Kopački Rit

Kopački Rit
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
wooden trail you can take through Kopački rit
Location of Kopački Rit in Osijek-Baranja County
Location	Podunavlje
Nearest city	Osijek
Coordinates	45°36′07″N 18°47′10″E / 45.602°N 18.786°E / 45.602; 18.786
Area	177 km2 (68 sq mi)
Established	1976
Administrator	State Institute for Nature Protection
Website	pp-kopacki-rit.hr

Kopački Rit (Kopački Tršćak), is a nature park in eastern Croatia in municipalities of Bilje and Kneževi Vinogradi. It is located northwest of the confluence of the Drava and the Danube, situated at the border with Serbia. It comprises many backwaters and ponds along the Danube. It is one of the most important, largest and most attractive preserved intact wetlands in Europe.

A part of Kopački Rit has been designated as a zoological reserve. Around 260 various bird species nest here (wild geese and ducks, great white egret, white stork, black stork, white-tailed eagle, crows, coots, gulls, terns, kingfishers, European green woodpecker, etc.), and there are many other species using this area as a temporary shelter on migration from the northern, cooler regions to the southern, warmer areas and vice versa.

There are 40-odd fish species (pike, ide, tench, bream, carp, catfish, pike-perch, perch, etc.). Several various mammal species inhabit the land (red deer, roe deer, wild boar, wild cat, pine marten, stone marten, weasel, sable, otter, etc.). Daily passes can be purchased at the visitors center.

Kopački Rit also has over 140 recorded species of plant—some of which are very rare and only found in a few places in Croatia. Notable species include white water lilies (lat. nyphaea alba), irises (lat. iris variegata); azola, black sedge (lat. carex nigra), reeds (lat. phragmites australis); siberian cattail; laxmannov cattail (lat. typha laxmannii); and vodoljub (lat. Butomus umbellatus).