IUCN & WI Cormorant Research Group & The Croatian Society for Bird and Nature Protection

9th International Conference on Cormorants
and
6th Meeting of the IUCN Wetlands International Cormorant Research Group

23 - 27 April 2014 - Osijek, Croatia

Second announcement (updated 04 April)

preliminary program - how to reach Osijek - accomodation

This is the second announcement for the 6th IUCN-Wetlands International CRG meeting and the 9th International European Conference on Cormorants, to be held in Osijek, Croatia from 23-27 April 2014. This is a rare opportunity to meet a large number of Cormorant researchers in a friendly atmosphere and in a fantastic place...

The conference promises to be an exciting meeting again, as people from 15 countries including Nepal and India already registered. The general theme of the conference is “Cormorants and migration” and a workshop about colour ringing and telemetry of cormorants is scheduled.

The provisional program will be available on our website in a few days time.

You can still send your abstract proposal, both for poster and oral presentation to Stef van Rijn [stefvanrijn@live.nl]. See below for futher details.

Registration is still open for a limited number of participants through this page. The Croatian Society for Bird and Nature protection, co-organizer of the Conference, negotiated for an affordable price for this venue. Registration cost (including accommodation for four nights, meals, conference fee and an exciting boat-trip excursion to the Kopacki Rit National Park) is kept low 285 €, based at double room, thanks to various subsidies. Please pay this sum to the local organization of the conference, Tibor Mikuska, tibor.kopacki.rit@gmail.com  best before 15 April to the following account of Hrvatsko društvo za zaštitu ptica i prirode at Zagrebacka banka d.d., IBAN HR59 2360 0001 1016 0202 1, with the mention CRG-Osijek.

The address of the Croatian Society for  Bird and Nature Protection (for the bank purposes) is Gunduliceva 24, Zagreb HR-10000 - the SWIFT/BIC code is: ZABAHR2X

Participants are expected to arrive in Osijek on 23rd April and to depart on 27th April 2014. There is an international airport in Osijek (http://www.osijek-airport.hr/?lang=en). Arrival in Zagreb is also a possible choice, connection to Osijek is possible, best by bus (http://www.akz.hr/default.aspx?id=260) or train (http://www.hzpp.hr/timetable)

On behalf of the organizing committee

Tibor Mikuska
Croatian Society for Bird and Nature Protection

Kopacki Rit in early spring with assembly of Great Cormorants. Photo: Tibor Mikuska

Contributions should include original observations and research, and be based on scientific methods. The call is for papers and contributions dealing with ecological, behavioural, demographic and management aspects of cormorants and shags. During the meeting there will be a special focus on migratory studies both in a workshop and in the plenary talks and poster session.

As the CRG wishes to extend its scope and interests beyond the European population of the Great Cormorant P. carbo, contributions relating to other species of cormorants and their allies are warmly welcomed.

Draft time schedule and agenda:

Participants are expected to arrive in Osijek on 23^rd April and to depart on 27^th April 2014

Thursday 24 April – Conference opening, plenary lecures, talks and workshop sessions

Friday 25 April – all-day presentations and sessions

The program will include a poster session and a workshop on colour-ringing and other techniques used to study movement and migration

Saturday 26 April – Full-day excursion to Kopacki rit Nature park and Baranya region

Sunday 27 April – departure of participants

Call for Papers: Abstract submission should be made by e-mail to stefvanrijn@live.nl

All communication will be in English. At least one author of each contribution must be registered by attending the conference. Each contribution should be proposed as either an Oral or a Poster presentation. Besides title, authors and affiliations, abstracts should include a brief description of the purpose and methods of the study, as well as the main results and a brief discussion. Abstracts should have a maximum of 2,500 characters (up to one page, A4 standard).

example:

Author/s. JONES, THOMAS F.* and G. HENK KERK, Zool. Department, University of Lelystad, NL-8241AC Lelystad, The Netherlands.
t.jones@prt.nl and University of Lelystad, Lelystad, The Netherlands.

Title. Daily food requirements of Great Cormorants wintering at a Dutch canal.

Abstract. The daily food intake (DEE) of wintering Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) was studied using the method of direct observation of …

A selection of papers from this and the previous CRG conference in Medemblik are expected to be published in the scientific journal Ardea in 2015.

The final program and the abstracts will be provided to participants at the meeting and will also be available on the Cormorant website.
If you have any question about abstract submission, please contact: stefvanrijn@live.nl

Registration fee and accommodation

Registration deadline and payment of fees is: 15th April 2014.

Conference registration fee is between 285 € (based at double room). This includes accommodation for four nights, meals, conference fee and an exciting boat-trip excursion to the Kopacki Rit National Park (coach and boat trip).

Registration should be made by eamil to the Technical Secretariat of the conference: Tibor.kopacki.rit@gmail.com or online through the following link: pre-registration form

Click here to get a Google Map view of the conference location: http://goo.gl/maps/PSPrs

How to reach Osijek

By car

Osijek is well connected with neighbouring large cities via highways: Budapest (259 km on M6 towards Pecs), Zagreb (300 km on A3 and A5), Belgrade (185 km on E55). Estimated time of driving from these cites is 3 hour.

By plane

Direct flights are offered from London and Zagreb

Ticket should be booked via Ryan Air (http://www.ryanair.com/hr for flights from/to London) and Croatia Airlines (http://www.croatiaairlines.com/ for flights from/to Zagreb).

By bus

There are number of buses regularly driving from Osijek to Zagreb and vice versa. Bus connections exist from/to Belgrade, but not towards Hungary. The price for single round trip from Zagreb to Osijek is 230 kuna (= 30 EUR). Timetable for Zagreb-Osijek is given bellow:

* times in bracket are estimated time of arrivals

By train

There are several direct trains from Zagreb to Osijek commuting every day:

From Osijek to Zagreb (on Sunday, 27th April)

Accomodation

For the registered participants we have secured some discounted accommodation possibilities:

1) Hotel Drava (http://www.hotel-drava.com/english/) - Offering 4 single-bed and 7 double-bed rooms (4 of them are with French bed). Hotel is located 1,8 km from the Conference venue and easily reachable by tram, foot or taxi.

2) Guesthouse Maximilian (http://www.maksimilian.hr) - Offering 7 double-bed rooms. Guesthouse is situated in the oldest part of the town, 200 m from the Conference venue.

3) Lišnjic rooms (http://www.sobe-lisnic.com/en) - Offering 3 double-bed rooms (one with French bed). Accommodation is located 1,8 km from the Conference venue and easily reachable by tram, foot or taxi.

During the Cormorant conference there would be a parallel world gymnastic cup, thus early booking would be advisable.

Preliminary programme

23 April (Wednesday)

All day: arrival and registration of participants

Evening: ·

24 April (Thursday)

Conference opening, plenary lecures, talks and workshop sessions

Morning:
Afternoon:
Evening:

25 April (Friday)

all-day presentations and sessions

Morning:
Afternoon:
Evening:

26 April (Saturday)

Full-day excursion to Kopacki rit Nature park and Baranya region

27 April (Sunday)

departure of participants