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Eikka the satellite Osprey

Background

In summer 2011, another Osprey was added to the satellite-monitoring project started in 2001 and headed by the Osprey Foundation and the Finnish Museum of Natural History. On 2 July 2011, the terrain team of the Osprey Foundation, comprising Vesa Hyyryläinen, Juhani Koivu, Harri Koskinen, and Heljä Pylvänäinen, fitted a male Osprey in Paltamo with a 30-gram GPS Argos satellite transmitter that runs on a solar panel. The Osprey was named Eikka after the poet Eino Leino, who was born in Paltamo. In the past, the same kind of transmitter has been used to monitor the movements of Ospreys Pete and Jukka.

Unfortunately, we do not know where and when Eikka hatched, since Vesa Hyyryläinen did not ring him until he was an adult; then he fastened an aluminium ring M-58631 around his right leg and a red plastic ring around his left leg. The plastic ring is marked FA in large white letters for easier long-range identification.

The satellite monitoring of Eikka the Osprey is part of a larger Osprey research project covering the whole Kainuu area, carried out by biologist Vesa Hyyryläinen in cooperation with Heljä Pylvänäinen. The following companies participate in the funding of the satellite monitoring of Eikka: Sisärakenne Kukkola Oy, E.ON, Paltamon Osuuspankki and Kainuun Sanomat.