Thaw and favourable winds set migrants moving

Lapwing.

 

Mati Martinson at the Sõrve bird station met the first skylarks already before the weekend; lapwings have been seen both on Saaremaa and Hiiumaa.

It seems early, it is still only February and „half the snow should still be in heaven“. Last week's  thaw of  and of course the strong southerly winds set the migrants moving. Urmas Sellis was in Latvia, in Kolka, and there was very little snow. –  So many favourable circumstances coincide; the fields in the islands are already partly snow-free. The risk for early arrivals to perish in a severe cold wave is great and from the exhaustion due to lack of food nesting can fail. But precisely the same story is repeated from year to year ...