Autumn 2011 migration of Eikka the Osprey

Eikka's migration route

• On the map
• In Google Earth (KML) (you need the Google Earth software to be installed on your computer for this to work)
• Latest update

NB! The times are always in GMT. It differs from e.g. normal Finnish time by -2 hours and summer time -3 hours. The times may be given as local time in the text. If so, the text will mention it.

16 September

Eikka the Osprey started his autumn migration. At 10 local time, Eikka was still in his territory at the Osmanka lake on the Puolanka side. At 13, Eikka was flying southwards over the Kivesjärvi lake in Paltamo, at 16 he was flying at an elevation of one kilometre over Varpaisjärvi, and at 19 he had arrived in Rantasalmi, on the Peonsaari island in Haukivesi. At 22 o’clock, Eikka had settled down for the night on the Iso-Lappi island in the Linnansaari national park.

17 September

At 10 local time, Eikka crossed the border between Sulkava and Puumala south of Partalansaari, at 13 he passed Vyborg, and at 16 he was flying some twenty kilometres east of the Sosnovyi Bor nuclear plant.

18 September

A fix in the early morning showed that Eikka had spent the night south of the St Petersburg oblast, on the southern shore of Lake Strechno. Between 8 and 11 local summer time, Eikka flew 142 km, i.e. he averaged a speed of 47 km per hour. After covering 283 km this day, he stopped overnight in the southeast corner of the Pskov oblast, some 70 km from the Belorussian border.

19 September

Eikka covered 125 km this day and stopped overnight in the northeast corner of Belorussia.

20 September

Eikka continued on his journey in the east of Belorussia for 111 km. In the four first days of his migration, Eikka has travelled over 150 kilometres.

21 September

During these 24 hours, we did not receive a single fix on Eikka.

22 September

The fixes of the evening and night arrived from the Ukraine, from the western shores of the Kiev reservoir dammed into River Dniepr

23 September

The three fixes received today showed that Eikka had flown over Kiev and proceeded over 200 kilometres to the south-southeast.

24 September

We did not receive a single fix on Eikka.

25 September

The fixes arrived from a place, seemingly a fish farm, 145 km south-southeast of Kiev.

26 September – 5 October

So far, we have not received any fixes on Eikka during this time.

6 October

Our forebodings were confirmed. Dr Maxim Gavrilyuk from the raptor research centre in the Ukraine sent a message to the Finnish Ringing Centre, informing us that Eikka had been found killed near the village of Irdyn. According to Google Earth, the last fixes on Eikka are some 5 kilometres to the northeast of Irdyn. Dr Gavrilyuk received his information from one of his students, who had found Eikka’s carcass, removed the transmitter, and brought it to Dr Gavrilyuk. If the transmitter is undamaged, it will be fitted onto another Osprey in Kainuu in summer 2012.