2024.08.23

Storks leave Lithuania

The 24th of August is St. Bartholomew Day, or storks’ departure day from Lithuania.

In recent years, White Storks have been observed to leave their breeding grounds in Lithuania earlier – to date, only single White Storks can be seen standing in their nests or following tractors ploughing the fields. Most of the birds started their southward journey in mid-August or even earlier. This year, researchers of the Laboratory of Avian Ecology of Nature Research Centre are tracking 11 adult White Storks by telemetry transmitters. The first three storks were tracked to leave their breeding grounds on 9 August, i.e. before 24 August, the storks’ departure date, and soon were followed by most of the remaining birds. To date, only one bird tagged with a transmitter is still at its nest. The birds that were the earliest to start their autumnal migration have already reached the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt and will soon cross the Red Sea’s Gulf of Suez and enter Africa, while other migrating birds are spread from Romania to Turkey  and Syria.

2024.08.22

Sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata (L.) Börner)). Senior Researcher’s commentary

The residents with their own water bodies have found an aquatic plant resembling a ball of unwound green yarn. We asked Dr Zofija Sinkevičienė, Senior Researcher at the Laboratory of Flora and Geobotany of Nature Research Centre, to comment on what this plant is.

The sago pondweed (Stuckenia pectinata (L.) Börner)) is one of the world’s most widespread aquatic plant species. It grows in both fresh and salt water in every continent, except Antarctica. It can be found in both flowing and still waters: rivers, streams, canals, the margins of seas, lagoons, lakes, ponds and peat bogs. It is therefore not surprising if you find it in the waters of your immediate environment.

The sago pondweed has narrow, linear leaves and grows completely submerged underwater. It only brings its inflorescences to the surface during flowering. The flowers are pollinated by wind and the seeds float on the surface of the water and can be widely distributed. It reproduces not only by seeds, but also by starchy tubers that form on the rhizomes. The nutritious tubers are an important food source for water birds, as well as for aquatic animals, which contribute to the plant’s distribution.

Sago pondweed is tolerant of eutrophication, i.e. low water clarity and high nutrient concentrations, which can make it an uncomfortable weed in small artificial water bodies, navigable rivers and canals.

Text by: Zofija Sinkevičienė

×