The workshop dedicated to capacity building for monitoring protected and endangered bird species with the aim of strengthening capacity and supporting the improvement of specific skills of of protected areas’ administrations, representatives of NGOs working in the field of environmental protection and representatives of state and local institutions working on biodiversity protection in the project area, was organized in the period from 14.04. to 16.04.2021. by Ornithological society “Naše ptice” in Tjentište, in the “Sutjeska” National Park.
This workshop is one of the activities implemented within the “Bear in Mind – Bringing environmental actions for biodiversity protection across the borders” project, funded by the European Union under the IPA Cross-border Cooperation Program Bosnia and Herzegovina – Montenegro 2014-2020, which is carried out by the Ornithological Society “Naše ptice” in cooperation with partner organizations Association for Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development “Naša baština” from Tomislavgrad (Bosnia and Herzegovina) and Center for Protection and Research of Birds from Podgorica (Montenegro).
The program of the workshop was dedicated to birds monitoring and consisted of a theoretical and a practical part.
In the introductory part of the workshop, Josipa Bagarić, project coordinator on behalf of the Ornithological Society “Naše ptice” presented the “Bear in Mind” project, after which Tomaž Mihelič from DOPPS gave a presentation on examples of using telemetry for studying birds in Slovenia.
The second day of the workshop began with a field trip, where participants were demonstrated a playback method for monitoring of the Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker (Picoides tridactylus) and White-backed Woodpecker (Dendrocopos leucotos), as well as finding and recording traces of Hazel Grouse (Tetrastes bonasia) for monitoring purposes. In addition to birds, participants had the opportunity to observe the chamois. The field work was followed by a presentation by Tomaž Mihelič on birds as an instrument on nature protection, the monitoring system and experiences in the EU. At the end of the day, the participants went to another field work. The high snow in the mountains made it impossible to visit the Western Capercaillie singing grounds and demonstrate the playback method for owls monitoring. Instead, the participants had the opportunity to observe two Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) pairs, learn more about this species and look for their nests on the steep cliffs of the surrounding mountains.
The third day of the workshop also started with a field trip to different part of the park, where the participants had the opportunity to try out the playback method, record Hazel Grouse traces and learn to recognize habitats of certain species. Upon their return to Tjentište, the participants were introduced to the work on the Atlas of Birds of Slovenia, and at the end of the workshop, the installation of nets for the process of telemetric monitoring of Western Capercaillie was demonstrated.
It is planned to organize another workshop on the topic of bird monitoring within this project in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which will take place in “Blidinje” Nature Park.
