Dalmatian Pelican nesting again on Skadar Lake

Skadar Lake, Serbia and Montenegro: By utilising great efforts, including media pressure on Skadar Lake National Park authority, the Centre for Bird Protection and Research of Montenegro succeeded in increasing the number of nesting pairs of Dalmatian Pelican, Pelecanus crispus, on Skadar Lake.

The Dalmatian Pelican nests throughout the world from Mongolia to Montenegro, making the Skadar Lake the westernmost nesting place of this bird species. There are around 5000 pairs in the world with a growing tendency. Unfortunately, survival of this species in Montenegro has been uncertain since 1990-ies and one of the reasons for this situation was the illegal oil transport route between Montenegro and Albania. This route transacted through the Pancevo Eye reserve, the pelican nesting place. The result was that from 1993 until 2000 there were no pelicans to be seen on Skadar Lake.

In 2002, pelicans were nesting again on Skadar Lake, but due to inaccessible terrain, the number of pairs could not be determined. A year later, seven pairs were counted, having ten nestlings. Finally, this year, eleven pairs were registered, but all visits to this colony were cancelled in order to leave the colony undisturbed.

It is interesting that neither in 2004 nor in 2003 pelicans built nests on two artificially established platforms. These platforms were built last year with the assistance of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and they are located in the vicinity of nesting places.

A lot of effort is being put on conservation measures to ensure the pelican colony's survival on Skadar Lake. However, due to various problems related to nature conservation of this particular area, such as illegal hunting, occasional disturbance caused by fishermen etc, it is still believed the colony is at the edge of survival.

For more information please contact Darko Saveljic, Director, The Centre for Bird Protection and Research of Montenegro, email: dasav@cg.yu.