Female Osprey M-47345 "Marjaana"

The female Osprey Marjaana was captured at her nest in Utsjoki on 28 July 2002, ringed with a normal aluminium ring M-47345 on her left and an id ring E0 on her right leg. At the same time, she was fitted with a battery-powered transmitter weighing 30 g (manufactured by Microwave). When she was captured, Marjaana weighed 1645 g. She had three nestlings in her nest. Marjaana's mate in 2002 (at least) was M-32550, Lasse.

Autumn migration 2002

On 4 September, Marjaana was still at Utsjoki, 54 km from her nest. The readings of the following day tell us that she was already flying over Russia, near the Kuusamo border. On 9 September, Marjaana was at Kitee, after which she took a quick turn down Belorussia. She travelled 1049 km in 43 hours at the most, so she must have flown at least 586 km/24 h. Unfortunately, the two following reading cycles gave no readings, so we do not know which way Marjaana flew the 844 km distance from Belorussia to the Danube delta. After spending two weeks (16 Sept - 1 Oct) in an area of 100 km² in the Danube delta, Marjaana purposefully made her way towards tropical Africa. Her route went by the Bosphorus straits, over the Mediterranean, to the border between Egypt and Libya, and then over Libya and Chad to Cameroon. During the first week (1-8 October), from the Danube delta to Chad at the South of Sahara, she flew 3711 km, averaging at least 508 km/24 h. She took a round week to complete the final leg (1324 km), so her average speed then was 'only' 186 km/24 h. All in all, Marjaana's journey of 7745 km from Utsjoki to Cameroon took 42 days. Thus, her total average was 184 km/day. If we subtract the two weeks she spent at the Danube delta filling up, her average speed during actual travelling days was 287 km/24 h.

Winter 2002-2003

After arriving in Cameroon, Marjaana spent three weeks (16 Oct - 7 Nov) on an area of a few square kilometres on the Adamawa Plateau near a smallish stream. Then she moved 150 km ESE to her final wintering location (4.6°N/11.4°E) by the river Mbam c. 200 km from the Atlantic coast and 15 km from where the Mbam meets the great Sanaga. Since 5 January, the signals have been very weak, but they are still coming from the same area. Since 27 March, we have not received a single signal. It is most likely that the transmitter has stopped functioning.