Shearwater colonies at night, Lastovo archipelago
Scopoli's shearwater (Calonectris diomedea) and Yelkouan shearwater (Puffinus yelkouan); Audouin's gull, shag, Eleonora's falcon in late summer. Lastovo islands, Sušac, Palagruža, Vis and Biševo, Croatia.
Best time: 15 May – 31 Jul (May to July). Where: Lastovo – southern islets (Lastovnjaci) and Sušac, Palagruža, Vis – Komiža and Biševo (Croatia). Time of day: Rafts gather offshore in the last hour before sunset.
- Partly on your own
- Low cost
- Binoculars helpful
- Sound 5/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 15 May – 31 Jul. Mid May to end of July for Scopoli's night chorus at the colonies; Yelkouan earlier (Feb–June); rafts offshore at dusk all summer
Active from 1 Mar to 15 Oct (March to October) in a typical year.
Time of day
Rafts gather offshore in the last hour before sunset; at the colonies nothing until full dark, then arrivals from about 1 h after sunset to 03:00, peaking 23:00–02:00 on moonless nights.
- Dusk rafts: 1 h before sunset → sunset
- Colony return: 30 min after last light → 03:00
What will you hear?
Scopoli'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.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. Night chorus is ears only; binoculars for the evening rafts off the Komiža and Lastovo headlands.
Where to go
- Lastovo – southern islets (Lastovnjaci) and Sušac — More than half of Croatia's Yelkouan and 30–70% of Scopoli's shearwaters breed here (LIFE Artina/BIOM). Landing on colony islets needs park permission. Map
- Palagruža — Remote lighthouse island; large Scopoli's colony; boat access from Komiža on Vis. Map
- Vis – Komiža and Biševo — Colonies on Biševo and offshore rocks; evening rafts visible from Komiža headlands. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Landing on the colony islets needs the nature park's permission and BIOM's coordination; the clean option is a hired boat moored below the cliffs on a moonless night (Lastovo or Komiža skippers). Free from land: dusk rafts off the Komiža headlands on Vis and the Lastovo south coast. Palagruža: boat from Komiža.
Cost: Boat hire (check current prices); Lastovo park vessel ticket from €8 per day off-season / €16 summer for boats under 7 m (2026); headlands free.
Free or no-guide alternative: Komiža headlands at dusk: Scopoli's and Yelkouan rafts gather offshore before flying to Biševo — free from the coast road and paths.
Field-recording notes
Colonies are in the nature park and Natura 2000 sites; BIOM runs rat-eradication and monitoring — contact them and the park before any landing, and never walk over burrow ground with a torch. Recording from a moored boat below the cliffs on a moonless, windless night is the cleanest option (mistral stops at dusk). The shearwater chorus is loudest on dark nights and drops on full moon. Palagruža is far offshore and weather-locked; allow spare days. Fishing boat traffic from Komiža is the main noise at night.
Sources
- LIFE Artina – Scopoli's shearwater
- BIOM – seabird nest searching on Lastovo
- Park prirode Lastovsko otočje
Similar spectacles
Berlengas: Cory's shearwaters calling over the island at nightHundreds of Cory's shearwaters wailing and sobbing over the island in the dark — the Atlantic's strangest chorus — with the yellow-legged gull colony grumbling, shags croaking on the ledges and the swell in the sea caves. On the mainland, the same birds raft silently off Cabo Carvoeiro at dusk.
Balearic shearwater & storm petrel islandsHoarse, cackling Balearic shearwaters arriving to cliff burrows after dark, storm petrels purring in cave crevices, Audouin's gull colonies and Eleonora's falcons screaming over the sea in late summer.
Raso and Branco — Cape Verde shearwater islets and the Raso larkA Macaronesian petrel night in the tropics: thousands of Cape Verde shearwaters wailing and cackling as they come in off the sea, the rush of wings down the canyons close overhead, geckos chirping into the small hours, tropicbird screams by day. No people, no engines, no lights.
Manx shearwaters returning at nightHundreds of thousands of birds crashing in, with cackling, choking, hoarse calls from the air and burrows all around you.
Scopoli's & Yelkouan shearwater coloniesScopoli's 'crying baby' wails from thousands of birds arriving over cliffs — one of the Mediterranean's strangest sounds.
Cory's shearwater colonies of the CanariesThe wailing, sobbing 'pardela' chorus from thousands of birds over sea cliffs — the sound behind the Canarian mermaid legends — with the Atlantic swell and Bulwer's petrels' soft barking.
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