Land-locked in the hart of Balkans, the Serbia has about 100 birders and about 340 bird species – as well as 36 globally Important Bird Areas (BirdLife International, 2000) covering 775,560 ha or 8.8% of Serbian territory.

Most birders live in the Belgrade, Novi Sad and Subotica (in the north).
IBAs close to Belgrade are:
·       YU09SE Obedska Bara Wetlands,
·       YU16SE Deliblatska Pescara Sands and
·       YU34SE Dubovac to Ram section of the Danube River.

IBAs close to the town of Novi Sad are:
·       YU04SE Jegricka Canal,
·       YU05SE Koviljski Rit Wetlands,
·       YU06SE Fruska Gora Mountain National Park and
·       YU13SE Carska Bara Fish-pond.

IBA close to the town of Subotica is YU02SE Subotica Lakes (Palic and Ludas) and Sandy Terrains.

Generally speaking, northern IBAs (north of the Sava and Danube rivers) are mainly flood-plain wetland areas (with the exception of the Deliblatska Pescara Sands and Mt. Fruska Gora) that supports important populations of Grebes (Black-necked, Little and Great Crested), Great and Little Bittern, Spoonbill, herons (Squacco, Night, Grey, Purple) and egrets (Little, Great White), Glossy Ibis, White and Black Storks, Great and Pygmy Cormorants, Ferruginous Duck, Crane, Great Bustard, White-tailed Eagle, Imperial Eagle, Lesser-spotted Eagle, Saker, Black Kite, Marsh and Hen Harriers, Avocet, Black-winged Stilt, Spotted and Little Crake, Syrian
Woodpecker, Hoopoe, Olivaceous warbler, Bearded and Penduline Tits – enough to keep serious birder twitching for days on end. In the 1998 survey by the Birds Protection and Study Society of Vojvodina (northern
Serbian province) there were about 7,500 breeding pairs of herons and cormorants in Serbia dispersed in about 60 heronries – including 350 pairs of Pygmy Cormorant.

Beside above mentioned, IBAs along international route from Budapest (Hungary) to Thessaloniki (Greece) through Subotica, Novi Sad, Beograd, Nis and Vranje are:
–       YU26SE Vlasina Lake and (deep in Serbia’s southeast corner) and
–       YU25SE Pcinja Hills (deep in Serbia’s southeast corner).

Along international route going from the town of Nis to Bulgarian capital of Sofia, there are four IBAs:
–       YU30SE Sicevo Gorge,
–       YU28SE Suva Planina Mountain,
–       YU29SE Stara Planina Mountain (Vidlic area) and
–       YU27SE Jerma River Canyon.

Along the road from Belgrade to Montenegro there are two IBAs:
–       YU20SE Ovcar-Kablar Gorge and
–       YU21SE Uvac and Milesevka Gorges (Griffon Vulture Sanctuary).

IBAs south of the Sava and Danube Rivers are mostly in the mountains and/or limestone gorges and in these IBAs you may spend days in search of Common Crossbill, Alpine Swift, Crag-martin, Red-rumped swallow,
Wallcreeper, Peregrine Falcon, Eagles (Golden, Booted and Short-toed), Long-legged Buzzard, Egyptian and Griffon Vultures, Black Stork, Rock Nuthatch, Rock Thrush, Balkan Shore Lark, Black-eared Wheatear, Ring-Ouzel, Sombre Tit, Shrikes (Lesser Grey, Woodchat and Red-backed), Buntings (Cirl, Rock, Black-headed and Ortolan), Warblers (Barred, Subalpine, Bonelli’s), Water Pipit, Nutcracker, Alpine Chough, Alpine accentor, Spanish and Rock Sparrows, Snow Finch, etc.

For local contacts in areas you might want to visit, write to the Birds Protection and Study Society of Vojvodina: Drustvo za zastitu i proucavanje ptica Vojvodine, Radnicka 20, 21000 Novi Sad, Yugoslavia.

Dragan Simic, Gaborone, Botswana, copyright 2000 - 2003