Important species of birds

Merops apiaster

• Nests throughout the whole territory of southern Slovakia
• Number of nesting pairs: 700 – 1300
• Nets near the Paris Marshes
• Nests in perpendicular sandstone, loess and silt walls
• Hunts different insects, mostly dragonflies
   

Egreta alba

• Lays 2-7 eggs which hatch within 25-28 days
• Young leave nests after 6 weeks
• Eats: fishes, frogs, newts, rodents even reptiles /lizards, snakes/
• Builds nests in colonies, hunts on flooded meadows, but also on dry fields
   

Acrocephalus melanopogon

• Food: aquatic insect, its larva and mosquitoes
• Nests twice a year
• Lays 3 – 6 eggs, which hatch within 13 – 15 days
• Extremely rare nest builder in Slovakia
• Nesting places found only in this locality
• Number of nesting pairs: 10 – 20
   

Anser anser

• It is the ancestor of domestic geese
• Life expectancy: 15 – 20 years
• It is a likely nest builder
• Noticed 1 – 2 pairs in nesting period
• It sporadically appears in the locality in the end of winter and in spring
   

Ixobrychus minutus

• Nests irregularly, up to 3 pairs
• Builds nests in reed, once a year lays 5-7 eggs which hatch within 17-19 days
• Young leave nests within 25-30 days
• Lives in bushy reed, marshes, banks of water with hidden lives
• Eats frogs, fishes, arthropods
   

Circus aeruginosus

• Typical bird of prey, builds nests in reed
• Lays 4-5eggs which hatch within 31-32 days
• Eats: rodents, fish, water birds
• Builds nests regularly
• Approximately 15-25 pairs nest in NNR
   

Porzana parva

• The bottom part of a male bird is blue-greyish; his upper part is brown with black-brownish stripes.
• The bottom part of females and young birds is beige.
• Food: small invertebrates and green parts of plants.
• Nesting place: deeper water
• Nests regularly every year
• Number of nesting pairs: 15 – 25
   

Anas Querquedula

• Nests on a ground
• Lays 8 – 11 eggs, hatch within 21 – 23 days
• Nestlings are self-sufficient within 6 weeks
• It is the smallest European duck
• Protected during the whole year in Slovakia
• Number of nesting pairs: 1 – 5
• Regular nest builder and migrant species