The incredible flight of a female Honey Buzzard

Alessandro13

 

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Thu

A female Honey Buzzard was recently fitted with a satellite tracking system in Finland, and was of particular interest to locals because she spent the last southern summer near the town of Reitz in the Free State, South Africa

She left Reitz to head north on 20 April and on 2 June she finally reached Finland, where she will likely spend the boreal summer before returning next season for a visit to South Africa.

Here's an image showing the data received from the tracker tracking the route she took heading north... so in just 42 days, she traveled over 10,000km at an average of over 230km every single day ! Isn't that amazing?!

What is amazing is how she traveled a straight line north, except when she had to fly over water (or Sudan).

Apparently, she turned right at the source of the Nile and followed it. It is however fascinating that after that detour she returned to the same longitudinal line from which she had started, and she continued until she reached her destination. Mother nature in her most fascinating aspect.