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Good Reasons to Visit Croatia

Yelkouan Shearwater
Rock Partridge
Pygmy Cormorant
Eleonora's Falcon
Griffon Vulture
Pallid Swift
Rock Dove
Rock Nuthatch
Blue Rock Thrush
Woodchat Shrike
Sombre Tit
Black-eared Wheatear
Olive-tree Warbler
Orphean Warbler
Spanish Sparrow
Black-headed Bunting

Ten Reptile Reasons To Visit Croatia

Hermann's Tortoise
Dalmatian Algyroides
Dalmatian Wall Lizard
European Glass Lizard
Balkan Whip Snake
Leopard Snake
Aesculapian Snake
Smooth Snake
Cat Snake
Nose-horned Viper

Croatia

Croatia is a remarkable and beautiful country with diverse habitats and a varied birdlife. In the north there are high mountains blanketed in forests at Risnjak, wetlands along the Danube and Sava rivers, bird-rich fish-pond systems and the famous Kopacki Rit reserve. To the south in Dalmatia habitats include limestone karst fields and gorges just inland from the clear blue waters of the Adriatic Sea and many offshore islands of all shapes and sizes. Eleonora's Falcons breed on some of these.

The Krka National Park is a scenic karst area through which the rushing River Krka flows. Krka is a fine area for raptors and perhaps not surprisingly its rocky gorges are home to Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Nuthatch & Rock Bunting. The scenic waterfalls Skradinski Buk provide photographic opportunities.

The Paklenica National Park is part of the Velebit Mountain range. Two gorges here, Mala Paklenica & Velika Paklenica, are spectacular. Paklenica is a good area to look for Rock Partridge though this species is in fact fairly common throughout Dalmatia. A rich range of butterflies occurs, too and the dry limestone landscapes are ideal for reptiles such as Hermann's Tortoise, Dalmatian Algyroides, Balkan Green Lizard, Dalmatian Wall Lizard, Balkan Whip Snake and others.

Lake Vrana is the largest natural lake in Croatia and an internationally important wetland for migrating and breeding birds. The lake lies by the Adriatic Sea and is arguably the most important coastal passage stop-over in the country, in both spring and autumn. Breeding species here include Pygmy Cormorant, Purple Heron and Black-winged Stilt.

The enchanting Plitvice Lakes National Park (Plitvicka jezera) was founded in 1949. Plitvice, which is a UNESCO World Heritage site, is a picturesque forested karst lake-land fed by the River Korana and other karst waters and dotted with meadows and pastures. The forests here are mostly beech and fir with some oak, hornbeam, birch, spruce, pine and juniper. The centre-piece of the national park is a series of turquoise-coloured lakes stepped one above the other and separated by travertines over which waterfalls cascade. The forests are home to woodpeckers, flycatchers and warblers. In summer dragonflies and damselflies are numerous and butterflies include Southern Festoon, Scarce and Common Swallowtails, Common Glider, Camberwell Beauty and Great Banded Grayling.

But what really sets Croatia apart are its islands and the sea that surrounds them. There are 1185 islands of all shapes and sizes, only 66 are inhabited and of these only 20 are large and heavily touristed. Some are tiny islets, others like Krk, Pag and Cres, are large enough to have sea-cliffs and interior landscapes of rough grazing land and olive-groves. Much of the wildlife that occurs on the mainland also occurs on these larger islands. So perhaps not surprisingly Croatia is once again becoming a popular holiday destination and this includes for birders and nature-lovers. Croatia is easy to get to with scheduled and charter flights arriving into Zagreb, Split, Pula, Dubrovnik and Zadar.

PROBIRDER'S PIONEERING BIRDING & WILDLIFE TOURS TO CROATIA

Our new spring tours to Croatia focus on the scenic Dalmatian coast and habitats just inland. We visit the forests, karst fields and gorges at Paklenica for Short-toed Eagle, Blue Rock Thrush, Black-eared Wheatear, Rock Nuthatch, Sombre Tit, Alpine & Pallid Swifts, Crag Martin, Alpine Chough and one of Europe's most sought after birds, Rock Partridge. At Lake Vrana (Vransko jezero) we should see Pygmy Cormorant, Purple Heron, Glossy Ibis, Little Crake, Ferruginous Duck and passage waders and songbirds. We also visit the Krka National Park, a stunning landscape of karst fields, stony scrub, meadows and oak woods riddled with lakes, streams and water-falls. Here we search for raptors, shrikes, woodpeckers, warblers and Cirl, Ortolan and Black-headed Buntings. We also spend time scanning the Adriatic Sea for terns, gulls & Yelkouan Shearwater. For more details email us at Probirder.

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All images on this site are copyrighted. All text copyright Gerard Gorman 2006-2013.