Acrocephalus 2.J (130/131): 159-169, 2006
The first record of African Spoonbill Platalea alba in Croatia
Prvi podatek o afri{ki `li~arki Platalea alba na Hrva{kem
Tibor Mikuska1, Mario Romuli}2, Alma Mikuska3 & József Mikuska3
1 Kopa~ki rit Nature Park Management Office, Ul. Petefi Sandora 33, HR-31327 Bilje, Croatia, e-mail: tmikuska@kopacki-rit.com
2 Orlov put 1, HR-31327 Bilje, Croatia, e-mail: info@romulic.com
3 Department of Biology, University of Osijek, Lj. Gaja 6, HR-31000 Osijek, Croatia, e-mail: amikuska@ffos.hr
In the morning hours of 4 Oct 2005, we observed one adult individual of African Spoonbill Platalea alba (colour appendix - Figure 1), in a flock of 120 Eurasian Spoonbills Platalea leucorodia at Podunavlje fishponds (UTM CR25, Kopa~ki rit Nature Park, NE Croatia). The first thing we noticed on this bird were its bright red legs and then its red face. The silvery cover of its beak, delimited by red, was also well visible. Wing feathers were normal and not cut, and the bird was not wearing a ring. It behaved normally within the flock of Eurasian Spoonbills and there was no sign that would suggest that this bird had escaped from captivity or some bird collection. Mr Mario Romuli} managed to make a series of photographs and suitably documented this rare phenomenon. As far as we know, this is the first observation of this species in Croatia (Kralj & Radovi} 2002, Kralj 2005). The record was confirmed by the National Rarities Committee. African Spoonbills are distributed south of Sahara (Hancock et al. 1992). It occurs rarely in Europe, where it is considered an escapee, although it has been recorded in France, Spain, Denmark and Austria (Mullarney et al. 1999). During 2005, one bird was being observed throughout the summer along the Po River, Italy (Nicola Bachetti, pers. comm.). On 2 and 3 Oct 2005, one individual was observed at Lake Csaj-to near Tömörkény in Hungary, approximately 142 km east north-east from Kopa~ki rit. The bird was photographed and these observations were shown on Hungarian website [www.birding.hu].
Povzetek
Dne 4.10.2005 je bil opa`en en osebek afri{ke `li~arke Platalea alba na ribnikih Podunavlje (UTM CR25, Park narave Kopa~ki rit, SV Hrva{ka), gre za prvi podatek za Hrva{ko, ptica ni bila ozna~ena in tako najverjetneje ne gre za ube`nico. Podatek je potrdila nacionalna komisija za redkosti.
References
Hancock, J.A., Kushlan, J.A. & Kahl, M.P. (1992): Storks,
Ibises and Spoonbills of the World. - Academic Press,
London. Kralj, J. & Radovi}, D. (2002): Rare birds in Croatia. 1st
Report of the Croatian Rarities Committee. - Larus 48:
73-83. Kralj, J. (2005): Rare birds in Croatia. 2nd Report of the
Croatian Rarities Committee. - Larus 49: 37-51. Mullarney, K., Svensson, L., Zetterström, D. & Grant,
P.J. (1999): The Most Complete Field Guide to the Birds
of Britain and Europe. - HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
Arrived / Prispelo: 21.11.2006 Accepted / Sprejeto: 21.5.2007
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