Film info

Creator / Collector

Description
We are in the mixed bird colony, at the southern end of Small Prespa Lake, close to the Albanian border. It is part of one of the 10 National Parks of Greece, where rare species of birds nest and reproduce-pelicans (genus Pelecanus), cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo), herons (Ardea Linnaeus), black-crowned night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax).

The filmmaker captures the young herons on the branches of an aquatic tree. Then, we notice that the researchers-scientists have covered their canoe with a burlap, so that their presence does not frighten the birds.

Up in the trees a young black-crowned night heron and a group of herons of all kinds. Young Eurasian spoonbill (Platalea leucorodia), a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae with a long beak whose tip is as wide as a spoon, hence their name.

We see flocks of Eurasian spoonbills and herons, a cormorant chick in its nest and others among the branches. As the sacred time of feeding the new-born birds has arrived, we see an Eurasian spoonbill opens its wide beak for the chicks to insert their little beaks and take their food.

Afterwards, in the branches of a tree, we can stand out a black cormorant and a little egret (Egretta), of the heron family. Then, the feeding process of the young herons follows, where the chicks put their mouths deep into the adult’s neck to take the food that has been collected (fish).

The film closes with a general shot of this amazing colony, focusing on chicks of all species, as well as two little egrets.

Coordinates

Film Information

Holder
Petridis Giannis

Quality
2K

Sound
Yes

Color
Yes

Duration (seconds)
243

Format
Super 8mm

Creator's description


The film was shot during a planned visit we made together with the biologist and friend Giorgos Katsadorakis, next to the mixed bird colony, that is located at the southern end of Small Prespa Lake near the Albanian border. This colony stands out from the other colonies that exist in other parts of the National Park and is of particular value because it is a house for nesting several species of rare birds such as Pelicans, Cormorants, Herons, Eurasian spoonbills, black-crowned night heron and others.

The purpose of our visit was to approach the nests of the colony as close as possible, record the bird species and observe the behaviour between the different species that are nesting there side by side. We covered the canoe we used with an improvised burlap cover, succeeding in this way in approaching the nests without being noticed and causing any disturbance.

In the footage we see young individuals of many species on and around the nests somewhat nervously waiting for the adults to feed them. Young Herons, Eurasian Spoonbills, Black-crowned Night Heron, Cormorants, Pygmy Cormorant and some adult individuals of Herons, Cormorants as well as an adult Eurasian Spoonbill stand out.

We were lucky to get shots of the feedings, the ones that are done in that special and unique way, where the parent coming with his stomach full of fish, lets the chicks put their beaks deep into his throat to get their food from there. At some point in the shot, we single out a Eurasian spoonbill feeding two young individuals and then some other Herons feeding. The whole shot closes with a focus on two White Little Egrets.
Petridis Giannis