Būka

The source of, probably, the most beautiful river (length 8 km, area of the basin 146 km²) in Aukštaitija National Park is in Utenykštis lake. The origin of the name is unknown. It could be related to Lithuanian būkas which means “a bird of marshes, baublys”; on the other hand, the original name could have been Būga, then it is related with, for example, Latvian bauga, which means “a swampy place near the river”. The average incline of the river bed is 0.069%, so Būka is not a fast rivulet. Up to Vaišnoriškės village it is very wide and shallow and only algae waving at the bottom tell that the river is alive – it flows. However, below Vaišnoriškės the river bed becomes narrower, the stream becomes so strong that it undermines the banks, forms pools near Baluošas lake where the river flows into. The average yield of Būka near Vaišnoriškės village (hydrological station is there) reaches 1.2 m³/s.