Great bittern, one of the rarest birds in Slovenia, skulks in thick reeds by river meanders and pursues its prey. Its cryptic feathers enable it to blend into the surroundings and become practically invisible. It can only be tipped off by its loud booming, which can be heard as far as a couple of kilometres.
This solitary, cautious bird, which is mostly active at dusk when it looks for food, is also one of the most endangered birds in Slovenia. In the nesting season, large reed beds by rivers and lakes are its favourite and only habitat, and yet, man continues to shrink it through inconsiderate interferences in the environment and threatens the survival of this secretive heron.
Impassable reed beds of Lake Cerknica represent a piece of intact wilderness, where in the middle of densely populated Europe, rare and endangered plants and animals are able to live at their own pace.
