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S.Paltanavičius’s book “Birds and Birds” is not only richly illustrated, but is also full of birdsong. In the description of each bird, readers will find a QR code, which they will hear a song after scanning with a smart device. The book was published by the Alma littera publishing house, and S. Paltanavičius was interviewed by the journalist Laisvė Radzevičienė.
– There are many books written about birds, what message are you sending to your readers?
– The idea of the book is not to become familiar with all species of birds, since descriptive books and manuals are dedicated. It seems to me much more important to light a fire of interest, curiosity. And if a person (a child is exactly like us) “gets caught”, it is easy to continue.
I collect material for my books all my life; that does not, of course, mean that you write thoughts on paper or cut out scraps.
Living material accumulates in crumbs and would be enough for dozens of books today. And I want to tell the children that birds are the most beautiful part of the living world, that they are very interesting, mysterious. No matter how much we know about them, there is so much more to their unknown world …
– Bird watching requires a lot of patience. Is this book a way to slow down, to learn to observe nature closely? What do these experiences bring to children?
– Observing birds is above all your VISION. This is definitely not the action when a flock of birds is watching …
It is usually an informative business, although very relevant and good. It is important for us to see the bird even when we are in a hurry; after all, it is not necessary to stand up, sit comfortably – the most interesting case often shines only for a moment, lights up like a revelation, and stays for a long time. Then you take it, you see, you think and you understand: those moments are worth living.
God forbid if they weren’t there. Children need all the experience. I know talented young ornithologists who once discovered birds themselves. I would call them anointed. However, that beginning is just an application for the future.
I suggest everyone to go to the world to study ornithology, because there are no such studies in Lithuania. I think that approach also says a lot about the state, the quality of its teaching and its science …
– What are your bird watching experiences? What are the coolest cases you’ve been waiting for around the corner?
– The experience is very wide. I remember that in my house in the desert I was surrounded by nature, birds. Unfortunately, I did not have a single book to know them, many of them had to make up names themselves. I named the finch margarita, well how would I know that it is one of the simplest birds on our earth?
Once again, as a child, I looked out the barn window at the chicken coop, which had caught our hen a few feet away and was feeding her. It was so exciting! It is true that the family lost another chicken, but now it is difficult to see the hawk from so far away …
More brass. Then they crawled on cables everywhere, as beautiful as brightly colored wings of tropical colors. Today there are 4-5 breeding pairs left in Lithuania …
Today everything seems easier to achieve. Oh, and photography … The hardware that I can use now just didn’t exist then. But it is sad to say that many things are gone, many things have irreversibly disappeared in my time. And those who study birds will rejoice in them, now they will not even think about it.
– Do you have your favorite bird? What rare specimens have you seen?
– To me, all birds are amazing, especially the house sparrow. But the most beautiful are the winches. Since childhood, when they were very rare, he could only see up close if he had waited a long time or if he had pierced the cripple.
I’m not looking for oddities, I think it’s a whim of the inferiority complex. But even without it, sometimes things happen that you didn’t expect.
Thus, for the first time in Lithuania, I saw a great thief, a seabird near the seagulls, or I saw a hawk hunting near Žuvintas. And everything else is fun when you discover something new, sometimes even extraordinary observations of a common bird.
I always knew, but only when I saw it did I become convinced that crows could break hard objects (nuts, bivalve mollusks) by throwing them from the air onto the asphalt.
Or, I always knew about albinos, white birds without pigments, but only when I met them in the wild was I able to experience a lot of joy.
– Is the Lithuanian bird community, so to speak, large? Which birds are most threatened and which are emerging?
– 400 species of birds live and breed in Lithuania, although they were once found. Some of them are just guests, a small part lives sedentary, others are travelers.
I saw sea eagles, great cormorants, great white herons, whooper swans, and southern purple birds return to Lithuania and start migrating; they weren’t here before.
But even more birds are drastically disappearing. Sad to say, but many of our grandchildren will no longer see grouse, partridges, grebes, squirrels, worms … We live in such a way that there is no place for flyers. Apparently, this is another incentive to write such books.
– If the families were to walk to observe the birds, what advice would you give them?
– This is like going to the library, and do you read or pay? Then you need to discover the desire in yourself, the fire to see the birds, to know them for yourself, to listen to them.
If you have a finger and a name, there will be none of that. You don’t learn that way. So you need very little: the desire, a good book about birds, and go out to your patio where you can recognize the species that live here.
And the swamps? What about the rare ones? Wait, patience: the history of art doesn’t start with singularity, it started with human drawings on a rock.
– Is it possible to observe birds in the city, or is it necessary to do it only in nature?
– In our cities you can see dozens of species of birds, and now, in spring, cranes, storks, geese and predators also fly overhead. At night, they crawl even more, during the day they crawl … Then the city is not only our home, but also a birdhouse. Knowing your neighbors is not only possible, but also necessary.
– What would happen if one day there were no birds left on our Earth?
– It’s a very bad question, but … then there would be no one left. Because birds are not only indicators of environmental quality. They are a dream, people have always envied them and have learned a lot from them. Well, no, it can’t be!
– And at the end – question from granddaughter Skajus: Why do eagles have big eyes? What do they see so good?
– Eagles are hunters. The eyes are an important organ for them, warning the prey, helping to find it.
The sea eagle can see its prey for a kilometer, even more. And the ashes in the meadow do not even realize that the crouching harrier perched on the hay sees him and waits for the right moment.
This is the case in the wild: some hunt each other. However, this is not cruel, it is a daily process that leads to a successful life in the world of the living.
