The first wintering area
arrival: 24.10.2022 - departure: 16.12.2022
Karl II's first wintering area are again in Western Bahr El Ghazal region, Raga county, South Sudan. He spent there total of (later) days before moving to his second, main wintering area.
This is an area of tropical savanna with grass and woodlands.
this year Karl spent the time not far from previous years location (he moved to the SE)
The second/main wintering area
arrival: 17.12.2022 - departure: 01.03.2023
Karl's main wintering area is on the border of the Central African Republic (CAR) and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The two countries are divided by the Mbomou. There he spent (later) days. Mbomou also called Bomu River: https://www.britannica.com/place/Bomu-River
Karl's wintering area lies in the Bili complex (Bili-Uele Protected Area Complex)
(map: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Li ... om-the.png
source: Ondoua, Gervais & Moundjim, Eustache & Marindo, Jean & Jiagho, Remi & Usongo, Leonard & Williamson, Liz. (2017). An Assessment of Poaching and Wildlife Trafficking in the Garamba-Bili-Chinko Transboundary Landscape. )
continuation
The Bili-Uele Protected Area Complex is the largest complex of protected areas in northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Bordering the Central African Republic, it harbours important populations of elephant and chimpanzee, plus a full range of forest and savanna biodiversity.
Despite it being a complex of protected areas, DRC’s wildlife authority, Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la Nature (ICCN), has never succeeded in effectively protecting and managing the region due to its lack of resources and the site’s extraordinary remoteness.
(source: https://www.awf.org/blog/awf-kickstarts ... ected-area)
So we know that in the previous two autumns, Karl II made a long migration stop on the Black Sea coast between Kherson and the Crimea, and from there flew west around the Black Sea to Africa. During the 2022 migration, this area was a war zone, and Karl II's data was cut off on September 4 before reaching the occupied area. The next data transfer took place only on September 22, when Karl II reached the Ukrainian-Moldovan border, in the Dniester River delta. Then we saw that Karl II had flown to his usual stop over area on the Black Sea coast at Perekop Bay by evening September 5th, but the next day he flew away from there, 80 km north to the Dnipro river flood plaines, while checking the feeding places of previous years.
In 6-19 September, Karl II stopped at the floodplains of the Dnipro river, in a militarily sense rather hot place between Kherson and Kahovka. On September 19th, Karl II went to see if the conditions on the Black Sea coast had calmed down, but turned back to the Dnipro river and from there in morning of September 20th, he flew further to the northwest, looking for suitable feeding places. In two days, without finding a good place to forage, Karl II reached the border of Moldova, in the delta of the Dniester River (by the evening of September 22). We will see if that will be a longer stop over or only for a single night.
When he arrived in Africa, the connection with Karl II disappeared, as it does every autumn. But at the beginning of March 2023, Karl II started flying towards Estonia from his wintering place (from the border of the Central African Republic and DRC).