Summer in Kvarner is slowly coming to an end, and with it the third season of the SUP Patrol, one of the most demanding, but also most rewarding, volunteer initiatives carried out by the Biom Association as part of the LIFE SUPport project. Throughout the summer, our volunteers have been patrolling the colonies of Griffon Vultures on the Kvarner islands by boat every day, monitoring nesting areas, informing boaters and tourists about responsible behaviour near the cliffs and, when necessary, responding quickly to give young vultures that end up in the sea a chance to return to the skies.
The season began with Margareta Kljun, Anja Novković and Mateja Šuvak, who, during their very first days at sea, were already talking to tourists anchored beneath the nests and reminding them of the rules for behaving near strictly protected birds. In mid-summer, the volunteer baton was passed to Nikolaj Makuc and Stella Jud, whom even strong bura winds could not keep away from the islands. Within their first few days, they took part in a rescue operation for a young Griffon Vulture stranded on a rocky outcrop near Orlec. The third shift was marked by the return of Stjepan Gržančić, who boarded the patrol boat for the third year in a row, proving that the SUP Patrol can become a place people are happy to return to. Now, as the season draws to a close, the final volunteers of this year’s patrol are taking over: Klara Kalčić and Ema Mađar.
Meet Klara Kalčić!
Klara is a student at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Zagreb, and her love of wild animals has been with her since childhood. Today, she is turning that passion into a career by volunteering at the faculty’s wildlife rehabilitation centre, where she also encountered a Griffon Vulture for the first time. That encounter, she says, was enough to make her see applying for the SUP Patrol as an opportunity she simply could not miss: a chance to gain new experience while contributing to a project she believes is truly important.
Meet Ema Mađar!
Ema is a final-year Zoology student at the Faculty of Science in Zagreb, and animals are a part of her everyday life both in and outside the university. She has extensive volunteering experience, from BIUS, the Association of Biology Students, camps and organising two editions of the Student Symposium of Biological Sciences, to the 2025 Small Mammalogy School and practical training in bird ringing. She first joined the SUP Patrol last summer and is happy to return to the team this year – a team that educates the public and protects what she calls the true rulers of the Kvarner cliffs: Griffon Vultures.
Klara and Ema will close this year’s SUP Patrol season, but their arrival is also a reminder that the story of conserving Croatia’s last remaining population of Griffon Vultures does not end with summer. Each new generation of volunteers stepping aboard the patrol boat is proof that these magnificent scavengers of the Kvarner skies have a future – and that as long as there are young people willing to dedicate their summer to the sea, the cliffs and the birds that inhabit them, Griffon Vultures in Kvarner will have allies they can count on.
We wish Klara and Ema calm seas and safe flights for all the young vultures this season!
