"chaffinches" - 1 õppematerjal

Estonia's nature

By August the first breeding birds start the journey back to the South. The autumn migration lasts, for much longer. During the milder winters, some species can leave Estonia as late as December, or not leave at all, which is the case with a growing number of once migratory species. Forest species contribute about a half of Estonian birds; in some types of forests, which have the most birds, there can be from 550 to 1700 breeding birds per sq km. Chaffinches and willow warblers are probably the most numerous birds in Estonia. Many typical tundra species, like the willow grouse and the black-throated diver, which were characteristic exhibits of Estonian bog wildlife, have disappeared as nesting birds during the last decades. Small islets, however, can really be called bird paradise. Undisturbed by man and protected from most smaller predators by the sea, they are real nesting sanctuaries for a diversity of gulls, terns, ducks and waders.