Párnický rybár

FAUNA OF PÁRNICA LAKES

The territory of the Párnica lakes is very diverse and attractive for many animal species. Throughout the year, you can meet the roe deer, the red deer and the wild boar. These species take advantage of the partial remoteness, the impassability of the vegetation and the silence of this area. They also like the presence of water and adjacent crop fields in the summer and autumn months. Hares, red foxes, badgers, black polecats, common weasels, or short-tailed weasels occur naturally here. Muskrats and river otters live here only rarely nowadays and in recent years a few water beavers have settled here.  Representatives of bird species, such as wild ducks, waterhens, common coots, great crested grebes, grey herons, tufted ducks, little ringed plovers, kingfishers, black-billed magpies, black birds, house sparrows and field sparrows, have found suitable conditions for nesting here. Occasionally, common kestrels, hobby falcons, buzzards, sparrow hawks or northern goshawks come here to hunt. Among the insect, several species of dragonflies and damselflies live here as well as butterflies, for example, the peacock butterfly, the red admiral or the small tortoiseshell. Last but not least, there are also various species of moths, bumblebees, wasps and even smaller wasps. It is worth mentioning the presence of the small dragonfly (Leucorrhinia caudalis) in this locality. This type of dragonfly is a testimony to the enormous natural dynamics. It did not occur in Slovakia until the beginning of the 21^st century, the first records are from 2003 and 2004. Only two populations founded at that time have survived so far, one of which is in Párnica. It is necessary to preserve aquatic herbaceous overgrown and poorly stocked cassettes of gravel pits with well-developed bank vegetation for the survival of this species.

The animal world of the Párnica Lakes is truly rich, that’s why we have listed here only the most common and well-known species. Many of them are protected by law. The species of fish living in this locality are described on the board Fish Species.