On the other side of the world
10-12-2021
Winter is a time of darkness in Lithuania and most of the birds left the country. Common and Little terns also migrate every year to Africa.
Common terns leaving their breeding areas in August. They mainly migrate along the seacoast. This species is a long-distance migrant – they spent winter months at the seacoast of the South Africa. Common terns feed in the ocean and overnight at the coast. The new breeding pairs are usually formed during the winter or migration, when coming back to raise new generation in our country.
Little terns spent winter at the seacoast of the Indian Ocean at the Eastern Africa or at the Red Sea coast. Birds from the Western Europe usually winter in West Africa at the seacoast of the Pacific Ocean, where a part of birds from Lithuania also wintering. Little terns migrate along the large rivers, not along the seacoast.
Little Tern. Photo by Remigijaus Gegelevičius
