An adult female Aino was mounted with a satellite transmitter in Salla, Eastern Lapland in May 2008. She spent the summer on her territory and apparently reared a colt or two. She was the last one to embark the autumn migration.
Unlike Matti-crane she did not end up at the Muhos stop-over site but instead went 10 km further to the west and was located in Liminka assembly area on 8th September. Although the accurate date of migration is not know it presumably took place already on 31st August when the flying conditions were excellent. Ten days later Aino had continued 231 km to the southwest and was foraging in Lapua-municapality, Finland.
On 28th September Aino was surprisingly located already in Hortobagy national park, Hungary. She was feeding 14 km to the north of the fish ponds in the centre of Hortobagy. In dusk the crane was located roosting in one of the fish ponds. At the moment Aino is 2173 km apart her breeding grounds in Finland. On 12th November Aino was located in southern Hungary 178 km to the southwest of Hortobagy. Only two days earlier she had been in Hortobagy where she altogether spent 1½ months. As a night roost she mainly used Kondas –fishing pond, whereas the foraging trips extended at a radius of 20 km to the fields in north and northeast. Of the satellite cranes Matti used the same night roost as Aino, whereas Renttimä was usually located 5-10 km to the east and Olli 30 km to the southwest of Kondas.
Aino had continued 80 km further and was located in northern Serbia.
On 16th November the first location was received at flight over the western coast of Croatia when the crane was about to fly across the Adriatic Sea. A trip of 171 km took approximately two hours, and the crane reached the eastern coast of Italy by sunset. In dusk she turned the course abruptly and headed 63 km to the southeast following the cost line of Italy. At 22:16 local time she was located roosting on cultivated fields near the town of Montenero di Bisaccia. Since 9th November, the crane has travelled 888 km circa 60 km of which have been extra as compared to the shortest possible route.
Aino continued its migration from Italy whilst the transmitter was OFF. The crane was located on 19th November staying overnight at the Chott El Gharsa –lake 200 km the westsouthwest of the Petteri’s roost. So far Aino has migrated 3871 km from the breeding grounds in Finland.
By 21st November Aino had headed 627 km WNW of the locations received two days ago to the Saharan Atlas Mountains of Algeria. The new locations were obtained at the NE coast of Chott ech Chergui, which is a large endorheic salt lake. It is located on the high Oran plains, 1000 m above sea level. Aino is now only 270 km of the eastern border of Morocco. Chott Ech Chergui is designated a Ramsar wetland of international importance. According to the annotated Ramsar list of wetlands of international importance, it is “the second largest chott in North Africa, after the Chott Djerid in Tunisia: an extensive closed depression containing permanent and seasonal saline, brackish, and freshwater lakes and pools, as well as hot springs. The site is representative of the Mediterranean region in the diversity of habitats which are included, from steppe areas that are always green to the surroundings of the chott and the "sebkhas" which are completely without vegetation, as well as purely aquatic lake and marsh vegetation. Many threatened and vulnerable plant species are present, as well as at least two vulnerable species of Anatidae, and it is an important nesting and wintering site for several species of migratory water birds. Human uses include agriculture, and raising of livestock, particularly sheep and camels; the thermal springs offer possibilities for tourism. Overgrazing, poaching, desertification, and deforestation for firewood are seen as potential threats”.
For three weeks Aino thrived in a limited area staying overnight at the same lake and foraging in its surroundings at the eastern part of Chott Ech Chergui.
On 13th December Aino had headed 90 km west and was located staying overnight and foraging in the southern slopes of the Mountain range facing Chott Ech Chergui.
On the 19th of December 2008 Aino made Finnish crane history by flying 340 km WNW of the previous locations at Chott Ech Chergui, Algeria. She is currently the very first Finnish crane recovered from Morocco, N-Africa. Besides it has generally been thought that the overwintering cranes in Morocco arrive from Spain. According to the satellite data taking into account the exact route, Aino has now traveled a distance of 5150 km of the Finnish breeding grounds. Aino has thus flown approximately 1000 km extra as compared to a linear distance of 4125 km between home bog and the current location.
Aino’s trip to Morocco lasted for two weeks. For the first 4 days Aino used a four km long lake as a roosting site and the foraging locations came at a radius of 15 km of the lake. This area was 424 m above sea level. The following 8 days Aino spent 25 km further west at an altitude of 550 m above sea level. She spent the night by ponds and foraged by the rivers on the mountain slopes.
On January 2nd 2009 Aino returned to Algeria and locations arrived around the town of Magoura in Tlemcen Province also on January 11th 2009. Aino appears to stay overnight in the eastern part of 2 km wide lake, whereas the crane flies to forage 20 km further east to the fields on the mountain slopes. This area is 1100 m above sea level and considerably higher than the previous stop-over area in Morocco.