Okanj ( Serbian Окањ) is a saline oxbow lake situated near the village of Elemir in the Zrenjanin commune, western Banat, Vojvodina Province, Serbia. It was formed from a meander of the

Tisa River The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa, is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. Once, it was called "the most Hungarian river" because it flowed entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national borders. The Tisza b ...

( UTM: DR43) and is now about from the river's left bank. The whole depression occupies 200 hectares and contains

brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

. In some parts the edges are surrounded by reeds, and there are also extreme saline edges, with short halophylous vegetation.Цицониа бр. 8: Колоније чапљи и корморана у Србији 1998 - К90СВ Окањ , Шандор Лукач, Тибор Терновац
Приступљено 15. 1. 2013.

Fauna

Herons traditionally breed here and a mixed colony with spoonbills was formed in 1998. In that year there were 47 pairs of

great egret The great egret (''Ardea alba''), also known as the common egret, large egret, or (in the Old World) great white egret or great white heron is a large, widely distributed egret. The four subspecies are found in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and ...

(''Egretta alba''), 33 pairs of

grey heron The grey heron (''Ardea cinerea'') is a long-legged wading bird of the heron family, Ardeidae, native throughout temperate Europe and Asia and also parts of Africa. It is resident in much of its range, but some populations from the more norther ...

(''Ardea cinerea''), 27 pairs of purple heron (''Ardea purpurea'') and 60 pairs of

Eurasian spoonbill The Eurasian spoonbill (''Platalea leucorodia''), or common spoonbill, is a wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family Threskiornithidae. The genus name ''Platalea'' is from Latin and means "broad", referring to the distinctive shape of the ...

(''Platalea leucorodia'').

References

External links

Picasa photo
{{Protected areas of Serbia Lakes of Serbia Nature reserves in Serbia Zrenjanin