Proof that Lesser Spotted Eagle Aquila pomarina has occurred in Saudi Arabia came from a second
calendar year bird fitted with a GPS-PTT (94739) in July 2009 by Bernd-U
Meyberg. The bird wintered in Tanzania and migrated to Ukraine in spring 2010
via the Caucasus mountains east of the Black Sea. In autumn it migrated south
on almost the same route and passed through eastern Syria into Saudi Arabia 28
September 2010 at 12:00 hrs GMT and was last recorded in Saudi Arabia 5 October
at 08:00 hrs GMT. One hour later at 09:00 hrs GMT 5 October the bird was in
Yemen and on 9 October 2010 at 09:00 hrs GMT it crossed the Bab-el-Mandeb into
Africa see map below. This is the first record of a satellite tracked Lesser
Spotted Eagle using this route, although it is a well-known route of Steppe
Eagles and follows the eastern coast of the Red Sea to Bab-el-Mandeb and
confirms the Lesser Spotted Eagles occurrence in Saudi Arabia. The details were
supplied by Bernd and I am very grateful to him for them as well as the route
the bird took,
