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First spoonbills arrived in the "Amazon of Europe"

Spring has finally arrived in Europe and so have the first spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) in the planned 5-country Biosphere Reserve Mura-Drava-Danube (TBR MDD)!

The first sights have been reported by Tibor Mikuska from the Croatian Society for the Protection of Birds and Nature on March, 25th 2015 at the fishponds in Donji Miholjac, in the Croatian part of the TBR MDD.

Spoonbills can be found in several European countries, although bigger populations can only be found in Austria, Hungary, Greece and Spain. They are a migratory species, so spoonbills migrate to Africa in autumn, where they spend the winter months. The migratory behaviour is different, depending on the population’s location, i.e. northern populations are fully migratory, while southern once are resident or only partially migratory.

Characteristic for these tall, white waterfowl are their spoon-shaped black beaks which comes in handy when it comes to feeding. Spoonbills cannot feed on land, so they depend on wetlands to find their food. To do so, they wade through shallow water, heads down, swinging their head back-and-forth in the water, creating water whirls which produce vibrations, so possible prey such as small fish, crustaceans and insects start to move. The spoonbills then rely on their sensible beaks to locate their prey, as they cannot see through the stirred, muddy water.

Spoonbills, © by Borut Stumberger
Spoonbills, © by Borut Stumberger

The TBR MDD is one of the last few remaining places where spoonbills find the perfect conditions to feed: healthy river dynamics consistently shape the floodplains that spoonbills so heavily rely on. Moreover, a large number of other animal and plant species depend on the area, so its protection is of paramount importance. The TBR is an excellent feeding ground for spoonbills during the spring and autumn migration periods, on fishponds, 200-300 individuals can be counted at a time and in Kopacki rit even up to 1000 birds gather during autumn migration.

An example of a wetland paradise for a large number of species is Kopački rit Nature Park in the Croatian part of the TBR MDD: within the park, over 460 different plant species, nearly 300 bird species, over 50 mammal and fish species and many amphibian and reptile species can be found.

“The survival of these, and many more animals and plants hangs on the successful protection of their habitats. This protection can best be secured by the creation of the 5-country Transboundary Biosphere Reserve Mura-Drava-Danube,” emphasises Tibor Mikuska. This will ensure that the spoonbill has, also for many generations to come, an area it can come to after its long, strenuous journey from Africa!