ULCINJ, Montenegro (Reuters) – Every year in September ornithologists and volunteers descend on a former salt lake in southeastern Montenegro, the most significant feeding point in the Adriatic for birds migrating to Africa, to tag and identify the species.
The salt flats, near the town of Ulcinj close to the Albanian border, began production in the 1930s and ceased to operate in 2013. The site is now mostly covered by grass, salt-loving vegetation and reeds.
“The entire stretch of coast is bordered by high mountains, except for one part along the Bojana River here. This saltworks location and ecology make it the best choice for attracting birds and feeding them in preparation for their migration,” Nikola Novovic, an expert in bird conservation told Reuters.
The volunteers catch birds in a net and then place a ring around their legs in a practice known as bird ringing.
“To the human eye, birds look very similar and within the same species, we would not be able to distinguish individual birds,” said Oto Sekeres, a biologist from the Serbian town of Subotica.
“That’s why this was invented, i.e. bird ringing and tagging them with special numbers, so that each bird gets an identity card through that ring.”
One of the volunteers held a bird in his palm and blew its feathers after placing a ring on its leg. His colleagues leafed through the books to identify the species, Reuters footage showed.
“Trust me, that touch with birds, that touch with nature is incredible,” said Biljana Dejanovic, a biology student.
“And you don’t have to be a biology student, you can be a completely ordinary person, but when you touch that little creature, it’s an incredible love, an incredible love that brings you so close to nature, that you can’t become immune to it.”
(Reporting by Stevo Vasiljevic; Writing by Ivana Sekularac; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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