Pape bird station invites voters to join an election-day bird walk

The University of Latvia’s Pape Ornithological Research Centre is inviting people to spend two hours on the beach on election day, before or after voting, LSM reports. An ornithologist will lead the walk, and if the weather is favourable, visitors may watch bird migration and ringing.

The Pape Ornithological Station is marking its 60th anniversary this year. In late summer, birds and bats both draw the attention of researchers and visitors there.

Oskars Keišs, a senior researcher at the University of Latvia’s Institute of Biology, said his research interests are now focused mainly on bats. Bird research at Pape includes examining whether short-distance migrants are increasingly staying in Latvia, what drives those changes and whether warmer conditions are shifting their wintering grounds closer. He cited starlings as an example of birds that migrate to south-western Europe rather than Africa.