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Croatia is a beautiful country with diverse landscapes, from soothing to dramatic, on a relatively small area. Croatia’s natural beauties would, on their own, be ample reason for a visit – but in addition Croatia is an emerging birding destination due to its ornithological significance.

The habitats of Croatia fall into four basic zones -  Pannonian, Continental, Alpine and Mediterranean. More about the landscapes and climate of Croatia can be found here.

In Croatia's rich avifauna we may find almost all of the categories: montane, lowland, boreal, wetland and marine; it also includes 69 bird species classed as threatened on the European level, as well as 21 globaly threatened. 

Since Croatia extends over the central European migration corridor, and partially over the western one, heavy migrations (especially of birds of prey) take place during Spring and Autumn in much of the coastal region. The coast is also an important wintering area for a large variety of bird species as well as a breeding area for some of the globally endangered bird species. Croatia is the only eastern European country that has breeding Cory's and Yelkouan Shearwaters, Audouin's Gull and Eleonora's Falcons. Western European birders would find our significant populations of species such as Rock Partridge, Black-headed Bunting, Eastern Orphean Warbler and Black-eared Wheatear highly interesting. It is estimated that in Croatia there are around 3.000 pairs of Ferruginous Duck, which would be the key European population. 

The importance of nature conservation is recognized in Croatia. There are eight national parks, eleven nature parks, many reserves, and as much as 23 IBA-s in Croatia. Many ornithologically significant localities are designated and there are 20 ornithological reserves and four wetland sites that are on the list of the Ramsar Convention. More about nature protection, protected areas and endangered species in Croatia can be found here.

The complete check list of birds in Croatia, their status, as well as the level of endangerment, both in Europe and globally,  can be found here.

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Photos by Dare Sere, Tomaz Miheli, Al Vrzec and Davorin Tome, Zeljko Kelemen, Denis Cizar, Ivica Lolic

VAL TOURS birding(at)val-tours.hr Trg hrvatskih velikana bb 23210 Biograd n/m Croatia tel: +385 23 386 479 fax: +385 23 386 478 ID CODE HR-AB-23-13060100423