Latvia Day 8

Our planned mornings surveying was interrupted by rain, which was just as well given that we arrived at Gaidis’ house in the city of Daugavpils at 04.00 in the morning after an overnight drive. It’s fair to say that we were not particularly lively in the morning. In fact we did not get out birding until midday. The rain continued to fall but we had an excellent afternoons birding with a wide selection of species.

Our first stop was a medium sized lake called Sunezers, still within the city boundary. The birding here was absolutely brilliant. We had a single Black Tern, the first Latvian Swift for the year, three Bluethroats (Including a Red-spotted, which is quite rare here), Penduline Tit and a very showy Great Reed Warbler. But the standout birds were the Little Bitterns. We had at least three individuals flying around including two males fighting right out in the open. They were not shy like I have come to expect from this species.

Next after a few more short stops we called off at another lake called Lubasts, further out from the city. It was really good, with big numbers of Black Terns flying around and the first Honey Buzzard for Latvia for the year. There were Hobbys hunting overhead and good numbers of Garganey. On the way back we called in to a few other small sites where we had Little Ringed Plover and Little Tern which were both new species for me for the trip.

In the evening we headed off to a new location to do some surveys in the morning. The site had lekking Great Snipe although it took some effort to find them. In the end we had some seven individuals displaying around us, but we were only able to find one with the torch as a thick fog had set in and made viewing difficult.

-Little Bittern

-Great Reed Warbler

-Penduline Tit

Species List:

Sunezers: Mute Swan, Mallard, Pochard, Goldeneye, Great Crested Grebe, Common Swift, Coot, Common Sandpiper, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Black Tern, Common Tern, Little Bittern, Western Marsh Harrier, Jackdaw, Hooded Crow, Eurasian Skylark, Sand Martin, Barn Swallow, Eurasian Penduline Tit, Willow Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Great Reed Warbler, Savi’s Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Bluethroat, Whinchat, Wheatear, Song Thrush, Starling, Blue-headed Wagtail, Grey-headed Wagtail, White Wagtail, Tree Pipit, Reed Bunting, Tree Sparrow,

Lubasts: Garganey, Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard, Eurasian Teal, Woodpigeon, Cuckoo, Water Rail, Crane, Lapwing, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Black Tern, Common Tern, Great White Egret, European Honey Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Hobby, Barn Swallow, Great Tit, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Great Reed Warbler, Savi’s Warbler, Blackcap, Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Spotted Flycatcher, European Robin, Common Redstart, Black Redstart, Song Thrush, Blackbird, Starling, White Wagtail, Chaffinch, Hawfinch, Greenfinch, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Tree Sparrow, Green-veined White,