated. All the eagles have been circling in their familiar areas. The only exception was that Ivar returned towards S after visiting Raippaluoto region between Apr 1st and 2nd.

Apr 2nd 2012

The locations of Junnu during the beginning of the year are shown on three different maps: the winter season until Feb 2nd, the spring migration along the Swedish coast from Mar 1st to Mar 25th, after which Junnu started its summer in the Quarken area. Via the adjacent link you may open the summer 2012 of Junnu. The rest of the maps are here.

The locations of Meri in the beginning of year 2012: the winter season ended Mar 5th, the spring migration time Mar 6th to Mar 25th, which included circling even up to Kokkola. Later the summer season followed in the Quarken area.

The winter of Ivar ended on Mar 20th and the spring migration started on Mar 21st. On Mar 29th Ivar was on the border of Isojoki, Karijoki and Kauhajoki

Mar 7th is the last point on the winter map of Tuuli. The spring map follows from Mar 8th to Mar 27th and after Mar 28th the locations of Tuuli are placed on the summer map in the Quarken area and its vicinity.

On Mar 14th the winter of Eetu ended, after which it returned from Aland to the continent. On the spring map so far Eetu has been circling in the SW provinces of Finland, mainly in the area between Turku and Kiukainen.

Mar 26th 2012

According to latest locations Junnu was on Mar 23rd in the Archipelago of Sundsvall. Based on visual observation Junnu has arrived in the Umeå area on Mar 25th. This will later be proved by satellite signals when the next data package from Argos will be opened.

Meri has circled in Björköby and Raippaluoto since Mar 23rd.

On Mar 23st Ivar moved towards inland and has stayed on the N side of Turku.

Tuuli has continued towards southern Ostrobothnia and the signals of Mar 24th were received from Jurva.

Already on Mar 18th Hilkka returned to Raasepori and there it has been circling widely both in the archipelago and mainland.

Eetu has been patrolling in the inland on the E side of Uusikaupunki and Rauma.

On Mar 20th Cilla returned from the archipelago of Stockholm to Aland and Föglö and continued via the S side of Kökar to the S waters of Jurmo where it was located on Mar 23rd.

Johannes has stayed mostly in the Polish inland. On Mar 23rd it was on the W side of Lebork, some 70 km WNW of Gdansk.

Mar 18th 2012

On Mar 13th Junnu left the Hallstavik area and headed for the SW, later towards Uppsala and then over the mainland towards the N. On Mar 18th the satellite signal was received from the municipality of Söderhamn, some 50 km N of Gävle.

On Mar 11th Meri moved to the N archipelago of Kokkola via the mainland. Until Mar 16th it returned towards the S along the archipelago reaching the outer archipelago of Uusikaarlepyy.

On Mar 17th Ivar was in Brändö, the most eastern municipality of Aland.

On Mar 9th Tuuli continued from the vicinity of Naantali towards the inland and moved via Loimaa and Vampula to the E side of Lake Köyliö. There it roosted on Mat 16th.

According to the early morning signals of Mar 16th Hilkka spent the night in Ojakkala of Vihti.

On Mar 15th Eetu moved from Aland to the archipelago of Uusikaupunki.

Cilla has stayed close to the lighthouse of Svenska Högarna on the outermost islets of Stockholm

Johannes has been staying lately on Lake Bukowo which is separated from the Baltic by a narrow isthmus. The place is the most western of its wintering grounds.

Aava did an about-turn again and headed for the E: it roosted on the island of Jurmo on Mar 14th and on Mar 16th in the region of the island of Helsingholmen in the open waters of Gullkrona.

Mar 11th 2012

In the afternoon Junnu arrived at the Lake Mälaren and already the following evening continued to coast of the Sea of Aland. There after Junnu has been circling in the area between Halstavik and Östhammar.

On Mar 6th Meri headed for the N. The next day at 15 o’clock local time it passed Vaasa at a height of 382 m. Later it has been patrolling the regions of Mustasaari and Vöyri.

Ivar has returned to the inner part of Aland.

On Mar 9th Tuuli was less than 5 km from the city of Naantali.

Hilkka has continued shuttling on the S coast: on Mar 9th it was again in the archipelago of Tammisaari.

Eetu has continued its circling in Aland.

After a break of 6 months the GPS-signals show that Cilla has moved to the archipelago of Stockholm.

Johannes is still staying on the Polish coast.

Mar 6th 2012

On Feb 29th Junnu continued along the coast of lake Vänern towards Säffle and the following day to Karlstad region. Later Junnu headed towards E and on Mar 3 rd it was at the border of the provinces of Örebro and Södermanland, only 155 km from Stockholm.

The latest signals from Ivar have been received from Vårdö on Mar 4th.

Tuuli has returned towards E and circled on the waters of Kumlinge.

The latest location of Eetu on Mar 4th was received from Föglö.

There are no new GPS-locations from Cilla since the 3 latest on Feb 2 nd. The bird and the transmitter are still ok.

Feb 28th 2012

On Feb 20th Junnu left for N along the sea coast and after Hamburgsund it turned towards the inland. In the evening it had reached the SE side of the lake of Södra Kornsjön. Further it continued on Feb 22th and 23th via very familiar Brålanda to the coast of Lake Vänern.

The GPS-transmitter on Meri woke up from a hibernation of four months! In the afternoon on Feb 21 st there were three GPS-signals that showed Meri being inland on the W side of Lake Pyhäjärvi only a few km from Lake Koskeljärvi.

Ivar has been circling in Föglö and Lemland.

Also Tuuli has sent successful locations since Feb 21 st! The previous signals were received on Oct 26 th. Thus the wintry news blackout took almost four months and that break was only some days shorter than the one of Meri’s. Tuuli has been staying the last few days in Vårdö.

Hilkka continued from the waters of Pirttisaari straight to Porvoo where it has stayed in the area between Kråkö, the N part of Emäsalo and the N end of Vessö.

The GPS-transmitter on the back of Eetu has recovered after winter darkness: the first GPS-signals since Dec 2 nd 2011 were received at about noon on Feb 20 th! Accordingly Eetu has continued its wintering on Aland. The latest locations have been received on Feb 26 th from Get and on Feb 27 th from Finby and Vårdö.

There are no new signals from Cilla since those three that were received on Feb 2 nd (accuracy criteria were set on Feb 5 th 2011).

Johannes made trip via inland to the vicinity of Gdansk but returned back to its wintering surroundings on the N side of Slupsk.

Feb 20th 2012

Junnu has continued circling along the fiords on the N side of Lysekil.

The first GPS-signals since Nov 1 st 2011 from Ivar were received, which means a gap of 3,5 months.

Hilkka turned back towards E. At first it took a trip towards SE to the W waters of Hanko and the open sea on the N side of the island of Morgonlandet. Further it moved towards NE and the archipelago of Bromarv. Later on Feb 15 th it continued over the peninsula of Hanko over Henriksberg for a roost in the archipelago. Next it flew to the nature reserve of Hättö and roosted on the Feb 16 th on the island of Harun. All these locations were GPS-signals. Later on Feb 18 th only 2. class Doppler-signals were received. Accordingly Hilkka stayed on the E side of Helsinki in the archipelago of Sipoo moving around on the waters of the island of Pirttisaari.

Johannes has continued its staying on the Polish coast.

On Feb 12 th at 13 o’clock local time Aava was observing the most N wind turbine from a distance of some tens of meters on the island of Stora Båtskär! Later Aava continued first towards E and then N: on Feb 13 th it was in Lumparland, on Feb 14 th in Föglö, on Feb 15 th in Sottunga, on Feb 16 th in Kumlinge, on Feb 17 th in the archipelago of Uusikaupunki and on Feb 19 th on the continent in Vehmaa.

Feb 14th 2012

Since Feb 7th all GPS-signals from Junnu show that it has been circling on the coast of Skagerrak – visiting the same areas as last year.

Also Tuuli has finally started its trip towards S: on Geb 8 th a Doppler-signal (accuracy class 1) was received from Brändö in Aland.  

There are also GPS-signals from Hilkka showing that it has been on Feb 9th in the archipelago of Hanko. From there it continued to the W side of the archipelago of Hiittinen.

There are a lot of GPS-signals from Johannes. Accordingly it is still on the Polish coast, but has moved some 60 km towards W from its previous surroundings.

Feb 6th 2012

Finally Meri sent two Doppler-locations (accuracy class 1) on Feb 2nd. Accordingly Meri had moved to Aland. At 10:55 o’clock the signal was sent 6 km straight towards S from Maarianhamina and at 11:25 o’clock from the most northern archipelago of Hammarland, close to the border of Geta.

Also Ivar sent a accurate Doppler-signal and that came from the northern waters of Brändö.

Also Cilla sent the first signals on Feb 2nd since Dec 11th! Three signals after the noon time proved Cilla being in the air over the main island of Kumlinge.

There are many signals from Johannes on the Polish coast.

According to many GPS-locations Aava has enjoyed staying in Eckerö on the island Finbo and its surrounding waters.

Jan 30th 2012

Johannes started sending GPS-signals on Jan 25th after a month’s break. Johannes has spent the winter on a rather limited area on the Polish coast; it has taken only 20 km inland trips from the coast.

Also the transmitter on Aava has sent signals that started on Jan 19th.

Hilkka has one Doppler-location of accuracy class 1 and it was then situated E from Helsinki in Sipoonselkä region.

Tuuli sent the second Doppler-location (class 1) of the year. It showed that Tuuli is still in the archipelago of Bergö.

Unfortunately the rest of the satellite eagles have sent neither new GPS-locations nor Doppler-locations of the accuracy criteria determined on Dec 5th last year.

Jan 24th 2012

At present there are only GPS-locations from Aava. It has been on Aland, Lumparland and Vårdö regions, since Jan 19th. There is nothing to be reported about the rest 8 satellite White-tailed sea eagles.

Jan 16th 2012

Junnu turned from Halland towards NNE and returned to its familiar wintering grounds on the W side of the lake Vänern. It visited this area for the first time on Dec 22th in 2009 and once more the following winter on Dec 25 th in 2010. There is not a single GPS-signal from the other individuals. There were locations with Doppler-signals of earlier specified accuracy criteria from four individuals. Hilkka returned towards W in early Jan and was situated on the W side of Porkkala on Jan 16 th. Aava moved to Velkua in the archipelago of Naantali. This observation proved that the concern during the previous data package was due to a failure in the transmitter. Tuuli was located for the first time since Nov 28 th: it was signaling from the island of Bergö. Ivar had moved 30 km towards E since the previous location.

Jan 9th 2012

The transmitter on Junnu has started working after a break of almost two months! On New Year’s Day the satellite located Junnu in Halland close to Gisselstad and on Jan 6 th it was only some 6 km away from the coast of Kattegat. That was 50 km S from most southern locations of the previous two winters. The transmitter on Johannes has been pretty well until now but after the Christmas Eve on Dec 28 th and Jan 9 th the Doppler signals show that Johannes is still in the same area on the Polish coast. The other individuals have not sent any satisfactory new signals. Aava is causing some concern because of the latest signals; there may be some temporary technical problems in the transmitter.

Dec 29th 2011

Dec 19th 2011

Almost nothing to be reported. The only new GPS-locations were received from Johannes on the Polish coast. Additionally there are some Argos-signals of Dec 5th from Hilkka and Aava.

Dec 12th 2011

There have been successful GPS-locations of Johannes on the Polish coast and Hilkka who is circling in the Lovisa region. Not even any accurate Doppler-signals have been received from Junnu, Meri or Eetu since Dec 5 th. There is nothing else to be reported.

Dec 5th 2011

As the only accurate GPS-signals are received from Johannes, the maps have been updated according category 3, 2 and 1 Doppler-locations. The latter are received every three days. If these signals are received from a rather limited area, there is only one dot, the most accurate, drawn on the map. The difference between GPS- and Doppler-signals is that when clicking the dot on the map, the GPS-signals give a balloon with more information (speed, direction, height) but the Doppler-dot nothing.

Junnu has moved from the Umeå region towards the Gävle surroundings according to signals from Dec 4 th.

There are no GPS-signals from Meri after the beginning of Nov and there is only one Doppler-location. Accordingly Meri was in Laitila on Nov 11 th.

Nor has Tuuli sent any GPS-signals after the beginning of Nov, only a couple of signals of Doppler-accuracy. The latest showed that Tuuli was in the archipelago of Uusikaarlepyy on Nov 28 th.

Ivar has returned to Korsnäs according to a Doppler-location of Dec 4 th.

Hilkka has sent tha latest GPS-signals on the Nov 11th. Later the Doppler-locations have shown that Hilkka has kept on circling in the Loviisa and Pyhtää regions.

According to Doppler-locations Eetu has been extending its winter territory by visiting Eckerö and Geta.

Cilla has been on Nov 29th in Barösund in the Inkoo archipelago according to an accuracy class 2 Doppler-location.

According to Doppler-signals Aava visited the Laitila region, but returned to Uusikaupunki.

Nov 29th 2011

GPS-signals received after the last update show that Aava circled between Nov 21 st and 22 nd on the S side of Uusikaupunki , Hilkka still spent her time in the surroundings of Ahvenkoski and Johannes on the Polish coast. The satellite transmitters on the rest of the White-tailed eagles did not send any new GPS-signals. The Doppler-locations give no reason for further comments.

Nov 21st 2011

The transmitters with solar panel do not work normally in the northern latitudes as been seen earlier. Thus the present lack of light inhibits GPS-locations. Instead the much less accurate Doppler-locations of Argos are occasionally successful. On the maps included only the GPS-locations are accepted. Because there are no GPS-locations from Meri and Tuuli after the end of Oct, accordingly their maps are empty by far. When updating the texts the latest Doppler-locations are mentioned.

The last Doppler-locations of Ivar are received from the N border of Närpiö.

Cilla returned on Nov 10th to the Kemiönsaari region and continued on Nov 15 th to the waters of the fortress island of Russarö S of Hanko. Later it moved on Nov 17 th to the archipelago of Snappertuna.

Aava has moved towards S along the coast. On Nov 19 th the satellite received its signals from the archipelago of Pyhämaa.

There is nothing new to be told about rest of the satellite white-tailed eagles.

Nov 15th 2011

Junnu has continued its staying in the Umeå region.

No GPS-signals from Meri has been received in Nov so far. The inaccurate Argos Doppler-location hinted at Meri having arrived on Nov 11 th in Laitila.

The last signals from Ivar have been received on Nov 1 st. It was still in the Quarken area in the archipelago of Bergö.

No GPS-signals have been received from Tuuli in Nov. Inaccurate Argos Doppler-locations hint at Tuuli still being on Nov 1 st to 13 th in the archipelagos of Pietarsaari and Luoto.

There are a lot of locations on Hilkka in the archipelagos of Loviisa and Pyhtää.

The last signal from Johannes in its home range was received on Oct 13 th at 11 o’clock local time when Johannes was in the border waters between Sottunga and Kökar. The same day in the evening the signals were received from the middle of the Baltic Sea which indicated that Johannes had started its migration almost straight towards SSW. The following day signals were received from Poland and only 6 km NW of the city of Gdansk. Johannes continued towards WSW, but later passed the city of Slupsk to the Baltic coast. It has been staying there so far.

In the evening of Oct 17th Cilla was still on its home range. The following location was received in the morning of Oct 19 th when it was between Nauvo and Rymättylä. A day later Cilla was located in Taivassalo, but it returned to its home range via the waters of Nauvo and Hiittinen. On Nov 5 th it paid a visit to Houtskari.

Eetu stayed on its home range on Oct 13 th, but the following morning at 9 o’clock it was already flying in the N waters of Aland between Brändö and Kumlinge. Later Eetu has been circling mainly in the Saltvik and Sund regions.