| Abstract: | The south slope of Meljski Hrib is constituted of marlaceous rockwall partially overgrown with thermophilous shrubbery. This prominent wall rises above the Drava river in Maribor and has been from 1992 on protected as nature reserve. Meljski Hrib is situated at an altitude of slightly over 300 m. On October 10th 1995, a pair of Ravens was observed while building nest on one of the shelves in the wall, and on December 23rd, 4 young in full plumage were found in it. The nest was inspected each day until January 1st 1996, when the first chick was fledged; on January 7th, the nest was left by the last one. The adults fed and gathered food for their young on some thousand metres distant municipal rubbish dump. During the breeding period, the pair moulted completely. On February 10th, the pair was seen during its display flight, and on March 9th the female was found sitting on the nest. On March 23rd, however, the nest was empty and abandoned. The nest site was occasionally visited by the pair also in April and May. In Slovenia, the Ravenis a fairly frequent breeder, inhabiting mainly higher parts of the Julian Alps, Trnovski gozd, Kočevsko, Posavje and Pohorje. Its population trend is increasing, and the Slovene population is today estimated at 1000-1500 pairs. In the mid-twentieth century, however, the Raven was a very rare bird in Slovenia, and it was not until the 60's and the 70's that its numbers quickly increased. The unusual autumn-winter breeding by this bird took place in extremely severe winter with very high precipitation rate, with 30-50 cm of snow and with night temperatures falling to -15 C. This so uncommon breeding in extremely unfavourable weather conditions on the one hand but with favourable food sources (vicinity of the dump) on the other, indicates extremely high adaptability of this species. This is the first known record of the Raven breeding in Maribor or its vicinity |
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