Three days spring tour in Western

Western Lithuania is located on the most imortant birds migration route in Wester Palearctic. Each spring millions of birds pass along the towards breeding grounds in and Russia. Geese, ducks, seabirds, raptors, waders, passerines – all of them are passing over the Baltic‘s and landing to the particular areas to have a rest and feed before continuing their journey. One of the most important stopover place of the Eastern Baltic is an area of the , while the Curonian is a bottle-neck site for migratory raptors, paseerine and other birds. At the same time, huge Karšuva and neighbouring woodlands with various forest habitats is a home of the boreal bird species – grouses, owls, woodpeckers and others.

1st day. Curronian Spit National Park – on the western shore of the there is a 100 km long and up to up to 3 km wide land belt of sandy dunes called the . This natural phenomenon is the only place in the Baltic states where birds, especially passerines and rapotors, use as a highway and the numbers passing through on the season’s peak days surpass one million. The Baltic Sea’s coastal waters are an important stopover and wintering site for seabirds; espacially seaducks and divers. The big variety of the gulls is also characteristic for this area.

Curonian Spit. Photo Marius Karlonas

2nd day. Nemunas delta Regional Park – a huge nature complex of the flooded meadows, shallow bays of the Curonian Lagoon, oxbow lakes, mires with flooded forests of the Nemunas delta create unrivaled conditions for hydreds of thousands of swans, ducks, geese and waders to stop and rest in spring at the half-way point to the breeding sites in the North. The site is also

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important breeding place for various threatened bird species – ducks, waders, terns, raptrors and others.

Geese in Nemunas delta. Photo Marius Karlonas

1. 3rd day. Woodlasnds arround the Rambynas Regional Park – to offer some relief after the spectacle of Western Lithuania’s bird migration, the route travels towards East along Nemunas river to Rambynas Regional Park. Birdwathers knows this Park and it’s surroundings well for it’s great variety of raptors, owls, woodpeckers and grouses (Lesser Spotted Eagle, Red and Black kites, White-tailed Eagle, Boreal and Pygmy owls, White-backed, Three-toed, Middle-spotted, Grey-headed and Black woodpeckers, Black and Hazel Grouses). The flooded meadows arround the Rambynas, Šerėlaukis and Karšuva forets is almost perfect spot for water birds and birdwatchers as well.

Grey-headed woodpecker. Photo Armandas Naudžius

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Target Species: Thousands of geese (White-fronted, Bean, Pink-footed, Lesser White-fronted, Barnacle, etc.); various duck species (Velvet Scoter, Black Scoter, Goosander, Smew, Long-tailed duck, Pochard, Scaup, etc.); Black and Red-throated Divers; gulls (Greater Black-backed, Caspian, Little, etc.); waders (Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Eurasian Curlew, etc.); Lesser and Greater-spotted Eagles, White-tailed Eagle, Red Kite, Boreal and Pygmy Owls, Black and Hazel Grouses, Three-toed Woodpecker, White-backed Woodpecker, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Grey Woodpecker, Black Woodpecker, Common Crane, Great Grey Shrike, Nutrcacker. Up to 110 different species will be seen during this tour.

Itinerary: March 31st Starting in the morning from Klaipėda – birding in Curonian Spit - in the evening dirving to the Nemunas river delta.

April 1st Birding in Nemunas river delta - in the afternoon driving to the Rambynas Regional Park with birding around Pagėgiai town on the way. Evening visits of the owls sites.

April 2nd Morning birding around Rambynas Regional Park (woodpeckers and grouses) and driving to the airport.

Details Date: 2018 March 31st – April 2nd. (3 days / 2 nights). Starting point: Klaipėda Tour ends: Palanga (posible transfer to Vilnius if your flight is late in the evening of April 2nd or next day) Group: min - 6, max - 15 persons Language: English Tour leader: Liutauras Raudonikis Distance: ~600 km Accomodation: 2 high quality local hotels in the countryside. Food: included three meals per day. Price: 450 eur/ pp. Registration deadline: 2018 January 15th Registration email: [email protected] Additional information. If the most birders of the group will wish, we will organize transfer of customers from Klaipeda to the Nida town on the Curonian Spit immediately after the end of the Conference, i.e. on the 30th March. This allow to have more time for birding on the 31st March. However, the accomodation will be on the own budget of the customers, although organizers can make booking of high quality hotel for resonable price in Nida.

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