Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

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Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Clive Brignull » Sat Jul 16, 2016 8:21 pm

Due to some uploading server errors ("servers can't be reached"), this report has been separated into two parts. Additionally, photo clarity throughout this report has had to have been reduced significantly to allow for submission

Unlike our previous herping expeditions, the start of our Montenegrin trip was fraught with a few unexpected problems. Firstly, upon our arrival at the airport we were greeted with a rather unhelpful car hire representative, stating that they had "no car available", a little strange since it was booked 12 weeks in advance. After a couple of hours trying to resolve the issue, we finally managed to acquire a car from another local garage in the centre of Podgorica. With relief, we headed for our first site of accommodation. Here is where our second problem quickly became apparent, our room was far from ready, with building work still being carried out in its bathroom. After more issues with language barriers another room was eventually provided. Anyway enough of the ranting, here are a few photos of our target species.

The first few days were spent exploring Ada Bojana and its surrounding area. Due to temperatures exceeding 36'C, our searches were restricted to early mornings and evenings. The first reptile found was Testudo hermanni which turned out to be 1 of around 50 individuals found throughout the week.

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Our main target species, Vipera ammodytes, of which 7 were found, had a fantastic range of colours.

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Having walked approximately 2/3rds of the way across the Ada Bojana peninsula, we surprisingly passed a frontier barrier and its associated sign. Similarly we received messages on our mobiles welcoming us to Albania?!?!?

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An unexpected find along one of our many walks was a European Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus. Which when investigated/accidentally disturbed was found to be sitting on eggs. Rest assured we waited at a distance until the bird returned to its nest.

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Re: Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Ilian Velikov » Sat Jul 16, 2016 8:41 pm

Good to know there are so many tortoises there. People usually take them for granted because they are easy to find and photograph when you have considerable numbers in your search area but overall they have been on decline throughout Europe, so it's always good to find areas where they are thriving.

Those ammos look stunning as usual, but seeing a nightjar is a super lucky finding and one sitting on eggs is once in a lifetime event!

Great stuff! Thanks for posting.
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Re: Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Michal Szkudlarek » Sat Jul 16, 2016 9:53 pm

No salamanders? :?
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Re: Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Ilian Velikov » Sat Jul 16, 2016 10:53 pm

Michal Szkudlarek wrote:No salamanders? :?


What, in June with temperatures above 36C? You're being a bit optimistic to say the least.
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Re: Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Michal Szkudlarek » Sat Jul 16, 2016 11:03 pm

Ilian Velikov wrote:
Michal Szkudlarek wrote:No salamanders? :?


What, in June with temperatures above 36C? You're being a bit optimistic to say the least.


I found their larvas in summer in Croatia. Do adults aestivate?
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Re: Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Mario Schweiger » Sun Jul 17, 2016 8:16 am

Michal Szkudlarek wrote:No salamanders? :?


Salamandra salamandra only in the higher mountains in Montenegro. For sure not at sea level, like the Bojana area.
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Re: Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Mario Schweiger » Sun Jul 17, 2016 8:27 am

nice report and pictures

Clive Brignull wrote:Due to some uploading server errors ("servers can't be reached"), this report has been separated into two parts. Additionally, photo clarity throughout this report has had to have been reduced significantly to allow for submission

sorry, the "server error" message sometimes occur since the update of the forum script one year ago or so. In most cases the posting is online anyway, so please check before doing the whole thing again.

picture size (pixels and KB): pictures are allowed up to 1600 x 1600 px and 500 KiB. I think this should be more than enough to show your pictures in a good quality.
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Bufotes viridis, Bojana, CG

Example: 1600 px wide, 401 KiB (reduced to 90% quality with freeware IrfanView)
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Re: Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Clive Brignull » Sun Jul 17, 2016 12:17 pm

Thanks for the response Mario. The problem regarding servers didn't occur upon the reports final submission. Instead it occurred half way through the uploading process of the photos (crashed on the 7th photo, when I had 14 to upload). Hence why each part of the report now contains 7 photos only. Regarding photo size, to allow for even just 7 photos to be uploaded, I had to reduce each photo file size to somewhere in the region of 120KiB (any higher would result in a crash of the server when uploading multiple/7 photos). Additionally, Irfanview was considered, however I choose to use the Photoscape program instead. I'm sure you can understand my frustration in seeing some hard to acquire photos looking less detailed than there counterpart originals.
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Re: Montenegro 22nd-29th June 2016 (Part 1)

Postby Clive Brignull » Sun Jul 17, 2016 12:23 pm

The server error message that you have described, "sorry, the "server error" message sometimes occur since the update of the forum script one year ago or so. In most cases the posting is online anyway, so please check before doing the whole thing again.", happened on the posting of my last reply (5mins earlier than this one) to yourself regarding photo uploading. This is not the same server error.
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