A GPS-tracked Finnish Honey-buzzard has been killed in Malta after a three-week migratory journey through ten European countries before reaching the Maltese Islands. The bird was found dead in a private garden.

BirdLife Malta has said in a statement that in mid-September a GPS-tagged European Honey-buzzard, which hatched in Finland earlier this summer, started its journey south, and made a three-week journey through ten European countries including Latvia, Lithuania, Kaliningrad, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and then crossing the Adriatic Sea reaching Italy where it continued towards Sicily.

Then, on the 8th of October the protected bird of prey left Sicily crossing the Central Mediterranean and reached Gozo early in the afternoon, from there heading to Buskett where it was observed by BirdLife Malta birdwatchers at around 5pm. BirdLife Malta said that following this, the bird stopped moving around the area outside Rabat, Malta.

BirdLife explained that, “accurate information from its GPS tracker which was shared with BirdLife Malta after contact was made with the researchers, soon led to doubts about the bird’s welfare which stopped moving over the area of Gnien il-Kbir outside Rabat, a few hundred metres from the Buskett Bird Sanctuary.”It went on to say that “further information about the bird’s location was then shared with EPU officers, which led to its find in a private garden where the bird landed after it was shot down. A post-mortem examination by veterinarians confirmed the presence of large lead pellets in the bird’s body as the cause of death.”

The carcass was retrieved through collaboration between BirdLife Malta, EPU police and scientific researchers.

BirdLife Malta said that the juvenile Honey-buzzard was being GPS-tracked as part of a post-doctoral research project into the migratory behaviour of these birds of prey.The juvenile Honey-buzzard, a protected species, was part of a project led by researcher Elham Nourani from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and the Centre for the Advanced Study of Collective Behaviour in Germany. Entitled “Ontogeny of soaring flight,” the study is looking into the migratory behaviour of juvenile birds leaving Finland and Switzerland and whether birds follow adults, each other or simply are guided by their own instinct and experiences.

Commenting on the events uncovering the death of one of her subjects, project leader Dr Elham Nourani said, “I didn’t really know much about Malta until now. It’s remarkable how a protected species such as the Honey-buzzard is still hunted illegally in a European State. All the birds we have tracked have had no issues reaching the African continent except this one in Malta, and another bird which stopped transmitting over Cyprus.”The killed Honey-buzzard is one of two tracked birds that migrated over Malta this autumn. Another bird which was tagged from the same area passed safely over the country during the morning of the 16th of September. Having reached the island early in the day, the bird spent less than an hour soaring over the island and continued on, reaching Libya the next morning. The bird is presently located in Niger.

Dead GPS-tracked Finnish Honey-buzzard (Photos by Nicholas Barbara, BirdLife Malta) and the Finnish Honey-Buzzard soaring over Rabat, Malta, shortly before being lost on the tracking (Photo BirdLife Malta) and the same Finnish Honey-buzzard at its nest with GPS tag (Photo by Teemu Honkanen) Tracking history of it 3-week journey (image from Google Earth)

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