Spotted eagle "travels" to Estonia via Serbia

BELGRADE - The female spotted eagle named Iti, member of a globally endangered species, makes a stopover in Serbia during the spring migration to Estonia for the sixth year in a row.

Instead of heading straight north across Bulgaria after flying over Turkey, Iti chooses to take the longer route and visits Serbia instead, the Serbian Bird Protection and Study Society says.

This year, she flew over the Bulgarian-Serbian border on April 8, and made a brief stopover in the woods at the foot of the Bukovik Mountain and by the Velika Morava River, before continuing her journey and crossing into Romania in the southern Banat on April 10.

Three days later, local ornithologists reported that Iti made it home to Estonia where she comes to nest.

The spotted eagle is a protected species in Serbia as well, so each of the few birds that spend winter here or migrate over Serbia need to be watched closely, the release states.

Ornithologists warn that only 210 to 290 breeding pairs of the spotted eagle remain in Europe, which makes it one of the globally most endangered species.

Photo Tanjug, J. Pap (illustration)