An unusual bird wandered around Postojna

J.V.

17. 5. 2023, 15.50

Updated: May 17, 2023, 9:54 p.m

In our country, however, there is a keyboard (Gerontic hermit) we rarely meet, because for him Slovenia is only a transit territory on the way from Austria to Tuscany. Today, the only free-living colony of this species is located in Morocco on the Atlantic coast, namely about 130 individuals, and at least 2,000 individuals are still in various reintroduction programs in Austria, Italy, Spain and Germany.

Alan U.

In the past, nobles hunted for sport and entertainment as well as for food, so the species became extinct in Europe in the 17th century. As a result of their resettlement in Central Europe, they can now occasionally be seen here as well. In the Bird Atlas of Slovenia, one of the first re-records is from 2006, when three birds of this species were spotted at the airport in Postojna. Today, one of them visited Postojna again and sat on the windowsills of several residents, including our readers.

It is assumed that it was a common bird in the Karst, Istria and Dalmatia in the Middle Ages and that it was depicted several times, e.g. in 1490 on one of the frescoes in the church of St. Trojice, in the branch church in Gradišče pri Divača, in the coat of arms of the Koper noble family Elio and on the portal of Lukovec Castle in Log – Dragomer Municipality. He gave it the Slovenian name in his ornithological notes at the beginning of the 19th century Zois stamp.