The biggest predator of the skies of Lithuania is the sea eagle, the inhabitant of the old forests is the black stork, the tawny Lapland owl, the rare snakehead and the fisherman who loves lakes. All these rare birds can now be observed during live broadcasts. Special cameras installed near the nests by research ornithologists reveal the life of birds that until now has only been seen by scientists. Broadcasts will run until the end of summer.
According to the authors of the conservation initiative, there is currently one young sea eagle in the nest, other birds are hatching their first eggs, and some are still cleaning the nests that have opened after the winter and are preparing for the transition period, which will last more than a month.
"Exactly a year ago, for the first time, we gave people interested in birds the opportunity to closely observe the daily life of eagle fishers. This year, seeing how popular the broadcasts have become and what benefits they have brought to the study of rare species, we implemented an even more ambitious plan with Lithuanian bird research specialists - five live broadcasts at once.
For some, it will be an opportunity to get acquainted with unseen protected birds, and for ornithologists - to gather valuable information about the biology, behavior, ecology of each species", says Marius Karlonas, the founder of "Ornitostogs", which initiated the broadcasts.
The cameras are mounted at a safe distance from the nests and record without disturbing the birds. All the necessary equipment was financed and built by the transport and logistics company "Transtira", a partner of the initiative, and was erected by professional arborists from the highlands. Some of the cameras were raised even to a height of several tens of meters. For example, a sea eagle's nest is stacked in a tall aspen, and a kingfisher's nest is at the very top of a pine tree.
Bird life can be monitored in real-time via computer or smartphone, and if you miss something important, you can view a 24-hour recording.
Survival dramas in nests
Karlon notes that live streaming shows bird life as it really is – unadorned and full of drama that doesn't always end happily. Last year, for example, viewers of the broadcast witnessed a peregrine falcon snatch hatchlings from the nest one after the other over the course of several days.
There is no shortage of first dramas this year as well. At the end of March, after wintering in Africa, the female fisher, whom people gave the name Laumė, had to fight back both the male and the old nest from the foreign female. And the black storks were attacked one night by a house owl living in the neighborhood.
"There are no good and bad characters in nature, everything happens here according to a simple principle - only the strongest and most cunning survive. Therefore, I invite you to watch these broadcasts as an unpredictable chronicle of wild nature and to evaluate everything that happens in the nests by abandoning the moral categories acceptable to us humans. Nature is indeed simple and fair, nothing happens without a reason," says the ornithologist.
The rarest one settled in Dainava forest
All observed birds are different both in their habitats and behavioral characteristics. The rarest of them - the Lapland owl and the snake - chose the pine forests of Dainava forest as their home.
A pair of owls recorded by video cameras married children in the same nest last year as well. True, after the fall, the nest had fallen apart, so with the help of "Transtira" an artificial nest was built for them.
Naturally, the Lapland owl is a bird of the northern regions, but an isolated and rather abundant population of these birds has settled in Belarus, from which it is gradually spreading to our region. It is believed that in 2023 5-10 pairs of these birds could breed in Lithuania.
Meanwhile, the first case of the transition of snakes in Lithuania was recorded only a few years ago. Ornithologist Eugenijus Drobelis discovered their nest in the Dainava forest. Only up to 5 pairs can breed in our country every year.
As the camera recording showed, the pair of vipers returned to the nest on April 1. At this time, the members of the pair are carrying pine branches to the clump and preparing for transition. Usually the female lays only one egg. This southern bird, as its name suggests, feeds on snakes, lizards and amphibians.
The live broadcasts are carried out in close cooperation with the Lithuanian Ornithological Society (LOD) and the Kaunas Tad Ivanauskas Zoological Museum, which are currently preparing the book "Lithuanian Fauna. Birds". All material on the breeding biology and ecology of birds will be used in the aforementioned publication and in future scientific publications. Broadcasts take place with permits issued by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Live broadcasts from bird nests can be watched on the page www.ornitostogos.lt
