2015

Plenty of Activity in the Sky

With fall approaching, forests are becoming abundant with mushrooms and nuts, and the skies above are filled with migrating birds. They are departing as daylight hours become shorter, and the journey to the warm south is quite a distance.  The rest of the bunch - the “local” migrants, react to the feel of winter approaching by starting to feed and gather food reserves. The air is warm and insects are rustling everywhere, and nightingales, swallows, swifts, and other migratory birds, too, whose destination is Africa, begin preparing for the trip. This is the right time to learn more about birds, taking time to observe them.

Migratory birds can be classified as “long-distance” or “local” migrants. Among birds nesting in and passing through Latvia, the first group are those that aim for destinations way beyond Europe – South Africa, from Sahara to south Asia, even India. Included in this group are the golden oriole, the night-hawk, cuckoo, European roller, corncrake, nightingale, wryneck, wheater, red-backed shrike, western yellow wagtail, swift, common house martin, sand martin, swallow, rosefinch, a number of warblers and chiffchaffs, flycatchers, storks, little bittern, a number of predators and plover species. Furthest from the nesting place – the coasts of Antarctica, settling down for the winter, are arctic terns.

The “locals” are birds that exit to Europe’s relatively near central, southern, southwestern parts, as well as the Middle East or North Africa. The most popular ones are the robin, dunnock, wren, skylark, woodlark, starling, all types of blackbirds, pied wagtail, chaffinch, brambling, stock dove, wood pigeon, lapwing, woodcock, and the crane. Also, a number of water birds, a number of diurnal predators, and many other species. They are making the most of the “Indian summer” here, and will be around until the chill appears, thus becoming “tardy” migrants. Not all of the local travelers can be classified as tardy; however, all late-goers do fall into the group: local migrants.

A number of short-distance birds do not leave, namely, some fly away, while some remain. Among the so-called "semi-migrants" are the short-eared owl, horned owl, common buzzard, rook, robin, linnet, wren, chaffinch, hawfinch, bullfinch, penduline tit, bearded tit, common starling, fieldfare, blackbird, or even the pied wagtail. Hovering near waters that do not freeze over, several local water bird species remain – coot, moorhen, several gull and duck species, some grebe and swan species, some herons, bittern, water rail, kingfisher. As far as large tits are concerned, all of its young and a number of females leave for warmer climates, but the mature adult males remain.

Interesting to note that there are species for whom Latvia is the warmer south. With winter on its way, snow birds are heading south from their nesting places in the Arctic region, and a certain number of them reside in Latvia for the winter. To spend the winter here, arriving from nesting places in taiga are waxwings and redpolls. They remain here as long as there is enough food. With food reserves depleted, these birds take off again for Western Europe. Tits and rough-legged buzzards also come here from the north. A rarely seen fall and winter guest is the pine grosbeak. Distinct winter migrants are dippers – hundreds appear from Scandinavia already at the end of October or in November to spend winter in Latvia. With the sea ice-free, our territorial waters are populated by a large number of long-tailed ducks, velvet scoters, common scoters, loons, and auks.

The long-distance fliers usually begin departures sooner -already at the end of August and early September. Birds, whose winter refuge usually is due southwest, exit Latvia at the end of September, in October, or the beginning of November. The migration process in Latvia continues until the end of November and December. This is certainly the best time to watch and study birds.

JSC "Latvian State Forests" invites residents to enjoy the autumnal changes. The 2015 LVM “Bird Rally” took place on September 19-20, gathering the most erudite and enthusiastic Latvian and foreign ornithologists.

Here is a list of places for relaxing migratory bird-watching:

• Akmensrags – an excellent place to view sea birds. A lot of land birds passing through can be seen now.
• Kanieris – a huge lake with broad reeds. The lake's southeastern part, highway stretch: Lapmezciems-Antinciems, has an observation tower - a splendid site for watching ducks, geese, swans, gulls, terns, and other water birds, as well as land birds nesting in the reeds.
• Kuivizi – Ainazi (Randi Meadows) – many species of waders, ducks, gulls, and terns, as well as land birds can be found here.

Fish ponds at Lubans – Latvia's largest lake. A great place to observe both water and land birds in the lake's reeds and shoreline, as well as predator birds.