'Gulls in the harbour - storm at sea'

Birds as weather forecasters

Kingfisher - symbol of 'Halcyon Days' Kingfisher - symbol of 'Halcyon Days' Photo: Steve Jones

 Mankind has had an understanding of the weather and meteorology from time immemorial up to the present day, according to Marko Vučetić from Hvar, well known to the Croatian public for his work in the Agrometeorological Information Department at the Croatian Meteorological and Hydrological Service.. Marko and his wife Višnja are co-authors of the invaluable book 'Vrijeme na Jadranu, meteorologija za nautičare', a guide to meteorology for sailors published by Fabra d.o.o., 2013. Besides this, in the course of his long and distinguished career as a meteorologist Marko has published numerous professional and scientific works, covering not only the purely physical laws of the atmosphere, but also the human perceptions, experiences, traditions and popular expressions which have arisen from them.

Cranes over Dol, November 2016. Heralds of winter? Photo: Steve Jones

Hvar Island has several typical dialect sayings related to the weather and the seasons, such as 'Sv. Ivon - hod' iz poja von', which translates literally as 'St. John - come out of the fields', and means that from St. John the Baptist's feast day (24th June) farmers should take a break until it's time to harvest the lavender a few weeks later. 'Svieti Antuonij Opat – vazmi motiku i puoj kopat' - 'St. Anthony the Abbot - pick up your mattock and start digging': this means that from the saint's feast day on 17th January, the period of rest following the end of the olive harvest is now over and it's time to resume work in the fields, fertilizing, pruning and preparing the soil for the spring planting. 'Sv. Fabijon kreši uru don' - 'St. Fabian - the day has an extra hour': from the feast day on 20th January, work in the fields lasts longer.

'Kandelora - zima fora, svi kosići priko mora. Za njon gre svieti Blaž i govori da je to laž' means 'The feast of Candlemas (2nd February) marks winter's end, all the songbirds are arriving across the sea, but then comes St. Blaise (3rd February) who says it's all a lie'. There are various versions of this saying, warning that winter is not necessarily over at the beginning of February, the weather can suddenly still turn for the worse, however mild it seem at that point. The saying 'Poslije svietog Matija svaka ptica propiva' means 'After St. Matthew's feast day (24th February) all the birds burst into song', marking the start of spring.

Storks in Jelsa, September 2017, on their way south. Photo: Vivian Grisogono

Birds, in their way, can be weather forecasters, sometimes foretelling cold weather, sometimes warmer.

We hear a lot about cranes (Grus grus), storks (Ciconia ciconia), swallows (Hirundo rustica) as heralds of changes in the seasons, and especially the coots' 'wedding dance' in the Neretva valley which marks the end of winter and the start of spring. So which birds does Marko Vučetić consider significant as weather forecasters on Hvar? These are the ones he highlighted.

Grey wagtail, wren, gull and kingfisher

Grey wagtail. Photo: Steve Jones

"As examples we can cite the grey wagtail (Motacilla cinerea), wren (Troglodytes troglodytes), yellow-legged gull (Larus cacchinnans michahellis) and kingfisher (Alcedo otthis). When the grey wagtail and wren arrive on our islands from the mainland, they herald a cold spell with really bad weather.

Grey wagtail: bad weather on the way? Photo: Steve Jones

Similarly when the Eurasian woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) migrates to the islands, it's a sign of bad weather on the mainland, hence the folk saying: 'Šljuka na škoj sleti kad Zagora zaledi', 'The woodcock lands on the island when the hinterland turns icy'.

Wren. Photo: Steve Jones

Hvar islanders have their own weather-forecasting bird in the sea-gull.

Yellow-legged gull. Photo: Steve Jones

When this well-known bird settles on the acroterion of Hvar's historic Arsenal on the waterfront, it is a sure sign of imminent bad weather. There is a folk saying describing this: 'Kalebi u portu - nevera u kulfu', - 'Gulls in the harbour, storm at sea', but whether the accompanying wind will be a fierce south 'Yugo' or north 'Bura' remains to be seen."

Yellow-legged seagulls. Photo: Steve Jones

Marko Vučetić has described in detail the mythical saga of the kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) in his scholarly work 'Vrijeme i klima Jadrana u antičkih pisaca' - ['Weather and climate on the Adriatic in the writers of Antiquity'], linking this colourful bird with the winter maestral wind, or rather with the phenomenon known as 'Alcyone's days'. Kingfishers live close to water and feed on fish and small aquatic organisms. At the seaside they use their long beaks to batter little crabs, which has earned them the name of kovoc (blacksmith) on Brač and kovačić (little blacksmith) in Stari Grad on Hvar. In winter they nest in the ground on steep rocks, which has given rise to toponyms such as Punta kovača near Podstine in Hvar Town and near Soline on the islet of sveti Klement in the Pakleni Islands off Hvar.

So what are 'Alcyone's days'?

In Marko Vučetić's words: "In winter it is not often that the sea is totally calm and smooth as oil - known as bonaca k'o uje in local dialect - but it can happen. When it does, it is a marvel which from time immemorial has been attributed to the gods. In Ancient Greek mythology the leading role in this is attributed to Alcyone whose deep love for her husband Ceyx, King of Trachis, was shattered when he died in a shipwreck. When she heard Ceyx had died, in her grief she headed into the sea. The gods took pity on the enamoured couple and turned them into kingfishers, generously arranging that when the kingfishers were nesting, around the time of the winter solstice, the sea would become totally quiet, and could remain so for about two weeks. This is the link between kingfishers and the calm sea in winter, which the Ancient Greeks called 'Alcyone's days', [giving rise to the English name 'Halcyon days'].

Kingfisher, January 2018. Photo: Steve Jones

In our region, this winter calm weather is related to the experience of the winter maestral wind. Such weather does not usually last long - most often just three days - and it is in fact a sea breeze, a wind within the coastal ambit, which in this case circulates from the sea towards land when the weather is stable. As it cannot last in winter time, it is most often the precursor of the Jugo (south wind), bringing with it bad weather. Once upon a time the winter maestral had special significance for Dalmatian fishermen and seafarers, especially in the age of sailing boats, which would mean that careful research might reveal that we too may have our own links with the Alcyone Days."

Mirko Crnčević

 © Mirko Crnčević / Dobra Kob (no.259, April 2023)

Translation: Vivian Grisogono

You are here: Home Nature Watch 'Gulls in the harbour - storm at sea'

Eco Environment News feeds

  • About 89% of the public want their governments to do more to tackle the climate crisis – but don’t know they’re the majority

    • The Guardian is joining forces with dozens of newsrooms around the world to launch the 89% Project – and highlight the fact that the vast majority of the world’s population wants climate action. Read more

    A superpower in the fight against global heating is hiding in plain sight. It turns out that the overwhelming majority of people in the world – between 80% and 89%, according to a growing number of peer-reviewed scientific studies – want their governments to take stronger climate action.

    As co-founders of a non-profit that studies news coverage of climate change, those findings surprised even us. And they are a sharp rebuttal to the Trump administration’s efforts to attack anyone who does care about the climate crisis.

    Mark Hertsgaard and Kyle Pope are the co-founders of the global journalism collaboration Covering Climate Now

    Continue reading...

  • Two Belgian 19-year-olds have pleaded guilty to wildlife piracy – part of a growing trend of trafficking ‘less conspicuous’ creatures for sale as exotic pets

    Poaching busts are familiar territory for the officers of Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), an armed force tasked with protecting the country’s iconic creatures. But what awaited guards when they descended in early April on a guesthouse in the west of the country was both larger and smaller in scale than the smuggling operations they typically encounter. There were more than 5,000 smuggled animals, caged in their own enclosures. Each one, however, was about the size of a little fingernail: 18-25mm.

    The cargo, which two Belgian teenagers had apparently intended to ship to exotic pet markets in Europe and Asia, was ants. Their enclosures were a mixture of test tubes and syringes containing cotton wool – environments that authorities say would keep the insects alive for weeks.

    Continue reading...

  • Polestar says Dutton’s move shows ‘a complete lack of understanding of the significant cost-of-living, climate and health benefits of EVs’

    Electric vehicles would cost more under a Coalition government, after Peter Dutton confirmed he would scrap a popular tax break for EV drivers in an apparent backflip that has caused confusion and anger among clean car advocates.

    The initiative, which was introduced by the Albanese government in 2022, has meant if a person buys an EV priced under $91,387 through a novated lease program via their employer (when a lease is paid off through pre-taxed salary deductions) they do not have to pay fringe benefits tax (FBT) – even if the car is only for personal use.

    Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter

    Continue reading...

  • The Marches, Shropshire: In this garden we’ve had woolly aphids, rose aphids, whitefly and blackfly, now we have Californian maple aphids, who have a story of their own

    An accidental touch of a branch brings a handful of little sticky dots. Looking at the branch, the surprise is that all the lower ones are covered with a shifting pointillism of dots moving together. Under a hand lens they become autonomous animals – aphids.

    There are thousands of them, moving independently as individuals, each with a sense of purpose and moment, determined and working together. Forming clusters around scar tissue on bark wounds, walking upwards towards the canopy of opening leaves, the aphids catch the sunlight and their amber bodies shine with the viscosity of drops of honey. In the morning sun they cast shadows, an imaginary material to which old fears and prejudices stick.

    Continue reading...

  • Virtual meeting of leaders also hears UN’s António Guterres proclaim ‘no group or government’ can stop green revolution

    China will continue to push forward on the climate crisis, Xi Jinping has said while appearing to criticise the “protectionism” of Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

    The Chinese president was attending a closed-door virtual meeting with the UN secretary general, António Guterres, Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, and about a dozen other heads of state and government to discuss the climate crisis.

    Continue reading...

  • The Wildlife Trusts are in shock after acquiring 4,000 sheep in Rothbury estate deal as part of land restoration project

    Woolly maggots, nature-destroyers – sheep are criticised by many conservationists for denuding Britain’s uplands of rare plants and trees.

    So The Wildlife Trusts were shocked when they were compelled to buy 4,000 sheep as part of the biggest land restoration project in England.

    Continue reading...

  • Americans have often moved between states for opportunities. Now they’re being forced to uproot themselves to escape hostile forces under Trump

    Continue reading...

  • The UN has called the detention of Pablo López Alavez ‘arbitrary’, while human rights organisations say his sentence is part of a systematic and alarming pattern of criminalisation of Mexico’s environmental activists

    The meeting room in the prison of Villa de Etla, a town in Oaxaca, Mexico, doubles as a classroom with school desks and a small library. The walls feature motivational phrases such as “First things first”, “Live and let live” and “Little by little, you’ll go far”.

    Pablo López Alavez, a 56-year-old environmental defender, has had nearly 15 years to contemplate these sentiments – and faces 15 more, after being imprisoned for murders he says he did not commit.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘As a species, these crocs are easy to find and easy to catch. Brice Itoua is the most skilled hunter in his village. But they kill the crocs to eat – not to sell’

    The Congo dwarf crocodile is a lovely species. They’re very shy and, unfortunately, very easy to find and catch. Mostly hunted for their bushmeat, these crocs only grow up to a few feet in length and during the dry season, they often spend the daytime hiding in burrows and dens at the water’s edge. Hunters use a long, woody liana vine with a hook on the end to drag them out, before binding their snout with a shorter vine and carrying them away.

    Last summer, I shot a story about the Congo dwarf crocodile after being given access to the Lake Télé Community Reserve by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which manages this protected area in the Republic of the Congo with the Congolese government.

    Continue reading...

  • Rock deposits provide first land-based evidence of Earth’s largest flood, when water surged through strait of Gibraltar

    The event that refilled the Mediterranean basin 5m years ago is thought to have been the largest flood in Earth’s history, with water surging through the present-day strait of Gibraltar 1,000 times faster than the Amazon River, filling the basin in just a couple of years. Now jumbled rock deposits on the top of hills in south-east Sicily provide the first land-based evidence for this flood.

    The megaflood theory emerged in 2009, when scientists discovered a massive eroded channel at the bottom of the strait of Gibraltar. Subsequent research has revealed scours on the sea floor, showing how the water forced its way through the shallow gap between Sicily and mainland Africa, to fill the eastern Mediterranean Sea.

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds