Ten hours in the Žuvintas reserve: 61 species of birds seen, many or few?

At the end of the day, we count the birds seen or at least heard in the tower of the Directorate of the Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve. It turned out that there are 61 species on the list. The group, which had around 15 people that day, reacted to this number in different ways: some were waiting for more, others who were on a birding tour for the first time, like me, we had time to leave: wow, even 61!

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What did you expect when I went on tour? A great moment surrounded by beautiful nature. The weather promised very warm, the sun had been shining since early in the morning, so the birds seemed like just another fun accent that day.

However, watching the birds turned out to be incredibly interesting and that activity is very attractive. Even if you are only interested in birds, you can see the sparrow, pigeon, and crow looking out the window.

Ornistostogos offers the opportunity to feel like an ornithologist for at least a while. I must frankly admit that I almost felt it, although I don’t think I recognize all the birds I see in the forest now. And when I hear the gray shoulder, I probably won’t recognize his voice again (sorry Alberta!), But I really remember the story of this bird’s name, which the linguists did not want to confirm – back guilty here for a non-Lithuanian word.

On this tour of the Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve, the director of the Arūnas Pranaitis reserve accompanied us. Although he has been talking mostly about hunting lately, while wandering through the woods, meadows, and bodies of water, he didn’t even mention it – the main guide’s entire attention was focused on the birds of the day.

We spoke to him about hunting in the Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve, but later. Read more here: Director of the Žuvintas A. Pranaitis Biosphere Reserve: it is an honor for us to know that I will not come here with a rifle.

The route – throughout the biosphere reserve

Our route was as follows: after leaving Vilnius in the dark, we found ourselves in Žuvintas, beautifully lit and warmly warmed by the sun. At Lake Žuvintas, we managed to see winches that did not fly after night, as A. Pranaitis said, they do not usually wait that long, so the occasion was unique.

The first point we visited was the Amalva reservoir; As A. Pranaitis smiled, a “Suvalkian” cognitive path was established here. And Suwalki because the shorter, the further you go, you still see, the more you have to spend to build a longer one.

Next – Bukta Forest. It is true that the birds here were not surprising, the guides themselves were surprised that the forest is so calm and hardly any voice is heard, but the forest itself is wonderful. The only mixed woodpecker of this type in Lithuania, because woodpeckers are more southern European trees.

“Hornbills in Lithuania are never 100%, usually they grow with linden trees, sometimes with fir trees,” said A. Pranaitis.

Walking through the burrow, he also shows a small plant, a new species of the apricot genus from the apricot family in Lithuania, which does not yet have a Lithuanian name and is hundreds of kilometers from the closest habitats. It was discovered in August by nature photographer Aušra Žilinskienė in the Želsva Zoological Botanical Reserve of the Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve.

Lake Žaltytis prepared a surprise for us: here, the eyes of a completely inexperienced bird watcher saw a different one from that of the duck: a red beak. It turned out to be a helmeted duck, which is rarely found. That was the first discovery of our group. And in the bushes near the lake, the voice from the shoulder was loud.

The Simnas ponds were not very generous with the abundance of birds, but the gray heron rested here; it is also quite rare among many white herons that have become very common in Lithuania in recent years. This gray beauty showed little reluctance to pay attention, as we were approaching from a really safe distance of a few hundred meters. But to return soon, apparently, the convenience of the observation site outweighed the presence of unwanted company nearby.

Unfortunately the water in neither of the ponds was released so we didn’t see many small birds here. But we heard the shoulder in the bushes and, to our shame, we did not know its voice.

On the way to the Žuvintas Reserve Directorate and the visitor center, we also visited Lake Dusia. The shore of the lake called Laguna Dzūkai is decorated with the Prelomciškės mound.

It is difficult to count impressions. You should experience this for yourself. Although fall is still nice when the weather is nice, it is not very difficult to do so.

The number of people interested in birds is growing

A.Skirpstas says that in recent years, the community of people interested in birds and attracting them to observe them has grown significantly in Lithuania. That is why the need for similar tours is high, this fall there are no free weekends for him and his companions from Ornitostogas, and on weekdays he either transports others or rushes to observe migratory birds to different places in Lithuania.

“The idea came from the ornithologist Marius Karlonas, he is the director of this company. It all started with the fact that it was not in Lithuania, no one organized such trips. And with the opening of Western Europe, people began to travel abroad and saw that bird watching was a very popular activity there. The more developed a country is, the more bird watchers are emerging, people can spend more time on activities like bird watching.

Let’s say there are about a million birders in England, officially registered, active, belonging to the Royal Society of Ornithologists. This was not the case in Lithuania, and the number of bird watchers increased and increased, and Marius thought that people just needed to show those birds, ”Albertas said of the origins of organizing such trips.

Let’s say there are about a million birders in England, officially registered, active, belonging to the Royal Society of Ornithologists. This was not the case in Lithuania, and the number of bird watchers was increasing.

According to him, in the past, people simply corresponded with each other, that someone somewhere saw something, wrote, urged them to go there. “Let’s say, like today, seeing a duck with a helmet, we invited you to come see. Initially, the correspondence was done on forums, then a group was formed on Facebook, the Lithuanian Ornithological Society was called, and then we saw how real those bird watchers are, how interested people are in those birds.

In the past, everyone who was interested in birds knew each other, calling them by such a narrow circle. But then we saw that there are really a lot of those people, they like, wonder, ask, write private messages asking if they could go together, watch and so on. This gave rise to the idea of ​​not starting to organize such massive excursions, to introduce people to birds.

It was like that two years ago, ”said A. Skripst, who joined the team a little later – with his activities, as he says, because although he has been birdwatching since he was a child, he has sold optics in recent years and has Been in contact with ornithologists who need binoculars, they are binoculars.

Popular not only in the fall

People go on these tours all year round. True, the peak is there: it is spring, May, when most of the birds are most active, then such trips are made daily and last from early morning to late at night, foreigners also come, who usually they want to catch very specific species of birds.

“Foreigners need a specific species, they are not interested in anything else. Some cultural and similar objects are not interested in them, they tell in advance what species of birds it is necessary to look for. We drive, we search. When they see, they are distinguished and that species is no longer interested in them, so they look for another species. Your goal is not to see as many species as possible. Of course, there are other observers. Most Lithuanians do not know birds. It is even better to ride with those who do not know birds because they are more impressed. Most of us have people who know little, “admitted Albert.

Throughout Lithuania, these ornithologists have about 20 points where groups are transported to observe birds: ponds, the Nemunas delta, the Curonian Spit, there are regular trips in spring and summer, during the tour, 5-6 hours, they can be seen 100 species of birds. Also Žuvintas, places around Vilnius: Paluknis meadows, Rūdninkai forest, Papis ornithological reserve. The territory of the Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Station is also considered a good place for bird watching, especially in winter, and it is convenient to get there.

“Biržai forest is exceptional, there is a spring tour to observe ural owls, because until now they live in this only place in Lithuania, before that forest has been cut down. There are ural and domestic owls, sparrows. That night tour is listening to the owls at night, they fly overhead and roar in the dark, ”said A. Skirpstas.

The groups he travels with are not large. According to Albert, the maximum number is approximately 15, because the birds must be observed in the fewest number of people possible; so both birds are good and people are comfortable.