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  Lapwings

 

From early in the morning until one o’clock today urban birds were in focus for bird friends. Despite the windy weather the City birdwatch arranged every spring by the Estonian Ornithological Society brought out 100 bird friends to observe the doings of our feathered neighbours. The number of participating cities (19) was the highest in the 10-year history of the competition.

While usually only cities on the coast have made it into the top three in terms of abundance of species, this year the longest species list unexpectedly came from Tartu instead, where the participants managed to note 57 species. At least fifty species were also observed in Tallinn (54), Haapsalu (53) and Kärdla (50). Altogether 91 different native bird species were seen-heard within the event.

There were many migrant birds among the observed birds: as expected various goose species, shelduck, crane, lapwing, oystercatcher, skylark, robin and chaffinch. The most exciting observation was the grey wagtail seen in Tartu; it is a rare passing migrant and nester here.

The city birdwatch is arranged already since 2002, and with it the Estonian Ornithological Society tries to draw attention to the biodiversity in our urban environment and the start of the migratory birds’ arrivals.