Kim, our female Honey Buzzard has cleared the Sahara Desert and is now in the Sahel region of Mali. In a straight line distance, she is over 4,430 kms SSW of her nest site and just 500kms NNE of where the male has been for the past few weeks. He in turn is some 4,800 kms SSW of his nest site.

Female Honey Buzzard clears the desert

In reality both birds have now followed migrations routes in excess of 5,000 km since they were tagged in Wales.

Kim, our female Honey Buzzard, has made amazing progress across the Sahara, covering over 700km in the past two days. As I write she may well have already finished her hazardous desert crossing.

As during the rest of her long journey she has been doing almost all her flying between the hours of 9.00AM and 6.00PM, presumably roosting in dunes during the hours of darkness.

Female Honey Buzzard nearing the end of her hazardous desert crossing

Surprisingly the weather forecast gave cloudy skies for Sunday 28th in Mauritania – so let’s hope it hasn’t slowed her passage.

The male’s tag has not transmitted a location for several days now but this is not too much of a concern, we know he is in thick forest and the weather maps show heavy cloud and rains in that area. Hopefully we will get confirmation of his current position soon.

Kim has upped gear and is making great progress over the inhospitable terrain of the Sahara Desert. The last three days data, received this morning, shows that since 6pm on 21st September she has flown over 833 kms and is, as the Honey Buzzard flys, some 775 kms SE of her position at that time. She is now almost half way across this major obstacle in her migration path. Hopefully her past experiences will help her in the crossing. We do not know how old Kim is but as a successful breeding adult we can safely guess that she has made the crossing at least a couple of times previously.

Kim takes a more western track across the Sahara

In between following our honey buzzards, Ecology Matters are pleased to offer publicity for an evening in celebration of Bill Condry – former Country Diarist and Warden at RSPB Ynys Hir – close to our office.

An evening of readings with Jon Gower talking to Country Diarists Paul Evans and Jim Perrin, with Martin Wainwright of ‘The Guardian’. 7.30 on 22nd October at Y Tabernacle, Machynlleth. Details from 01766 522765 and on attached poster.

bill-condry-evening

Our satellite tagged female Honey Buzzard, Kim, is in Morocco rapidly approaching the northern edge of the Sahara, her course and latest location (at 18.00 hrs on 21st September) can be seen on the map below (pink line). Let’s hope she speeds through as successfully as our male, Mel, did a few weeks ago (blue line).

Kim approaching the Sahara

Mel, our male Honey Buzzard, is now in thick forest in Guinea and the solar battery pack on his tag is not receiving enough direct sunlight to charge sufficiently enough to send new location data. It should re-charge when he next makes a significant flight.

Female Honey Buzzard, Kim, on the day her satellite tag was fitted

The charts below list the three migration journeys we have tracked so far for the female Honey Buzzard, Kim. The first is her on-going autumn 2009 migration (most recent locations at the top of the chart), the second her spring 2009 migration from Ivory Coast to North Wales and the third her southward migration from North Wales to southern Ivory Coast in autumn 2008. The last column shows the number of km covered in a single day when there is sufficient data to be able to calculate it.

Adult Female Honey Buzzard from North Wales

- 2009 Autumn Migration Chart.

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Adult Female Honey Buzzard from North Wales

- 2009 Spring Migration Chart.

At 6pm on 17th September our female Honey Buzzard, Kim, was at Algarinejo and rapidly approaching Gibraltar after speeding down through Spain in just 3 days. She successfully crossed the Pyrennes on 14/15th September and has moved some 845 km SW since 5pm on 13th September.

The female Honey Buzzard heading for the Straits of Gibraltar

The male, Mel, is taking his time a bit now but was still some 200km SE of his location on 13th. He is currently still in Guinea, due east of Boola, but close to the borders with Ivory Coast and Liberia

On 15th September both satellite tags switched to giving us just two locations per day, one at 9.00am and one at 6.00pm.

Our female Honey Buzzard has reached the Pyrennes and is poised to tackle the mountains head on.

The map below shows her progress through Europe alongside the route that the male took earlier on.

The male is still in Guinea but heading steadily for the Ivory Coast or Liberia

Adult Male Honey Buzzard migration through NW Africa

At 14:00hs on 11th September the male Honey Buzzard had reached the tropical forests of Guinea just to the east of Kissangana near the River Niger. He had covered 330 kms since 10am on 10th September and is probably nearing the end of his migration.

The female is still in France but heading steadily south covering the last 114 kms of her journey in at least 6 hours, resting up in a large plantation to the east of Chateauroux

The female is travelling down through France very close to the route taken earlier by the male