Here are 30 photos taken on two sultry early evenings in August 2025 and July 2026 in and around the Stjuža Lagoon in Slovenia’s Strunjan Nature Park, a 428-hectare preserve in the country’s western edge, pleasantly wedged between a peninsula wrapped in lush rolling hills and the Adriatic Sea. I most enjoyed following this Black-winged Stilt family of five: mama stilt and four fast-growing chicks who awkwardly tried to keep apace lest they miss their turn with the evening’s dinner courses.

Stjuža is Slovenia’s only marine lagoon, formed more than four centuries ago by an artificial embankment that separated the bay from the sea. The sea side opens to vistas towards the northerwestern Adriatic and Venice; the bay side towards the Mediterranean world’s northernmost saltpans that have been mined by traditional methods for more than 700 years. That confluence serves as an important cultural and ecological corridor, linking that salt panning tradition to its vibrant biodiversity that has attracted more than 200 different bird species to this area.

It was the latter that drew me but it’s the former that so beatifully frames the area, which lies just a short drive, bus or bike ride from the regional attractions of Piran, Portorož, Izola and Koper. (More about some of those towns another time.)

First, some context.

In Slovenia, ‘nature park’ is a broad term that includes all larger protected areas. Those currently number 51, with one designated national park, three regional parks and 47 landscape parks. Smaller designated protected areas include 57 nature reserves and 1275 natural monuments.

If that sounds like a lot for a country the size of Slovenia, which covers 20,273 square kilometers, about equal in size to the US state of Massachusetts, it is: 40.6% of Slovenia’s total land area is designated as protected, the second highest percentage in Europe, just behind Bulgaria (41%); 13.3% of that protection is in accordance with International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) criteria, and 37.5% protected as Natura 2000 sites. (There is about 10% overlap between the two.)

Strunjan Nature Park includes a variety of habitats, from salt marshes and mud flats to rocky cliffs and dense vegetation, attracting birds and birders year-round. I confess that I rarely visited the park when I lived in Slovenia, but have returned twice over the past 13 months – after the birding bug bit again.

July of course isn’t the best month to visit. According to DOPPS-Birdlife Slovenia (Društvo za opazovanje in proučevanje ptic Slovenije), the highest number of species are usually observed in the migration periods of March, April, August, September and October, while the highest number of birds are generally expected between October and March.

That said, you will cross paths with several big beautiful birds. I managed to identify 15 species during those two brief visits, some of which you’ll find in the images below.

There is a nearby beach, several cafes and seaside lounges, so a visit, at least during the summer months, won’t bring you solitude. But if you step away and make a short jaunt towards the lagoon where few congregate, a visit will bring you peace.

Black-winged Stilts

Since I already brought them up, I’ll begin with the Black-winged Stilts, a few loners and then the family portraits.

Little Egrets

Next up, some Little Egrets. Most with most feet firmly on the ground.

Black-headed Gulls

Next, Black-headed Gulls. For the moment, my favorite common neighborhood gulls. How to tell them apart from Mediterranean Gulls, which are also common and plentiful in this part of Europe?

In the summer, Black-headed Gulls have a chocolate-brown hood, while the hoods on Mediterranean Gulls are jet black. Also check the wing tips. Mediterranean Gulls are clean white; Black-Headed Gulls have distinct dark wingtips.

And below, a juvenile Mediterranean Gull.

Hooded Crows

Next, the always majestic Hooded Crows [gallery]. In the first image, notice its nictating membrane, a transparent or translucent third eyelid found in many animals that sweeps across the eye to protect and moisten it.

Mute Swan

Next, a pair of Mute Swans that commandered the main lagoon.

And finally, a couple of group shots. I like the shy Hooded Crow in the back right, keeping an eye out.

Oh, yeah, almost forgot.

To help you get your bearings, this is a sunset scene I posted previously from the Bay of Strunjan towards St. George’s Church in Piran, an Adriatic seaside town at the end of the proverbial road in western Slovenia. (The town where we lived when I was born.) The bell tower offers views towards Croatia to the south and Italy to the west. Venice is directly to the west, straight on in this shot; the tower, which dates to the 17th century, was built during a period of Venetian rule and is a replica, albeit a smaller one, of the bell tower of St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice.

Photos from 4 August 2025 and 14 July 2026.