Greater Spotted Eagle

Tõnn seems to be the most famous inhabitant of Estonia and definitely the most famous Greater Spotted Eagle of the world. Born in 2008, as a juvenile bird he was fitted with a satellite transmitter and since then has become a celebrity. Without leaving Europe until winter 2010 he already visited 15 countries becoming popular among birdwatchers searching for "the eagle with the antenna". In 2016 the transmitter was replaced with a logger. Without an antenna.

This year he started his autumn migration on September 27th. On Friday, October 12, he reached Germany, spending the night some 250 km from me. Thanks to the information from my German colleagues and the data sent by the Estonian friends I was able to track the bird as accurately as the logger allowed. When on Saturday evening it turned out that Tõnn stopped for the night just 20 km away from my bed, it became obvious what I will be doing on Sunday.

On Sunday morning after 4 hours of waiting Tõnn was finally spotted and even photographed. He is an adult bird now breeding successfully every year in Estonia. The interesting thing is that despite covering much over 1400 km (that is the straigt line distance from the nest to the meeting point) of distance of his migration, it has been so far the only observation of this eagle. Today Tõnn is heading further south-west, passed the city of Heidelberg taking opportunity of the wonderful weather on his journey to the wintering grounds in Spain.

His journey and the whole story can be read here.

Thank you Gunda, Erich, Urmas, Anna.

And Masha!

Veni, vidi, photographici.