Development of bird ringing in Croatia and neighbouring countries in the period 1910–1992: new perspectives

Background and Purpose: Based on preserved original bird ringers’ reports and published annual reports on bird ringing, the development of the ringing of birds in Croatia from 1910 to 1992 is discussed in this paper. After the breakdown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1918), Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia made up the common country of Yugoslavia until 1992. Bird ringing is today organized independently in each of the newly founded states so new reports should not be cummulatively added to the older collective ones. The aim of this article is to emphasize the need of organizing the data collected between 1910–1992 separately for each country. This should provide a more realistic insight into earlier bird ringing activities and create a basis for further publication of national bird ringing reports. The article also studies the contribution of bird ringing as a method to the disciplinary development of ornithology in Croatia. Material and Methods: Separation of data on bird ringing for the territory of Croatia from the cumulative data collected between 1910 and 1992 was conducted on the sample of 25 species. The sources used were the original annual reports written by bird ringers and kept in the Bird ringing archive in the Institute of Ornithology, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (CASA). They contain information on bird species, location and date of ringing. To assess the contribution of bird ringing as amethod to the disciplinary development of ornithology in Croatia, we studied the data distribution and the Croatian share in the total bird ringing on the territory of ex-Yugoslavia, as well as the use of the bird ringing data and the reports on ringed birds in conference presentations and research articles published by 1992. Results and Conclusions: The separation of bird ringing data for 25 species (62,094 individual birds) shows that in former Yugoslavia the majority of bird ringing took place outside Croatia. Of the total of 47 reports on bird ringing and on recoveries on ringed birds published by 1992, 34 were used for writing 22 research articles and 16 conference presentations or abstracts. Throughout the history of bird ringing, the Institute of Ornithology, CASA, has remained the organizer of the activity and the custodian of the Bird ringing archive. The institute should now draw up an inventory of all data collected up to present time. Furthermore, the data should be digitalized and, as a Digital bird ringing database, made accessible to a wider ornithological audience. The year 2010 as the 100th anniversary of bird ringing offers an opportunity to highlight the role of Croatia in the development and organization of this activity, and to modernize data processing

Dopuna popisa ptica otoka Šolte

This paper presents data on 26 species and two subspecies, which are new in relation to the already existing list of the birds of the Šolta Island published two decades ago, and which add up to the knowledge of its ornithofauna to an overall number of 132 species. New data were gathered from various sources: 7 species were recorded during the authors’ own field research on the island, 3 species concern the recovery of ringed birds, 12 species were found in the private collections of J. Purtić and the Vlak family, 2 new species in the catalogue of the ornithological collection of the Natural History Museum in Split, 1 new species from the catalogue of the Bird Collection of the Croatian Natural History Museum in Zagreb and 1 in the older ornithological literature. From the total of 26 species new to Šolta Island, 3 are breeding birds, and 23 are migrant or winter visitors birds of the island.U ovom radu prikazano je 26 vrsta (i dvije podvrste) koje su nove u odnosu na dosadašnji popis ptica za otok Šoltu objavljen prije dva desetljeća, a koje dopunjuju saznanja o ornitofauni ovoga otoka na ukupno 132 vrste. Novi podaci dobiveni su iz različitih izvora: 7 vrsta na temelju vlastitih terenskih istraživanja, 3 vrste obradom podataka prstenovanih ptica, 12 vrsta na temelju privatnih zbirki J. Purtića i obitelji Vlak, 2 vrste iz kataloga Ornitološke zbirke Prirodoslovnog muzeja u Splitu, 1 vrsta iz kataloga Zbirke ptica Hrvatskog prirodoslovnog muzeja te 1 vrsta iz starije ornitološke literature. Od ukupno 26 vrsta 3 su gnjezdarice, a 23 su proljetno-jesenske selice ili zimovalice otoka Šolte

Development of bird ringing in Croatia and neighbouring countries in the period 1910–1992: new perspectives

Background and Purpose: Based on preserved original bird ringers’ reports and published annual reports on bird ringing, the development of the ringing of birds in Croatia from 1910 to 1992 is discussed in this paper. After the breakdown of the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1918), Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia made up the common country of Yugoslavia until 1992. Bird ringing is today organized independently in each of the newly founded states so new reports should not be cummulatively added to the older collective ones. The aim of this article is to emphasize the need of organizing the data collected between 1910–1992 separately for each country. This should provide a more realistic insight into earlier bird ringing activities and create a basis for further publication of national bird ringing reports. The article also studies the contribution of bird ringing as a method to the disciplinary development of ornithology in Croatia. Material and Methods: Separation of data on bird ringing for the territory of Croatia from the cumulative data collected between 1910 and 1992 was conducted on the sample of 25 species. The sources used were the original annual reports written by bird ringers and kept in the Bird ringing archive in the Institute of Ornithology, Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts (CASA). They contain information on bird species, location and date of ringing. To assess the contribution of bird ringing as amethod to the disciplinary development of ornithology in Croatia, we studied the data distribution and the Croatian share in the total bird ringing on the territory of ex-Yugoslavia, as well as the use of the bird ringing data and the reports on ringed birds in conference presentations and research articles published by 1992. Results and Conclusions: The separation of bird ringing data for 25 species (62,094 individual birds) shows that in former Yugoslavia the majority of bird ringing took place outside Croatia. Of the total of 47 reports on bird ringing and on recoveries on ringed birds published by 1992, 34 were used for writing 22 research articles and 16 conference presentations or abstracts. Throughout the history of bird ringing, the Institute of Ornithology, CASA, has remained the organizer of the activity and the custodian of the Bird ringing archive. The institute should now draw up an inventory of all data collected up to present time. Furthermore, the data should be digitalized and, as a Digital bird ringing database, made accessible to a wider ornithological audience. The year 2010 as the 100th anniversary of bird ringing offers an opportunity to highlight the role of Croatia in the development and organization of this activity, and to modernize data processing

Cochlostoma elegans (Clessin, 1879) na otoku Pagu (Mollusca: Gastropoda, Prosobranchia)

The land snail Cochlostoma elegans (Clessin, 1879) has been found on the island of Pag (Croatia) for the first time. This is also the first ever insular finding of this species.Kopneni puž Cochlostoma elegans (Clessin, 1879) prvi puta je nađen na otoku Pagu (Hrvatska). To je ujedno prvo otočno nalazište te vrste uopće

Prvi nalaz stepskog guža Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789), (Reptilia: Colubridae) na otoku Olibu, Hrvatska

During a field study within the framework of a joint Croatian-Hungarian project on the small northern Dalmatian island of Olib, the large whip snake Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789) was observed and photographed at several localities. Though this is not the first island record of this species in Croatia, as it was previously found on the islands of Lastovo, Kopište and Mrčara, this finding is surprising due to the great distance from the other known localities of its distribution range.U okviru zajedničkog hrvatsko-mađarskog projekta tijekom terenskih istraživanja na malom sjevernodalmatinskom otoku Olibu, na nekoliko lokaliteta uočen je i fotografiran stepski guž Dolichophis caspius (Gmelin, 1789). Iako to nije prvi otočni nalaz ove vrste u Hrvatskoj (pronađen je i na otocima Lastovu, Kopištu i Mrčari) iznenađujući je stoga što je jako udaljen od drugih dosad poznatih nalazišta

The Significance of Farnese Hours in the European Portrayals of Bird of Paradise during the 16th Century

Časoslov Farnese molitvena je knjiga koju je čuveni hrvatski minijaturist Julije Klović oslikao u Rimu u razdoblju od 1537(39). do 1546. godine, po narudžbi svog mecene, kardinala Alessandra Farnesea, a danas se čuva u Pierpont Morgan Library u New Yorku. Iako je umjetnička vrijednost ovog renesansnog remek-djela minijature prepoznata već u vrijeme nastanka, tek njegovim pretiskom u izdanju Hrvatske akademije znanosti i umjetnosti u Zagrebu 2001. godine postaje dostupniji široj kulturnoj i znanstvenoj javnosti. Časoslov Farnese do danas je višestruko istražen s aspekata stilskog i ikonografskog izraza. Detaljno su opisane sve minijature, a među njima se tek spominje rajska ptica sa stranice 6v. Ipak, većina ovih istraživanja ostala je u okvirima svojih struka pa je tek multidisciplinarnim pristupom, koji je obuhvatio likovne, povijesno-kulturne i ornitološke aspekte, ovu ilustraciju bilo moguće reinterpretirati, uz točno određivanje ornitološke vrste - Velike rajske ptice Paradisaea apoda. Rezultati ovih istraživanja pridonijeli su novim saznanjima o povijesti prvih svlakova rajskih ptica u Europi, o povezanosti motiva rajske ptice s motivom feniksa te o međusobnim odnosima povijesnih ličnosti Klovićeva kruga umjetnika, vladara i crkvenih moćnika. Stoga su ova saznanja u obliku slike, teksta i intervjua s autoricama već 19.5.2009. prikazana na internetskoj stranici BBC-a “Earth News” autora Mata Waltera, a motiv Klovićeve rajske ptice našao je mjesto i u više svjetskih publikacija znamenitih istraživača rajskih ptica, kao što su knjige autora Clifforda i Dawn Frith iz 2010. te dvije knjige iz 2012. godine - Tima Lamana i Edwina Scholesa te sir Davida Attenborougha i Errola Fullera. Također, rezultati ovih istraživanja prikazani su i u katalogu izložbe “Julije Klović, najveći minijaturist renesanse”, održane u Zagrebu krajem 2012. godine.Farnese Hours is a prayer book which was illustrated in Rome by the well – known Croatian miniaturist Julije Klović, during the time period between 1537(39) and 1546, as ordered by his benefactor, cardinal Alessandro Farnese, and it is kept today in Pierpont Morgan Library, in New York. Even though the aristic value of this Renaissance artwork has been recognized already during the time of it’s creation, it was only after the reprinted edition in 2001, which was published by Croatian Academy of Science and Arts Zagreb, has it become more available to the wider cultural and scientific public. Farnese Hours up to this day remains a well – researched topic, from the aspect of stylistic and iconographic expression. All of the miniatures are described in detail, and among them, a bird of paradise from the page 6v is only mentioned in passing. However, most of these products of research have remained in the field of particular professions, and only through interdisciplinary approach, which has included visual, cultural – historic and ornithological aspects, was possible to reinterpret this illustration, and to precisely determine the ornithological type – Great Bird of Paradise Paradisaea apoda. The results of these research have contributed to the new findings regarding the history of the first taxidermic prototypes of birds of paradise in Europe, to study of the link between the motif of the bird of paradise with the phoenix bird and to understanding the interpresonal relations of historical figures of Klović’s circle of artists, rulers and powerful church figures. And so, these findings in form of picture, text and interviews with the authors have already been displayed on the internet web – site of the BBC’s “Earth News”, hosted by Mat Walter, and the motif of Klović’s bird of paradise has gained it’s place in several publications of the distinguished researchers of birds of paradise, such as the books of authors Clifford and Dawn Frith from 2010, and two books from 2012 – authored by Tim Laman and Edwin Scholes, and sir David Attenborough and Errol Fuller. Also, the results of these research attempts are shown in the catalogue of the exhibition “Julije Klović, the greatest miniaturist of the Renaissance”, that was organized in Zagreb, in the late 2012