Female Osprey M-47347 "Lea"

The female Osprey Lea (weighing 1695 g) was captured at her nest at Utsjoki in Lapland on 29 July 2002. She was ringed and fitted with a battery-powered transmitter weighing 30 g (manufactured by Microwave). There were three nestlings in her nest. Lea's mate in 2002 was Harri.

Autumn migration 2002

Late in the evening on 9 September, Lea was 30 km from her nest. Early the following morning (03.55), she was already over Sodankylä, from where she covered the 1538 km distance to the southern tip of Sweden in 42 hours. Her average speed was nearly 37 km/h, i.e. 880 km/24 h. After her flying start, Lea spent at least three weeks (13 Sept - 3 Oct) in Poland, 60 km SE of Stettin, in an area that, according to the map, is rich in small lakes and possibly fish ponds, as well. During the following ten days, there were no readings from Lea's transmitter, or if there were, they were very unreliable. It was not until Lea was crossing the Sahara (14 Oct) that the readings became barely usable. When she had passed Sahara, Lea stayed in Northern Cameroon for a week (21 - 27 October), only 30 km from Mirja's mid-winter hunting grounds. At that time, the transmitter's winter cycle was activated, so we do not know exactly how long her 'final fill-up' took before she headed off on the 597 km long journey to the coast of Equatorial Guinea.

Winter 2002-2003

Lea arrived in Equatorial Guinea, on the shore of the Gulf of Guinea, 17 km north of Bata, sometime between 27 October and 1 November. From the 7 November, the readings have been coming from an area of only 11 km² (1.7°N / 9.7°E), 19 km South of Bata and 7668 km from her nest as the crow flies. (Because so many readings are missing or unclear, the actual length of the migration or days travelling cannot be reliably estimated.)

The reading in the activity registrator in Lea's transmitter has not changed since 1 April 2003. This either means that Lea has died or that the transmitter is damaged. Unfortunately, the former is more likely. The registrator was still working on 27 March.