Sightseeing routes

Kuršių Nerija paukščių stebėjimo maršrutas

Kopgalis – Juodkrantė prie marių ir prie jūros – Negyvosios kopos pažintinis takas – Pervalkos prie jūros ir prie marių – Preilos prie jūros ir prie marių – Vecekrugo kopos takas – Nidos saules laikrodis apžvalgos taškas – Nidos prie marių ir prie jūros – Klaipėda. Skirtinguose sezonuose bus sąrašai pagal laiką ir vietą, ką rekomenduojama aplankyti ir kokio paros laiko. Paukščių stebėjimas ir edukacinis žaidimas. Pavieniams turistams ir jaunoms šeimoms su vaikais ir senjorams. Grupės nuo 2 iki 6 asmenų. Amžius nuo 5 iki 65 metų (jeigu tai reliatyvu). 1 dienos maršrutas (min. 6 val.)  Pavasaris ir Ruduo (rekomenduoju visiems) – suaugusiems be vaikų įmanoma ir žiemą. Šeimoms su vaikais vasarą (tik ryte arba vakare).

Nemuno Deltos paukščių stebėjimo maršrutas

Kintai – Ventės ragas – Minija – Krokų lankos ežeras – Minijos miškas – Tulkiaragė – Rupkalviai – Žalgirio miškas – Sausgalviai – Rusnė – Uostadvaris – Pakalnės pažintinis takas – Naikupė – Vorusnė – Bevardis upelis – Skirvytė – Kintai; Skirtinguose sezonuose bus sąrašai pagal laiką ir vietą, ką rekomenduojama aplankyti ir kokio paros laiko. Paukščių stebėjimas ir edukacinis žaidimas. Pavieniams turistams ir jaunoms šeimoms su vaikais ir senjorams. Grupės nuo 2 iki 6 asmenų. Amžius nuo 5 iki 65 metų (jeigu tai reliatyvu). 1 dienos maršrutas (min. 6 val.)  Pavasaris ir Ruduo (rekomenduoju visiems) – suaugusiems be vaikų įmanoma ir žiemą. Šeimoms su vaikais vasarą (tik ryte arba vakare).

Pasienio paslapčių – paukščių stebėjimo maršrutas laiveliu “Upė”

Uostadvaris – Krokų lankos ežeras – Rusnė – Skirvytės sala – Ragininkų sala ir Leitės žiotis – Uostadvaris Skirtinguose sezonuose bus sąrašai pagal laiką ir vietą, ką rekomenduojama aplankyti ir kokio paros laiko. Paukščių stebėjimas ir edukacinis žaidimas. Pavieniams turistams ir jaunoms šeimoms su vaikais ir senjorams. Grupės nuo 6 iki 11 asmenų. Amžius nuo 5 iki 65 metų (jeigu tai reliatyvu nes realiai ne apriboju iki kiek metų). 1 dienos maršrutas (min. 6 val.)  Pavasaris ir Ruduo (rekomenduoju visiems). Šeimoms su vaikais – vasarą.

Bush, forest, grove and hurst resounded with sweet song;
Green fields and meadows rang with mingling melodies.
The cuckoo and the thrush sang their most joyous songs
That gave glad, grateful praise to the Eternal Lord.

Every year, when Nemunas delta floods back, spring is reborn. It is the season when the most beautiful transformations of nature take place. As early as in the 18th century, Kristijonas Donelaitis, the pioneer of Lithuanian fiction in Lithuania Minor, described those transformations in his book called Seasons, he did not spare the most beautiful epithets for the birds and their songs.
Already after Šaktarpis – a time when one cannot swim through or cross the ice on Nemunas delta – the first birds appear with their trumpeting voices: Whooper Swans and Tundra Swans. Their voices echo through all the flooded meadows, announcing the coming of spring. Skylarks have been singing in the sky since dawn, and Goosanders, Smews, Tufted ducks, and Goldeneyes can be seen swiftly passing through a small opening in the Lagoon.
The cheerful voices of the Common Cranes echo in the outskirts, bogs as well as sky, and Snow Buntings fly over the melting floes. Peewits welcome you with a screaming shout “live live”, and Aquatic warbler marks the boundaries in Sausgalviai and Minija polders with impressive pirouettes.
At that time, somewhere far away in the ancient forests, the songs of the returned songbirds break one’s heart. Having flown away, Thrushes, Robins, Wrens, Chaffinches, and Leaf Warblers announce the joy of returning home.
And the loud drummers, from the Esser Spotted Woodpecker to the Black Woodpecker, are speeding up and slowing down their knocking into the withered branches and keep marking their territories.
In the Baltic Sea, near the Black Shore (Juodkrantė), not far into the north, Long-tailed Ducks and Velvet Scoters gracefully demonstrate their rituals in breeding clothing, while Woodlarks and Tawny Pipits, just like skilled parachutists, try to reach the blue sky with their mating flights.

Thousands of Greater White-fronted Geese, Taiga Bean Geese, Tundra Bean Geese and Greylag Geese, and only few Red-breasted Geese, Lesser White-fronted Geese, and Pink-footed Geese are singing in the Lagoon from Nida to Ventė Cape, from Dreverna to Rambynas Hill.
As the water level drops, waders, from the Little stint to the Greenshank, begin to wander in the shallow rivers and streams as well as puddles in the meadows.
Sakučiai forest is already available, where the first Lesser Spotted Eagles and Hobby Falcons are waiting. The nests of True Thrushes, which were used last year, are now occupied by the Green Sandpipers, and the Black Terns are flying in the sky above the Nameless stream.
It seems that one could keep telling stories about the inexhaustible living treasures of Nemunas Delta and Curonian Spit, but words cannot describe them. If you are traveling together, you feel how much they don’t describe. How much feeling and emotions we get by being here in the wild.

Summer is another extremely fun and colorful season in Nemunas Delta. During the summer, all the meadows are full of life, and the migrants from the farthest countries return here to breed more than once per season.
Summer days are much longer than nights, so the action takes place around the clock. About 150 species of birds can be seen and heard per day. For experienced birdwatchers, this is neither too much nor too little, but it should be noted that Lithuania Minor is only a small part of Lithuania in terms of area and so many birds visit it.
At night, the meadows simply do not fall asleep to the playing sounds of Corncrake, dre-dre, Aquatic Warblers songs, Great snipes, and Common snipes mating voices.
Life on the shore of Curonian Spit has also been bustling in the early morning. Shortly after sunset, the Great and Little Bitterns surprise with their peculiar voices, one sounds like blowing an empty bottle, and the other quietly and mysteriously clucking from the reeds near Kniaupas Bay or Nameless stream. A colony of the largest Black Terns in Lithuania echoes on the overgrown reed shores until late evening.
The fore reserve of Nemunas delta also has its celebrities: Citrine Wagtaiis, Bearded Reedlings, Short-eared Owls and Greylag Geese with their numerous goslings. The Great Crested Grebes are building their nests like boats on the leaves of Lilies and Nuphars. And later, the abandoned nest will be used by Whiskered Terns.
At that time, two other special songbirds returned to the ancient forest of Curonian Spit: Greenish Warbler and Red-breasted Flycatcher. Even more noise is coming from the nearby colony of Great Cormorants and Gray Herons, where their hungry offspring are already crying. Although it seems that only dried trees remain after their colonies – a natural forest, an oasis of biodiversity – is really being reborn here. Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, Greater Spotted Woodpeckers, Black Woodpeckers are staying to breed here, and when they abandon their hollows next year, smaller birds like: Tits, Flycatchers, or even Stock Doves that are included in the List of extinct and endangered species of Lithuania take their place.
The night changes the day in Nemunas delta, and the concert of songbird virtuosos echoes along the reeds and delta lakes. Grasshopper, River and Savi’s Warblers, Blyth’s Reed Warblers, Sedge Warblers, Bluethroats, and, of course, all the mysterious family of Moorhens: Water Rail, Little Crake, Spotted Crake, and Coot are sharing their songs.
And the young males of the Thrush Nightingale that still cannot find a partner, will be singing almost every day all summer long. With their solo performance, we will complete this review of the summer season. Thus, how wonderful it is to travel around the territories of Lithuania Minor in the summer.

There is probably no doubt that the colorful autumn is the brightest and most picturesque time of the year. It is even more special in Nemunas delta and Curonian Spit, since the largest migration route for birds in Western Siberia and Scandinavia goes through here. After the natural narrowing of the migration route formed at Kopgalis, 70 percent of the migrating birds choose to fly over Curonian Spit, the rest get lost on the eastern shore of Curonian Lagoon and end up in one of the oldest bird ringing stations. The ringed birds continue their journey through Kaliningrad Oblast. At that time, the birds migration over the dunes and Black Shore’s (Juodkrantė) ancient forest is reminiscent of a flowing mountain stream, and the number of birds flying through here can reach several millions per day!
The first to leave their spots are: Chaffinches and Bramblings, Goldcrests, variety of Tits, Blackbirds, Mistle Thrushes, Redwings and Song Thrushes, Siskins and Dunnocks.
As the weather of an autumn day heats up, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., the migration of birds of prey begins. Sparrowhawks, Goshawks, Marsh and Hen Harriers, Peregrine Falcons, Hobby Falcons, Merlins, Kestrels, Common and Rough-legged Buzzards, Ospreys, White-tailed Eagles and Honey Buzzards are flying alone or in squads.
During autumn, the breeding birds in Nemunas delta are preparing for the upcoming migration and feeding intensively on arable lands. Common Cranes, Greylag Geese, Lapwings, Golden Plovers, Starlings and Common Gulls are gathering to squads. In autumn, the offspring of Common and Great Reed Warblers, Reed Buntings and Sedge Warblers are beeping and clamoring in the reeds again.
Only the offspring of Whiskered Terns and the last Common Sandpipers remain in Kniaupas Bay and Krokų Lanka Lake. At the moment, birds voices are only heard in the mornings, but these are no longer songs, but rather contact and flight voices that are a headache even for advanced bird watchers.
Although there seems to be a complete silence at night, but it is deceiving. Many bird species migrate during autumn nights, especially in mid-October, which is the peak of autumn migration.
Every year in Nemunas Delta and on the shores of the Baltic Sea, the Finnish birdwatching rally event, which was adopted in Lithuania, takes place. During the event the teams compete which one will hear and see as many birds as possible within 12 hours.
During this period, distant Siberian winged migrants, that is Blue-tailed Redflanks, Pectoral Sandpipers, Pallas and Yellow-browed Leaf Warblers start flying through Lithuania.
More and more new bird species are being found not only in the delta, but also in the bushes and the beach of Kopgalis. The Baltic Sea is already experiencing a very high migration of waterbirds. Velvet Scoters, Long-tailed Ducks, Black Throated and Red Throated divers are rushing to find a spot to stay for the winter near Curonian Spit. Great Crested and Slavonian Grebes, Razorbills and Common Guillemots are also preparing to stay here for the winter, and Long-eared and Short-eared owls are on their way to warm climate countries. The thing to be happy about is that by mid-November, depending on the weather conditions, it is possible to see and ring more than 100 Eagle Owls, and a few Boreal Owls.
With the first snow and the weather getting worse, the birds are migrating less and less, and the rest are preparing for the upcoming winter, accumulating fat and changing their feeding habits.
It is time to clean and hang the feeders and wait for the first guests, it is also a good time to clean the nesting boxes that have already been used in the summer.
Common Starlings, Whooper Swans and also Curlews are staying for the winter at Nemunas delta more often.
In autumn, all the trees are putting on bright colors, and the Baltic Sea is awarding us with pieces of amber more often. Plan your autumn vacation with us and go on cognitive nature tours recognized as a prominent attraction of Curonian Spit National park.

When the ground is covered with a white winter cloak, and the winged creatures are less and less common in the Lithuanian sky, various species of them can be found in Nemunas delta and Curonian Spit.
Spotted Redshanks and Golden Plovers have stayed here for the winter over the last year. Eurasian Curlew is staying here more often, too. As the climate gets warmer and the winter becomes less harsh, we can listen to the melodic trumpets of the Whooper Swans, whose have already flown back or have not left Lithuania, at the end of January. Later, as Curonian Spit is covered with ice, they are on their way to the south. It should be noted that in 2019 and 2020, White-fronted and Tundra Bean geese have spent the winter at the Lithuanian boarder with Latvia for the first time in the last century.
The Baltic Sea is a winter paradise for birds. Non-freezing sea that always has something to offer attracts Snow Buntings, the beautiful Long-tailed ducks and also Velvet Scoters, whose are distinguished by their unique features and an impressive beak shape, during winter.
Bohemian waxwings are tasting rowan, juniper and hawthorn berries in Neringa. Having taken a closer look at the openings and Klaipėda piers, one can see Gray Seals and a rare Steller Eider or at least a Common Eider swimming near the coast.
Returning from the Curonian Spit, it is worth stopping in Kintai forest. The sounds of the winter birds are spellbinding and remind of a true winter fairytale. Here one can meet the smallest owl in Lithuania – Pygmy Owl that is breeding in this massif. Short-eared and Long-eared Owls are choosing Šyša polders as a spot to spend the wintertime.
One can observe Snow Buntings, Lapland Buntings, Rough-legged Buzzards in the vicinity of Nemunas delta during winter. One can also see Hen Harriers flying above the ground, Dippers flying over the water, Hawkowls in gushing streams or on electricity wires scanning the meadows with their yellow eyes, as well as Great Gray Shrike. In fact, some of the species do not appear on Nemunas delta every year, and some appeared only a year ago like the Ural Owl, for example. Previously, one had to travel to the northern regions of Lithuania to see it.
Woodlark spending its winter in Ventė Cape feeder is a real joy as well as Blackcaps that are ringed during winter.
A synchronized accounting of birds spending their winter, which is carried out in mid-January in Nemunas delta and Curonian Spit as well as all of Europe, after a long break was initiated only in 2010 in Lithuania. We invite you to contact Lithuanian Ornithological Society and be a part of our accounting team.
As a nature photographer and the founder of wildlife photography hideouts, a small partnership “Four Eagles” is proud to welcome all wildlife photographers, we provide an opportunity to capture shots of White-tailed Eagles and other no less impressive birds since 2016. Bird photography season begins in September and continues up to the end of March, when the fifth season of the year begins that is the flood season in Nemunas delta. No matter how rarely winter visits Lithuania Minor, here it is the most beautiful. We sincerely invite you to admire the winged guests from the far north, individually or with us, in the hideouts of White-tailed Eagles. See you soon.

Funded by the project: