02.06.17
Adazi MTA Environment day 2017 dedicated to a rare nocturnal bird - nightjar

On June 2, youth guards, young naturalists of the Latvian Museum of Natural History and the representatives of military and nature conservation organizations will get acquainted with a rare bird - Eurasian Nightjar and other nocturnal flying animals. 

During the day Nightjar prefers warm, sunny places, but at night it hunts insects, flying silently as an owl. In Adazi military training area Nightjars live in heath, Rampa bog and sparsely growing pine forests and clearings. Up to 67 pairs of these birds nest here. Unfortunately numbers of Nightjars are declining in the largest part of the Europe, in several countries, including Latvia, this bird is included in the list of specially protected species. Most of the Adazi military training area is covered by a protected landscape area "Adazi". From 2014 to 2017 LIFE + project "Birds in Adazi" restores here 1620 hectares of heath, forest and bog - home for Nightjar and other bird species rare in Europe.

Eurasian Nightjar. Photo: Tomi Muukkonen.

During the Environment day or more precisely - night - excursions in nature will take place in Adazai military training area. Ornithologists Viesturs Lārmanis and Aivars Petriņš will tell about the main hero of the event - Nightjar. Food of this bird - various insect species will be determined by a help of enthomologists Voldemārs Spuņģis and Uģis Piterāns, while flying mammals active during the night - bats - will be presented by nature experts Gunārs Pētersons and Viesturs Vintulis. Soldiers of the National Armed Forces will allow to take a look at technique used in military training in Adazi MTA.

Environment day in Adazi MTA is organized by the LIFE+ project "Birds in Adazi" in cooperation with the Latvian Museum of Natural History.