Settlement Of Grey Herons And Cormorants Beside Juodkrante

Departing Juodkrante towards Nida, but not mounting up to the steep Hill of Ram yet, another hill is aspiring among the old woods – the Hill of Herons, which received its name from the settlement of grey herons and grand cormorants that settled nearby. This is one of the biggest settlement of these birds in the whole Europe. According to the data of 2005, the settlement amounted to 300 couples of grey herons and 2,800 couples of grand cormorants.
It is unlikely to answer the question, when the herons settled in the neighbourhood of Juodkrante. In the middle of XIX mentury, they were a common element of everyday life. It can be said with a confidence that these leggy birds had lived in XVII century or even much earlier.
What did stimulate the herons to resettle their nestplaces from the northern to the southern neighbourhood of Juodkrante? Historical sources report on their battle with an aggressive “gooks” – the cormorants. Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo L. or Carbo cormoranus), otherwise known as marine ravens ”Corvus marinus”, had appeared in Juodkrante in 1803. They settled beside the herons and started to occupy their nests. Gradually, the herons were driven out to the edges. They began to migrate to the south of Juodkrante. In 10 years, two separate settlements of herons and cormorants emerged on the southern and northern border of Juodkrante.

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