Common and Little terns coming back to the breeding sites
30-04-2020
The birds are coming back after wintering – the first sightings of Common Tern this year were registered by Saulius Karalius at the Lithuanian seacoast on 8th of April. On April 24th the first sightings of Little Tern (3 birds) at the same place were registered by the same ornithologist. On the same day member of the project team Eugenijus Drobelis observed a mating ritual of Little Tern on the island near Lipliunai settlement in Nemunas river. These observations are the first in the country in 2020.
Information provided by various ornithologists around the country gives more information on the first sightings in the project sites. The first Common terns in Nemunas delta were seen by Vytautas Eigirdas on 14th of April. Selemonas Paltanavičius has observed 4 individuals of Common Tern in Novaraistis SPA on 20th of April, Julius Morkūnas – on 21st of April in Kalviai gravel pit SPA. On the same day Daiva Norkūnienė saw the first Common Tern in the eastern part of Lithuania in the Vasaknos fishponds SPA. The first four Common terns on the island of Lake Kretuonas were registered by Gintaras Varnas on 23rd of April. On 24th of April Eugenijus Drobelis saw two pairs of Common Tern on the island near Lipliunai settlement IBA.
Eglė Pakštytė saw 8 individuals of Common Tern and 4 Little terns on the islands of Nemunas river near Vilkija and two Common terns on the islands near Raudone on 25th of April. Saulius Medžionis has reported his observations of Common and Little terns on the islands of Nemunas river near Prienai on 26th of April.
Little Tern. Photo by Eugenijus Drobelis
Soon we can expect all the terns back to the breeding places – first Common terns are coming followed by the Little terns. Numerous practical conservation actions were implemented; therefore we expect successful breeding season in 2020.
