First small spotted eagle with GPS transmitter returns to Romanian nest after flying 26,000 km

After flying ten thousand kilometers, Narcis, a spotted eagle returned to his nest zone, in Romania's Fagaras Mountains. He is the first one of his species that the specialists from the Romanian Ornithological Society equipped with a satellite transmitter in the project called “Conservation of the small spotted eagles in Romania”.

The migration of this species is carefully watched trough this transmitters. These eagles seem to be very effective in finding out their routes. However, the species are very vulnerable and 10 percent of this population have their nests in Romania, continuing to drop at 2,000-2,300 pairs. Worldwide, there are 20,000 pairs of small spotted eagle, with Romania fosteing 22 percent of them.The species has its nests in the woods, with most living in Transylvania, while usually spending the winter in the center and south Africa. The small spotted eagle left inSeptember last year, passing trough Turkey, Bulgaria, Syria, Israel, Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania and arrived in Zimbabwe in November, according to specialists .In the spring migration, it flew 8.632 km and in the autumn, 10.730 km. The eagle traveled 26.032 km and sent 1.002 GPS coordinates after leaving Romania and until returning to the Fagaras mountains. Ioana Toader