Lake Kerkini, next stop during the workshop

Lake Kerkini was the last planned stop on this February workshop in Bulgaria and Greece. We had two full days here with boat trips on Lake Kerkini to meet the Dalmatian Pelicans up close.

Lake Kerkini is an artificial reservoir, but this time not with all the negatives that usually human intervention means. It is still an important hydro biosphere while still being ecological significant with its contribution to the agricultural production of the valley of Serres.

We didn´t go directly to the lake. Instead, we took a small detour along Struma River, which is one of Lake Kerkinis main water providers. There was certainly a rich birdlife along the river, but what really caught my eye where the Water Buffalos out on the flood plains.

When I say Water Buffalo I don´t mean the African Buffalo, but the domestic Asian Water Buffalo. Of course we had to stop and take a couple of photos of them. You find one in the gallery further down.

Soon we reached the eastern part of Lake Kerkini and drove along the shore towards the southern point in search for photographic opportunities. We did a few stops, as you´ll see in the gallery, but it was of course the Dalmatian Pelicans that we wanted.

We had seen the Dalmatians both at Evros Delta and Porto Lagos, but from afar and now we wanted a closer encounter.

One of the more memorable experiences during the slow drive on the eastern shore was to see the huge gathering of Great Cormorants and Dalmatian Pelicans. It was a feeding frenzy of a type I never had seen before.

Sadly the pictures didn´t turn out good, but I have saved them for my own memory.

When we reached the western shore we started to see a few more Pelicans and at the last stop we found them close to the shore. There are more fishermen at the western shore, which of course means that the Pelicans monitor them to see if someone might have a snack for them.

This is just a traditional photo of a Dalmatian Pelican in breeding plumage. This is not a spectacular picture in any way. I just want to show you all why we had to go Lake Kerkini and to meet this spectacular bird.

You can follow these links to see more pictures and read about the other days at Lake Kerkini.

Dalmatian Pelicans day one
Dalmatian Pelicans day two
Dalmatian Pelicans day three
Lake Kerkini Photo Album

Photo Gallery: Lake Kerkini, next stop during the workshop