Acrocephalus 24 (118): 109 – 119, 2003
115
mudflats became relatively large and were soon
occupied by several Black-headed Gulls Larus
ridibundus, Yellow-legged Gulls L. cachinnans, Grey
Herons Ardea cinerea, Common Sandpipers Actitis
hypoleucos, Eurasian Curlews Numenius arquata and
Dunlins Calidris alpina. A Grey Plover Pluvialis
squatarola, a Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis and a
Grey Wagtail Motacilla cinerea were also observed
there.
Blizu naselja Karin ob Karinskem morju v severni Dalmaciji
sem se mudil med 13. in 20.9.2003. Na severozahodu se v
ta zaliv izliva poto~ek in z nasutjem materiala ustvarja
plitvine. Ob oseki se tam razkrijejo obse`ni blatni poloji. To
pa izkori{~ajo ptice. Plitvino sem opazil zaradi re~nih Larus
ridibundus in rumenonogih galebov Larus cachinnans, ki so
se tam zbirali, poleg njih pa sem tu opazoval {e: ~rno
prosenko Pluvialis squatarola, sive ~aplje Ardea cinerea, male
martince Actitis hypoleucos, spremenljive prodnike Calidris
alpina, velike {kurhe Numenius arquata, sivo pastirico
Motacilla cinerea in vodomca Alcedo atthis. Dne 15.9.2003
pa so me presenetili trije pe{~enci. Ta pobre`nik sicer velja
za redko ptico Hrva{kega primorja [Rucner, D. (1998):
Ptice hrvatske obale Jadrana. – Hrvatski prirodoslovni
muzej, Ministartvo razvitka i obnove, Zagreb].
Dejan Bordjan, Ulica 8. februarja 50, SI-2204 Milklav`, Slovenija, e-mail:
dejanonih@email.si
Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica
^rnonoga ~igra – 6 prehranjujo~ih se osebkov dne
27.5.2002 na plitvinah ob izlivu reke Neretve (UTM
YH06, J Dalmacija) 
During our field trip on 27 May 2002, we decided to take
some time to survey the mouth of the Neretva river (UTM
YH06, S Dalmatia). On the sandbars there, we had a
chance to observe some bird species considered rare in
Croatia. Amongst 20 Little Egrets Egretta garzetta, 12
Grey Herons Ardea cinerea and 3 Yellow-legged Gulls
Larus cachinnans (all of them common species in Croatia)
we saw 6 Oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus, 6 Ringed
Plovers Charadrius hiaticula, 1 Little Stint Calidris minuta,
3 Curlew Sandpipers Calidris ferruginea, 1 Turnstone
Arenaria interpres, 1 Caspian Tern Sterna caspia, and 6
Gull-billed Terns foraging in the shallow sea. In the 19th
century, this tern used to be noted more often in Dalmatia
during the spring than autumn migration [Kralj, J.
(1997): Ornitofauna Hrvatske tijekom posljednjih dvjesto
godina. – Larus 46: 1–112]. In the 20th century, only
individual sightings were made (again during migration).
One was killed on 28 Apr 1920 near Nin (UTM WJ19),
four were recorded in the mouth of the Neretva river in
May 1951 (Kralj 1997), and some were observed on Lake
Vransko on 10 Jul 1972 (UTM WJ46; Kralj 1997). More
recently, 10 individuals were observed at the end of April
and at the beginning of May 2001 in the mouth of the
Neretva river [Dumbovi} Ru`i}, V. & [tumberger, B.
(2002): Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica. –
Acrocephalus 22 (109): 240–241]. Considering our
observation made in May 2002, we may conclude that
Gull-billed Terns occur quite regularly in late spring in the
Neretva estuary. 
Jozsef Mikuska, Pedago{ki fakultet, Jägera 9, HR-31000 Osijek, Croatia
Vlatko Ro`ac, Pedago{ki fakultet, Jägera 9, HR-31000 Osijek, Croatia
Alma Mikuska, Pedago{ki fakultet, Jägera 9, HR-31000 Osijek, Croatia, 
e-mail: amikuska@pedos.hr 
^uk Athene noctua
Little Owl – while censusing Scops Owls Otus scops
on 20 Apr 2003 at Milna on the island of Bra~ (UTM
XH19, Central Dalmatia), a male Little Owl was
provoked. Quite surprisingly, it responded to the
recording of Scops Owl very early in the evening
(20.50 hrs).
Med popisom velikih skovikov Otus scops v sklopu
dalmatinskega biolo{kega tabora Bra~ 2003 smo v no~i
20.4.2003 popisovali tudi v naselju Milna na zahodnem
delu otoka. Takrat smo poleg iskanih skovikov zasli{ali {e
~uka. Ta se je odzval na izzivanje s posnetkom velikega
skovika in tudi v skupini drugih skovikov je nekajkrat
“zamijavkal” svojo pesem. Zanimivo je tudi to, da se je dal
izzvati dokaj zgodaj, saj je bila ura {ele 20.50. Sicer pa je ~uk
v Hrva{kem primorju pogosta vrsta, tudi na otoku Bra~u
[Rucner, D. (1998): Ptice hrvatske obale Jadrana. 
– Hrvatski prirodoslovni muzej, Ministarstvo razvitka i
obnove, Zagreb].
Dejan Bordjan, Ulica 8. februarja 50, SI-2204 Milklav`, Slovenija, e-mail:
dejanonih@email.si
Travni{ki vrabec Passer hispaniolensis
Spanish Sparrow – overview of localities of its
breeding colonies on Pelje{ac peninsula (S Dalmatia),
with two new localities added in 2003. Only one large
colony is known from Pelje{ac so far, i.e. at Mali Ston
(UTM YH14), while others are very small, but all
confined to the vicinity of settlements: @uljana
(UTM YH05), Viganj (UTM XH75), Ku~i{te (UTM
XH75), Ston (UTM YH14), and two new ones at
Sreser (UTM YH05) and Potomje (UTM XH95).
Travni{ki vrabec je v ju`ni Dalmaciji pogosta vrsta, ki
naseljuje zlasti ve~ja ni`avja, kjer se lahko pojavlja celo v zelo
velikem {tevilu (lastna opazovanja). Vendar pa na primer
reliefno precej razgibani polotok Pelje{ac naseljuje zelo
raztreseno, predvsem v okolici naselij, kot so @uljana,
Viganj, Ku~i{te, Mali Ston in Ston [Rucner, D. (1998):
Ptice hrvatske obale Jadrana. – Hrvatski prirodoslovni