Common Terns around the Croatia

Attempt 1


During last 10 days we went to ring 3 Tern colonies. First one was on Island of Mljet where there is one pair breeding for more than 10 years.. This pair hatched 3 chicks this year :) I put the metal rings on when I was ringing YLGs but their legs were to small to put colour ring. I was hoping that the chicks  will not be able to fly yet when we come . When we approached the islet two parents were flying and yelling at us.. good sign.. Then two young birds started flying :( So there is one more somewhere. We got to the islet and found it :D I think it could fly but didn't know that yet :) So I colour ringed my first Common Tern :)

On our way to the Mljet we stopped at Neretva delta to check if there 's anything interesting there.. Unfortunately there were just those damn kite surfers :( I don't know how they get permits to do that in ornithological reserve but that's the way  things go here..

Attempt 2

Few days after we went to Drava river  to ring some Tern chicks. When we came to the spot we saw the river was very high and there were no Terns in the air.. It didn't looked good at all...

when we crossed the river we only found 2 Little ringed plover chicks, few LRP nests many Terns nests with cold eggs.. Something bad happened here :(
Photos by Luka Šupraha.. Thanx!

Attempt 3

We went to the Blato colony near Zagreb. I checked this colony 2 or 3 weeks ago and there was no colony on the island it was last year because it had lots of grass on it (we'll have to cut it before next season). But there were two much smaller islets with some  pairs breeding.. 

When we came yesterday the water was some 15 cm higher then last time we checked and I tought that the breeding season was a disaster :( We went to see if there are any chicks and to our surprise we managed to ring 59 chicks :))  Most of them were big enough for colour ring.. 

In conclusion  keep your eyes open for Common Terns with white rings starting with K! I know that some other guys colour ringed few Terns in the Northern Adriatic also. I hope we'll get some recoveries this year .. South Africa maybe :)