Rare long-legged Buzzard leaves Malta safely

 The rare and highly protected bird, the long-legged Buzzard, which roosted for the second consecutive night at an undisclosed area in Northwest Malta, left Malta safely earlier today.

The large raptor soared high early on Saturday morning and headed north towards Gozo. The bird also roosted overnight, awaiting more favourable wind currents to continue with its journey.

Immediately upon receiving initial sighting reports, several ALE officers, officials from the Wild Birds Regulation Unit, Birdlife Malta volunteers, and FKNK members maintained watch and provided information to the authorities.

They have since bid farewell to the bird as it continued on its northward migration.

Flocks of other protected birds were also observed over past few days at various locations throughout the Maltese Islands.

The government praised all law enforcement officers, volunteers from Birdlife Malta and the FKNK for their efforts in ensuring a safe passage for migrating protected birds.

"High level of cooperation between the authorities and NGOs, including hunting organisations and environmental NGOs is a key ingredient of success of enforcement in the field", it said.