My Experience in Krka

I was scared and excited about what to expect on this trip. The first day was the most exhausting one. So many new things that I saw, heard, smelled, and touched. Everything was really overwhelming, but my classmates and teachers helped me to feel comfortable from day one. The schedule was really tied to waking up at 3am to hear and watch birds, even though we all were tired. It was one of my favorite expeditions that week. The first time we went out to explore Krka National Park I felt the different ecosystems around, they had their own ways of living very different from what I am used to, it was really great.

In the upcoming days we were able to gain knowledge in a variety of fields.

Some of the best experiences were setting up the bird and bat nets. We walked into a transect and started with securing two bars in the ground. We had to consider where to place them and the best place was in between the trees so that the bars would be stable and hidden from the birds. Then the net was attached to the bars and the scientist explained why they chose this specific location and how the birds would get examined. I thought at the beginning that it was really easy just to put them up, maybe one two people working on one net, but when we had to consider all the different facts, it took four people working together to build them.

Another time we went to a pond and set up a bat net. It was almost the same system, but with a different fastener than the bird net. I learned 4 new knots, which I actively used, while building the bat net. Then we saw the first bat drinking from the pond, while having a beautiful sunset in the back. We had a bat tracker to identify the sounds of the bats nearby. It was late when we came home, but I enjoyed getting to learn about bats.

On the butterfly expedition we saw a range of butterflies and moths. The most common in that area was the grad bandit greylin butterfly. We were given a net and swung it around to catch the different butterflies, in order to see them up close. It reminded me of the movies that I have seen before where people catch butterflies. It was way more difficult than I had anticipated, because we were way too slow for most of them. Therefore the scientists were able to catch them and we had to identify the type of butterfly from the book of butterflies, which was given to us by them. Then we walked through the transect and every time we saw one it was written down to analyze the change of butterfly species in that area over the years.

We did many different activities during the week in Krka. Always by my side were peers, teachers, staff, and the great team of scientists. The scientists were open to any questions and extremely enthusiastic about their work, which made the “work” ethic really great. It was inspiring to hear all the stories and helped me find my areas of interest, where I could see myself working in the future. This was the best trip ever!

All photos by Cilia Powitz