19 May 2020
Waterbirds monitoring activities continue intensively, as we approach summer and the breeding process is at its peak. To monitor the populations of pygmy cormorants and herons nesting in mixed colonies in dense and inaccessible reedbeds of Lesser Prespa, the SPP uses a combination of methods, including flight line counts (aka the "Arrival-Departure" method), which was implemented yesterday. The method consists of recording the individuals flying to and from the colony during a certain period of time, before sunset. The count is carried out from a vantage point, a few hundred meters away from the colony, twice a year, around mid-May and early June. The "Arrival-Departure" method provides a good estimate of population trends of pygmy cormorants and small herons (little egret, squacco heron, night heron), for which standard measurements of nests from vantage points are particularly difficult, due to their small density and the size of the reedbed.
