This has been a pattern in recent years: Mild falls delaying the migration of summer visitors, sometimes by several weeks. Even at the beginning of November, then, you can still see migratory birds in the fields which are still able to find food sources and so which have not started the trek southward.

Migrations are perilous and require a good deal of energy in the form of food; in some cases, birds normally only here in the spring to autumn have even been seen overwintering in Estonia.

"If we take last autumn, and this autumn, which have been warm for lengthy periods, it is logical that the birds are 'lazier' and set off later. There is no point in heading off too early, wasting energy; some perhaps hope to stay here for the whole winter," said avian ecologist Marko Mägi said.

One noticeable example of this is the white stork. This gregarious species of bird often nests close to or even on human habitation; Estonia is more or less the northernmost extent of the species' summer visiting range.

According to Mägi, white storks should have already taken flight by now, yet they can still be spotted in Estonia.

"They're not leaving as they have enough to eat. For example, the water bodies are free of ice, so they can catch fish if need be. They can also still hunt for mice in the fields," Mägi noted.

Virge Võsujalg, a member of the board of the national wildlife association, concurred, and noted that the fields are currently full of swans. "They haven't gone anywhere yet. That's also a sign that, through our activities, we are signaling to the birds that there is enough food," she said.

The association helps those migratory birds that do end up staying in Estonia through the winter, to make it, by sheltering them if need be. By species, the association has received the most reports of white storks in need of assistance. So far, five storks have been taken in, while it is certain that they will not migrate, either because the bird has been injured or because humans have already started feeding them and they have become habituated to it. Three more storks are spending their winter for the time being in Avinurme, Jõgeva County, and more such examples are expected.

Meanwhile Pille Alama-Pajur, a volunteer with the association, said that people should restrict their feeding of birds. "They feed the birds but don't understand that it's worth setting some limits. They rush in to help, but actually, they don't need help straight away – they (ie. the birds – ed.) need to manage on their own and understand that they are supposed to migrate."

According to Mägi, once the weather inevitably turns colder, most of the migratory birds still left in Estonia should fly south — save for those that don't fully grasp what's happening, though even this need not spell disaster.

"There are always individuals in a bird population who, let's not quite say are lazy or stupid, but perhaps don't quite understand what's going on. You could say it's a type of natural selection — they fall through the cracks — but at the same time, they could turn out to be very successful breeders if favorable conditions persist throughout the winter," Mägi concluded.

Fall temperatures in recent weeks have been consistently above zero even at night, stretching into the double figures during the day in some locations, principally in western Estonia.

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