Wildlife to see in Croatia in May
10 spectacles at their peak in Croatia in May, and 3 more still going on. Wild animals only: no zoos, no wildlife parks, no hunting. Open Croatia in May in the interactive calendar for listening times on the day you pick.
At their peak in May
Frog choruses of the Sava and Danube floodplainsFire-bellied toads' soft 'oop-oop' by the thousand across flooded pasture, tree frog volleys, marsh frog laughter, green toad trills, cuckoo and nightingale at the edges, storks clattering.
Scops owl nights on the Dalmatian islandsSeveral scops owls counter-singing across a village at different pitches, nightjar churring from the maquis, Cetti's warbler, cicada tail-off at dusk, cricket and bush-cricket floor, sea against the shore.
Shearwater colonies at night, Lastovo archipelagoScopoli's shearwaters wailing and cackling overhead and from burrows — the 'crying baby' chorus of Mediterranean islets; Yelkouan's higher nasal calls; waves on rock, cicadas fading at dusk.
Heronries, cormorant colonies and spring flood chorus, Kopački ritCroaking, bill-snapping heronries in flooded willows, cormorant grunts, spoonbill chick begging, eagle yelps, fire-bellied toad and marsh frog choruses under everything, cuckoo, golden oriole.
Neretva delta: the Adriatic flyway stopoverBittern booming from the reeds, whiskered and black terns over the lagoons, marsh frogs, great reed warblers, glossy ibis and egret flights at dusk, Cetti's warbler explosions; frog and cicada layers by June.
Plitvice and Lika beech-fir forests: owls, woodpeckers, dawn chorusMountain beech-fir chorus with collared flycatcher and wood warbler, three-toed and white-backed woodpecker drumming, pygmy owl whistles at dusk, Ural owl barking in March, the constant waterfall bed on the lakes themselves.
White stork village and floodplain summer, Lonjsko poljeBill-clattering duets from every rooftop, chick hissing and begging, spoonbill and heron colonies, marsh and pool frogs from the oxbows, corncrake and quail in the meadows at night, cattle bells and village life.
Brown bears and wolves, Gorski kotar and VelebitBear footfalls, huffs and jaw-popping close to a hide; wolf packs howling across karst dolines in late summer; dormice and Ural owls at night; the Lika plateau is one of the quietest places in southern Europe.
Vrana Lake: wintering ducks and the reedbed springMassed coot and duck rafts, wigeon whistling, marsh harrier; in spring purple heron croaks, pygmy cormorant colony chatter, great reed warbler, tree frogs and marsh frogs, scops owl from the olive groves at night.
Griffon vultures on the sea cliffs of CresHissing and grunting at the ledges, the wind-rip of 2.7 m wings passing low over a boat, chick begging; shags and yellow-legged gulls beneath, cicadas and scops owl in the maquis behind.
Also going on in May
Golden jackal choruses of DalmatiaThe rising, yelping, quavering group howl of a jackal family — three or four voices climbing over each other for half a minute — answered from the next olive grove and the next, with scops owls, nightjars and crickets underneath on summer nights and silence and sea on winter ones.
Paklenica canyons: eagle owl, chamois and rock birdsEagle owl's deep 'oo-hu' bouncing between 400 m canyon walls, rock partridge cackling at dawn, alpine swift screams, blue rock thrush, chamois alarm whistles, the Velika Paklenica stream.
Bottlenose dolphins of the Kvarnerić, LošinjWith a hydrophone: whistles, echolocation click trains and burst-pulse squawks; above water, blows and tail-slaps; unfortunately also every outboard within 10 km.