Yesterday afternoon whilst monitoring raptor migration at Buskett, a juvenile Honey Buzzard was observed carrying a satellite tracker on the back by BirdLife Malta ornithologists and birdwatchers.

BirdLife said that thanks to Dr. Patrik Byholm from Finland it has received the interesting history and origins of this bird.

The bird (called Kuccarda), a young male hatched in southern Finland earlier on this year, had been fitted with a tracker on 20th August. This was the only Finnish Honey Buzzard equipped with a tracker this year. The GPS movements show (raptor's movements from 1st October only) that this bird has done a lot of night-time migration and this clearly shows how young Honey Buzzards are also good flyers over open sea, BirdLife said.

"There is a peculiar tendency for Finnish birds to fly SSW over the Mediterranean Sea, as it's not the first bird that took such a route."

The latest GPS movements of the Honey Buzzard show it leaving the Italian peninsula on 8th of October (Otranto region) in the morning, where it crossed over the Ionian Sea flying also overnight.

It reached Malta on Sunday, the 9th of October, at around midday and then settled in Girgenti where it roosted. The following day it stayed around the Buskett and Dingli area and it roosted a second night in Buskett. BirdLife Malta said that it is hoped that later on today, it will continue its migration.

Photo of the bird was taken when the tracker had just been deployed around noon on August 20th. (Photo and map by Patrik Byholm)

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