In the period 12.04. to 14.04.2021. the Center for Protection and Research of Birds organized a workshop, in the National park ‘Durmitor’, dedicated to capacity building for monitoring protected / endangered species with the aim of strengthening capacity and improving specific skills of ranger services of the national park, repesentatives of environmental NGOs as well as local and state institutions working on the protection of biodiversity in the protected area.
The organization of the workshop is one of the activities implemented within the project “Bear in Mind – Bringing environmental actions for the biodiversity protection across the borders”, which is funded by the European Union under the IPA Cross-border Cooperation Program Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2014 – 2020, which CZIP implements in cooperation with partner organizations from Bosnia and Herzegovina – Ornithological Society “Naše ptice” from Sarajevo and the Association for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development “Naša baština” from Tomislavgrad.
The workshop program was dedicated to birds species monitoring and consisted of a theoretical and a practical part. On the first day, member of the project team, Bojan Zeković briefly introduced the participants to the project and the agenda, after which Tomaž Mihelič from DOPPS BirdLife Slovenia, held a short presentation with instructions, before the field reserch.
On the second day of the workshop the participants were presented with a playback method for monitoring three-toed (Picoides tridactylus) and mountain woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos). Out in the field, participants were introduced to the basic characteristics of species, their ecological niches as well as threats and factors that may have a negative impact on their biodiversity. In addition to listening, they also had the opportunity to observe these species. In addition to the above, participants were introduced to the playback methodology of monitoring owls, namely Tengmalm’s owl (Aegolius funereus), dwarf owl (Glaucidium passerinum) and Ural owls (Strix uralensis) ,as well as finding and tracking traces of black grouse (Tetrao urogalia) and hazelnut (Tetrastes bonasia).
The theoretical part of the workshop consisted of a presentation provided by Tomaž Mihelič, where participants were introduced to monotring systems, its importance and benefits, as well as experiences in the EU.
Bad weather conditions made the field part of the workshop impossible on the third day, so the participants were theoretically explained the methodology and the process of telemetric monitoring of black grouse; way of settings the networks for capturing and setting up transmitters, advantages of telemetry in data collection, etc. After the presentation, the participants had the opportunity to watch a short documentary about birds “Ambassadors of Montenegro”, as well as to get acquainted with the work on the Atlas of Birds of Slovenia.
The end of the workshop was intended for summarizing impressions and a short discussion where participants had the opportunity to ask questions and share experiences themselves. Within the afore mentioned project, the organization of another workshop is planned in order to strengthen the capacity for monitoring of protected and endangered bird species, which will be held in the nature park “Piva”.
