History - Prirodoslovni muzej Metković

The establishment of the Ornithological Collection – Rucner’s legacy.

In the autumn of 1947, an ornithologist Dragutin Rucner came to the Neretva river valley for the first time and met with the members of the Hunting Club from Metković.

Out of a common love for birds, the idea of establishing an Ornithological Collection was born which would introduce the public to the richness of the birdlife of the lower course of the river. The Hunting Club provided the funds needed for the research on ornithofauna. In return, exhibits were prepared for the collection through taxidermy. Many years of research on the diversity and biology of birds in the lower courses of the Neretva river were conducted during all seasons, from 1948 to 1953. Dragutin Rucner divided the research area into habitats and recorded bird species nesting in each habitat. The Ornithological Collection in Metković was opened to the public in 1952 in the premises of the Hunting Club, and it consisted of 240 bird exhibits. Rucner published the results of his research in the following works: The Birds of the Neretva Valley, New Data on the Knowledge of the Ornithofauna of the Lower Neretva, Complement to the Knowledge of the Ornithofauna of the Lower Neretva, Complement to the Knowledge of the Birds of the Neretva Valley (III), and The Life of the Birds in the Neretva Valley. After his first visit in 1947, Dragutin Rucner continued visiting the Neretva valley throughout his life, tied to its birds and people.

The map of the Neretva valley in the middle of the XIX. century, before the regulation of the riverbed