Ultsinskaya salt-works

Ultsinckaya salt-works is located in the farthest southern part of Montenegro and covers approximately 14.5 km2 of saline pool. Ulcinj is the sunniest city of the former Yugoslavia. There are 2567 hours of sunlight in the year in Ulcinj. Thus, Ulcinj is an ideal place for salt-works, taking into consideration, that for salt production must be good evaporation of sea water.

There is an ideal habitat for birds from all over the Adriatic Sea, the Balkans and the Mediterranean in the city. It is recorded 241 bird species in Ulcinj, it is 50% of the total number of bird species recorded in Europe. 15 species of birds use the pools for nesting, wintering or resting during spring or autumn migration, which is higher than 1% of the total number of birds on planete. On the surface of 15 km2 live - 3% of pelicans Pelecanus crispus, 3% tailed Godwit Limosa limosaili and 3% of red-snipe Tringa erythropus. On salt-works make nests 55 species of birds. Almost half of the total number of breeding pairs of aquatic birds make their nests in the salt-works. 70 species, recorded in this area, are of special interest for the protection of EC.
Flocks of herons also inhabit the salt-works, but their number is decreasing faster than other groups of birds, primarily because of the uncertainty of the environment. On the return from Africa, tens of thousands of swallows use salt-works as a place of rest. It happens that the Hirundo and Delichon swallow fly on the whole territory. Travnik, Saxicola rubetra, yellow wagtail, motacila flava, Spotted Flycatcher fly in flocks of up to 10,000 birds per day!

On the salt-works in the spring will be more than 40,000 birds per day. By the fall most of the birds migrate to the South, and birds from Siberia and Northern Europe arrive for the winter, spending the winter in the warm Mediterranean conditions, with occasional rain, small frost from the surrounding mountains and the gale-force wind.

 

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