At the beginning of December 2019, during the monitoring visits in National Park Divjaka-Karavasta, like every year AOS team recognized that Dalmatian Pelican’s breeding season was approaching. Orange-red pouch, curly feathers and the presence of several specimens in the pelican island – warned us that the breeding season is approaching, where our actions for the rehabilitation of pelicans’ reproductive beds start! In continuity, a joint team of AOS and NAPA Fier, visited the Pelicans Island (PI) to observe the condition and the situation of PI – lagoon’s water level and nesting beds (for a reminder – you can read the previous article).
Subsequently, during the last week of December and after consecutive visits, AOS team began the rehabilitation of the nesting beds of Dalmatian Pelican, the flagship species of the National Park and Divjaka Municipality.
How the rehabilitation of pelican’s reproductive beds accomplished?
The local supporters of our conservation actions at National Park Divjaka-Karavasta helped us on- (i) assembling fallen tree branches to form the base of nesting beds; (ii) to provide facilities for the breeding season of the Dalmatian Pelican, our team gathered saline vegetation as a carpet of the nesting site; (iii) transporting the collected materials to the Pelican’s Island; (iiii) expanding the nesting beds and increasing their height to avoid the effects of flooding.
Now the breeding beds are already enlarged and elevated from the ground while the pelicans with their orange/red pouches and curled head feathers are ready to build their nests. Following the rehabilitation of nesting beds, AOS will be involved in monitoring breeding activity and the colony of Dalmatian Pelican – we will disseminate the latest updates of our next monitoring visits on our website and social networks, stay with AOS.
After all, this work would not have been possible without the commitment and the engagement of our local supporters, NAPA Fier, experts, and AOS team – who were involved in this major action in the function of the recovery of Dalmatian Pelican’s colony in National Park Divjaka-Karavasta! Hopefully, the breeding season of this year 2020 will be productive and favorable for the Dalmatian Pelican colony!
The rehabilitation of Dalmatian Pelican’s nesting beds supported by CEPF (Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund) within the framework of ‘Let’s make Divjaka Natural Again’ project in collaboration with PSEDA-Iliria and ResPublica.
