Protected animal species Skadarsko Lake is one of national parks in Montenegro. Mild climate, exuberant vegetation and available food contributed that Skadarsko Lake became the biggest bird reservation in Europe. As water birds' habitat, Skadarsko Lake was enlisted by the Ramsar Con-vention into the world lists of the internationally recognized swamps in the year 1996. National park's mascot and its protective mark is a curly pelican which is an Euro-pean rarity. Its scientific name is Pelecanus crispus. Only this kind of pelicans live in the Skadarsko lake as the other, similar kind of pelicans, co called white pelicans (pelecanus onocrotalus) hasn't been officially identified in this area. Curly pelican is the biggest among all pelicans. It has extraordinary flying, swimming and fishing capacities.
Under its long beak there is an unusual hanging bag, unique within the world of birds. Seventies were the "golden years" when there were close to 100 pelicans on the lake. Since that time, number of nests has constantly been decreasing so that at the begining of the third millennium, there are only a few couples of pelicans who make their nests there although not regularly. Magnificent appearance of pelicans, their attachment to the nesting places, calm and harmless behaviour, their skillfulness in fishing made them favourite birds. Their efforts to feed their youngs arises gentle feelings at people. That is the reason why pelicans are very present in the everyday life of people. Let's remember a legend in which mother — pelican, having a lack of food, tears her chests in order to feed their youngs with her own blood. Legend has a prosaic origin: pelicans feed their youngs out of the bag which is placed under their beak and voracious youngs sometimes hurt their parents: "up to their blood". At Skadarsko Lake there is a program of protection and placing of small rafts which ought to replace pelicans' nesting places called: "arbunos". This and other pro-grammes which follow, are aimed at increasing of the population of this unique kind of birds. Pelican flying over the Skadarsko Lake represents a motif of the stamp. Author of stamps is Jadranka Simonovid, graduated graphic designer from Podgorica.
