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Albania

Immature Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax ŠSue & Andy Tranter http://www.suesbirdphotos.co.uk/

You will notice that there is no introduction to this section yet.

I would like to fill this gap with an introduction from a local birder [or someone who is a frequent visitor] for every on of the geographical pages. The many thousands of birders now regularly using these pages prefer to read something written by someone who can see the place from an insider's point of view. They know the best spots, not just the ones that first time overseas visitors usually visit or that are on the normal birding trip itineraries.

Each introduction carries the e-mail address of the contributor so that birders can get in touch with them if, for example, they are planning a trip [unless the contributor is unable to do this].

Please get in touch if you feel you can contribute an introduction to this page - you don't have to be an expert; I'm not!

top sites

Butrinti National Park

Butrint is located in the south of Albania, on the coast opposite the island of Corfu (which is Greek). It is an especially interesting site as it has one of the best Greek/Roman ruins (currently being improved by a British archeological foundation) in the Mediterranean, and which is part of the Butrint National Park. The park encompasses a typical Mediterranean coastal wetland, which is being referred for Ramsar status. The website has a birdlist for the park. Anyone birding Corfu could easily get there via the ferry from Corfu to Saranda (not far), in Albania. Taxis to the site (24 kms) are quite cheap and there is even a very cheap local bus if you are prepared to wait. The wetland and surrounding hills have footpaths which are marked on the informative park leaflet (in English). The area is peaceful, as are the local people, and very definitely non-threatening and a visit can combine high class birding and a superb cultural experience.

contributor

Paul Mollatt
(UK)
paul_mollatt@hotmail.com

numbers

Number of bird species:312

useful reading

Albania Guide to its Natural Treasures

Wolfgang Fremuth (Editor)
ISBN: 3931323064
Buy this book from NHBS.com

useful information

BirdLife

Albanian Society for the Protection of Birds (ASPBM) is the BirdLife Partner Designate

Proact

Coordinator: none (why not apply?) see http://www.proact-campaigns.net/coordinators
Members: None yet! Join us at http://www.proact-campaigns.net/team

clubs

Albanian Society for the Protection & Preservation of Birds

Faculty of Natural Sciences, Tirana University, Al-Tirana, +335 42 29 028 mns@albmail.com

The Butrint Foundation

http://www.butrintfound.dial.pipex.com/aims.htm
Butrint is undeniably a beautiful place. Close to modern civilization yet with its monuments in thick woodland, it is reminiscent of the age of 19th-century tourism. Set in a marshy landscape between Lake Butrint, an inland lagoon, and the busy straits separating Corfu from Albania, it is an environmental haven rich in birdlife...

reserves

Butrint National Park

http://www.bu.edu/phpbin/calendar/event.php?id=2970&cid=17&oid=0
Butrint nature park boasts a high degree of biodiversity, with the presence of rare species under preservation, which make the site attractive for eco-tourists and naturalists...

Important Bird Areas

http://www.birdlife.net/datazone/search/sites_search.html?action=SitHTMFindResults.asp&INam=&Cty=2&z=1
BirdLife International`s annotated list of IBAs in Albania.

Prespa Park

Declaration on the Creation of the Prespa Park and the Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development of the Prespa Lakes and their Surroundings...

Wetland of International Importance

http://www.ramsar.org
The Convention on Wetlands came into force for Albania on 29 February 1996. Albania presently has 1 site designated as a Wetland of International Importance, with a surface area of 20,000 hectares.

trip reports

Travelling Birder
http://www.travellingbirder.com
The Travellingbirder.com birding trip report search engine guides you to 7,000+ birding trip reports on the Internet. You can search for trip reports from a specific country and time of year. Not all these reports are in English. So, if you cant find the trip report you want on this Fatbirder page give them a try!

2001 [February] - Luca Peruzzi - Butrint National Park Southern Albania

http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/tripreports/Butrint01.html
...before being a diplomat I`m a keen bird-watcher, and during the last two years (actually not so much, but every time I could) I visited some Albanian sites in order to look for birds...

2003 [June] - Robert Butlin

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/albania/albania1/alb-ju-03.htm
A University friend is now working for the European Commission in Tirana extended an invitation to me to travel to Albania to see him. This note is a short resumé of the bird life seen in Albania. I am a competent amateur birder with relatively limited experience of Mediterranean wildlife. I spent four nights in his house towards the outskirts of Tirana, one night in a hotel in Fieri when en route to Dhermi in the South of Albania, one night in Dhermi itself. I also spent a few hours mid afternoon one day in a National Park to the east of Tirana...

2004 [May] - Robert Butlin

http://www.birdtours.co.uk/tripreports/albania/albania2/alb-may-2004.htm
My birdwatching started on Friday 30th April, when with the very grateful approval of Taulant and his colleagues from the Museum of Natural History I hitched a ride on a trip to survey a wetland north of Tirana at which Italian hunters had apparently been shooting Ferruginous Duck Aythia ferrugea over the Winter. On the way up I spotted but was unable to identify, a lone male harrier. Given the report in May`s British Birds I`m tempted to claim it as a Pallid Circus Macronus, but in reality I can`t tell...

Biodiversity

http://www.grida.no/enrin/biodiv/biodiv/national/albania/intro.htm
There are some 91 globally threatened species found in Albania. These include the Dalmatian Pelican (Pelecanus crispus); Pygmy Cormorant (Phalacrocorax pygmeus); and the Sturgeon (Acipenser sturio) for which Albania is a country of particularly critical importance...