Reva Pond

The Reva Pond lies in the suburb of Krnjaca. A century ago, this was the canal that was naturally draining the 400 km2 (155 mi2) of wetland, of which nowadays only narrow backwaters, and some ponds, like Reva, remain.

Reva has the semi-natural feeling of a forgotten green oasis at the outskirts of a busy city. Four active nests of (Ευρωπαϊκός) Θαλασσαετός s are located in this and the neighbouring Reva-Čapljin Levees area, making this the highest population density of this species anywhere in Serbia! Of course, their foraging areas cover a much larger territory of tens of square kilometers each.

Hence, the local highlights are (Ευρωπαϊκός) Θαλασσαετόςs, easily spotted (Ευρωπαϊκός) Μικροτσικνιάςs and (Ξανθός) Κρυπτοτσικνιάςs, and the most successful (Βουβός) Κύκνος pair in the city (commonly raising 8 grey fluffy chicks each year), (Ευρωπαϊκη) Βαλτόπαπια, (Ευρωπαϊκή) Σαρσέλα, (Ευρωπαϊκό) Τρυγόνι, Μουστακογλάρονο, (Ευρωπαϊκή) Νεροκοτσέλα, Μαύρος Πελαργός, Λαγγόνα, Βαλκανικός Δρυοκολάπτης, (Ευρωπαϊκός) Κούκος, Δεντρογέρακο, Αετομάχος, (Κοινός) Κόρακας, Υφάντρα and (Μεγάλο) Καλαμοτσίχλονο, among the 150 locally recorded bird species (120 of them strictly protected).

Also, this is a good site for aquatic mammals, especially Eurasian Otter spotting. Keep in mind that Coypu (Nutria) is quite common and that you can confuse this species with an otter. Also present, obvious after its tooth work, but never spotted, is the nocturnal Eurasian Beaver.

The Reva Pond is a part of the international ecological corridor along the Danube River, as well as the “Confluence of the Sava and the Danube Rivers” Important Bird Area (IBA).

Photos by Josip Saric, Dragan Simic and Mileta Cekovic.