Rook Roost in Brno

When I decided to focus more on photographing rooks in Brno this year, I had no idea what it would lead to. I had long been fascinated by the idea of capturing their communal roost, so after school I regularly set out for the Riviéra area, where thousands of rooks and jackdaws gather every winter. These birds migrate to us from Russia and Belarus for the colder months, and around 15,000 of them spend the winter in Brno. That’s an incredible number when you imagine the sky suddenly filling in the evening with huge flocks of black silhouettes. The Riviéra location has provided them with ideal conditions for more than 100 years. However, this winter turned out to be quite challenging for the rooks.

It was just before Christmas when I visited the location for the first time. Everything looked perfect — the rooks were in their usual spot, gathering for the night as they always did. I could watch large, beautiful flocks coming in. I managed to take a few very interesting photos, but it still wasn’t quite what I was after. I wanted to capture them properly. So I returned to the spot after the Christmas holidays — and was met with a shock. The rooks were gone. I had no idea what had happened, but I knew I had to find out. For some reason, they had started changing their roosting site almost every single day.

And so began my "rook journey" 🙂. Tracking them down wasn’t actually that hard — after all, when a loud flock of big black birds flies over the city, it’s not too difficult to follow. I remember one day standing in the center of Brno, just watching to see which direction they were disappearing into. That day I walked several kilometers to find the spot where they were gathering. When I finally found it, it was already almost dark. I tried to take a few shots, but nothing extraordinary came out of it. Even so, I was happy — at least now I knew where they were roosting, so the next days should be much easier.

The following day I returned to the spot, this time on time. The rooks were just starting to gather, and it looked like everything would go according to plan. But then, all of a sudden, the entire flock lifted off and disappeared. Not a single bird remained. The loud noise turned to complete silence in a matter of seconds.

I was already getting ready to go home, but in the distance, I heard the piercing calls of jackdaws. There was still some time before sunset, so I decided to give it one more shot. After a while, I found them at Žlutý kopec, where I experienced something truly magical. The clouds in the sky changed colors by the minute — from deep red, through pink, all the way to violet. That evening, I captured a photo that would later bring me great success.

You would think that from that moment on everything would get easier. I had found the rooks, knew their spots, and understood their behavior. But no. Every day after that was more confusing and everything kept changing. The birds kept moving all around the city. Sometimes I had to travel from one end of Brno to the other. The rooks also liked to choose elevated places to roost which offered a beautiful view over Brno, but climbing up to these spots was not pleasant, especially when the rooks were flying from one hill to another. Although their constant moving suited me as a photographer because it allowed me to take a wide variety of photos, I still felt sorry for the rooks.

I met several people from the Czech Society for Ornithology (ČSO) while observing the rooks and they explained what is actually happening with the rooks in Brno.

Unfortunately, I learned some bad news. The largest rook roost in South Moravia, right here in the Riviéra area, was seriously threatened by a planned cable car construction that would pass through this territory. The construction would cause significant disturbance to the environment which is crucial for the rooks wintering. These birds are protected species and in many parts of Europe their numbers are dramatically declining.

Thanks to the great efforts of the ČSO the cable car construction was ultimately halted and at the same time the whole problem was highlighted through the Havranec festival. This traveling exhibition is still moving around Brno. You can find, among other things, my photographs of other protected species from this area.

If you want to learn more about why the cable car construction was a bad idea I definitely recommend checking this out https://www.birdlife.cz/havrani-v-brne/

However, the halted construction was not the main reason for the unusual behavior of the rooks. The main problem was intentional disturbance of the flocks using pyrotechnics which unfortunately affected the rooks quite seriously. The frightened birds gradually split up and from the original 15 000 individuals only about 6 000 remain in Brno according to ornithologists. We can probably guess the reason behind the deliberate disturbance...

And why am I only writing about the rooks now?

It has been about a week since one of the photos from this Brno rook roost took first place in the most prestigious nature photography competition in the Czech Republic, Czech Nature Photo, specifically in the junior category for high school students (results 2025). This means I successfully defended my first place title after two years (results 2023). The elegant award ceremony took place at Prague Castle together with the wife of the president, Mrs. Pavlova.

This achievement is probably one of my greatest since I started photographing. Naturally, it still warms my heart today. Above all, I am most happy that it was the photo of the rook that helped, even if only a little, to raise awareness about this very serious problem and to highlight the need to always think of nature first.

Today’s post was a bit longer but all the more thanks to those who read all the way to the end! You show me that you enjoy my work which means the most to me. This post took me several hours of work at the computer and in the field you’ve read about that already :-).

Oh and if you want to check out the whole series of these beautiful and mysterious feathered friends take a look here Roosting Rooks in Brno.

I look forward to the next post. Take care and all the best!