Azure Tit in Vilnius, Lithuania

My latest birding trip to Eastern Europe was to Lithuania, my sixth visit to the country. It is my favourite of the three Baltic Countries and I decided to split the week between Klaipeda and Vilnius. I arrived at Vilnius airport on time, which was something of a surprise, since I was expecting something that wasn’t quite as advertised. Since my glass is often half empty, I had booked a coach to Klaipeda in the mid afternoon, meaning a three hour wait at the airport and then a four hour coach journey. I somehow managed to get on the earlier coach at 11.50 am and arrived in Klaipeda at 4 pm.

I found my hotel near to the ferry terminal and next morning after a hearty breakfast, having managed to avoid a group of boisterous Germans in the queue, I caught the ferry over to the Curonian Spit at 8 am. A twenty minute walk to the Baltic sea side of the spit it was immediately apparent that there was lots of migration taking place.

Ringed Black-headed Gull, ringed in 2013 in Klaipeda, but spends a lot of time in Poznan, Poland

I walked along the coast eastwards and the water was calm, I did see five great egrets and a number of great crested grebes and Gulls. There were waves of finches passing overhead also skylarks and thrushes. I would estimate a few thousand flew overhead, occasionally I checked the bushes in the dunes and saw lots of Goldcrest and Tit flocks, including white headed Long-tailed and Crested. In the wooded area at the tip of the spit a Black Woodpecker flew in front of me.

Long-tailed Tit

Higher up were skeins of White-fronted geese and some Common Cranes. The weather was warm and I was a little weary after finally making my way back to the ferry. The evening meal was early and was grateful because as I was leaving a mass arrival of the Germans had the noise levels rising.

Common Cranes

The next day I arranged an early breakfast and arranged a local birding guide to take me to some well known birding spots on the spit. We took the 7 am ferry and arrived at Nida for a migration watch at the Sundial. There were lots of Goldcrest, Thrushes, Finches, Yellowhammers, Eurasian Sparrowhawks and Tits on migration. Also Black-throated Divers flying towards the Lagoon. Next was a sea watch, where we saw a number of Velvet Scoters, Great Crested Grebes, a Slavonian Grebe, Guillemots and Razorbills. We checked out a couple of gull sites and saw Caspian Gulls in amongst Black-headed, Common and Herring. Next stop was in the dunes at the widest part of the spit and the highlight was seeing 7 Hen Harriers and a Pallid Harrier, as well as Sparrowhawks and a White-tailed Eagle. Also plenty of migration. We went back to Nida for lunch and then went to Smiltyne, to the same place where I was the day before. We finished about 5 pm and I couldn’t avoid the noise in the restaurant that evening.

Hen Harrier

The next day there was no time for birding as i travelled by train to Vilnius which took four hours. My hotel was a little outside the Old town. I picked up a transport card from the Railway station and was pleased that I had bought one.

I had an early start the next day, when I had to queue at breakfast to be served, not Germans but Americans. I just about managed to catch my bus that only runs every 2 hours or so. I went to Baltoji Voke, about 35 km outside Vilnius. It was a cloudy day but next to no wind. I walked down from the main road and the first bird of note I spotted was a Great=grey Shrike, one of about eight I saw during the day. I walked along a track to scope one of the lakes and saw Tufted Ducks, Common Pochards, Goldeneye, Coots and Mute swans. A lot less wildfowl than on my last visit a year earlier. I walked further up and saw some Willow Tits with white cheeks some Yellowhammers and Thrushes. Then I saw a bird above a Blue Tit on a tree and wasn’t sure what it was, I took a few pics and tried to get a little closer, but to do so I had to walk past a tall tree. The bird had flown. From the pictures I had I could see it was an Azure Tit and I was not expecting that.

Bird of the trip, Azure Tit

A lifer for me and I was later to find out that it was only the 5th recorded sighting of the bird in Lithuania. I walked on for a while but not much else apart from a Raven and White-tailed Eagle and I headed towards another lake where I could see Teal, Wigeon and Mallard and Whooper Swans. Carrying my camera, binoculars and telescope and all the walking had taken its toll on my left knee. I hobbled back to the bus stop for a 50 minute drive back to Vilnius.

Great-grey Shrike

The next day, breakfast was served later and I wasn’t early enough to avoid queuing behind an Estonian fencing team, but the Americans had departed. It was Saturday and I wanted to get to Vingis Park early anticipating that it would be busy in the park on a nice sunny day. My knee was sore and I was walking quite slow, I heard a familiar sound from high up and there were about a dozen waxwing, but were mobile.

Waxwing

Also I saw Hawfinch, Thrushes, many Great Spotted Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and Treecreepers. There were a small number of Goosanders on the River Neris. Walking back I was told off by an elderly man in Lithuanian, with hand signals, I was walking on the wrong side of the path. I was feeling a little rebellious and carried on walking on the “wrong” side.

My evening meal was a short hobble away from the hotel for a Chinese.

The next day I was first to breakfast and the Estonian fencers were queuing up behind me. I was still struggling a bit with my knee and went to Pavilniu Regional Park just outside the city. There were only a few common birds here, although a Black Woodpecker was nice and a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker was heard. A walk along the River Vilnia was pleasant and there were lots of people out. I headed back and had an evening meal in the Old town which was tasty.

Nuthatch

The next day I was departing back home, and I was again first to breakfast, where Chinese tourists had queued behind me, but they were much quieter. I made my way to the airport on one of the frequent express buses. I was mightily surprised that the plane departed on time and arrived in Liverpool ahead of schedule. A reminder i was back in Liverpool was misbehaving kids on the upper deck of the bus….

An excellent birding trip to Lithuania again.