Dawn at a bird ringing net in Divjakë–Karavasta, October 2025.
Photo by Charlotte Force.
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About
Organized by the Albianian Ornithological Society, the Bird Ringing & Art Residency Camp is the first ecology and art field residency in Albania, bringing together bird ringers, ecologists, anthropologists, artists, and nature observers to explore seasonal bird migration.
This residency is the result of a decade of AOS’s work to protect Albania’s wetlands, years of research, monitoring, and legal efforts to preserve the life that thrives within them. After all this experience in the field and in/with institutions, we felt the need to open another space, one where art speaks in ways that words and protests cannot. Because perhaps art can preserve the memory of our landscapes before they change forever.
This residency aims to promote environmental justice, weaving together sustainability, socio-biodiversity, innovation, and climate awareness. Diverse voices resonate to connect art and conservation, linking sustainability, socio-biodiversity, innovation, and climate awareness, across the park’s forests, lagoon, coastal dunes, and nearby agro-landscapes. Each dawn, hours are devoted to mist-netting and ringing migratory birds (following EURING standards), while afternoons open space for cross-disciplinary exploration through drawing, photography, sound, and natural materials gathered in the field. The emphasis is on seeing, noting, and translating field experience into clear visual or narrative forms.
This camp is a collaborative and immersive program for artists and researchers working through ecology-related practices. It is grounded in hands-on field experience, sensitive listening to environments, and research on oral culture, folklore, and traditional knowledge. Participants will engage in creative work across ecological disciplines, including ornithology, plants, insects, amphibians, bats, small mammals, as well as bioacoustics and field recording. A group of scientists, artists, musicians, curators, ecologists, anthropologists, activists, and non-human entities will be encouraged to create together, offering new perspectives on Albania’s national parks, Protected Areas, Important Bird Areas (IBAs), Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), candidate Emerald sites, and future Natura 2000 sites.
Meet the Staff
The Bird Ringing & Art Residency Camp is made possible by dedicated AOS staff and volunteers.
Besjana Shehu
Co-founder
Bird Ringing Camp and Art Residency
Besjana Shehu is an Urban Planner and conservation practitioner working across Albania, focusing on wetlands, protected areas, and threatened bird species. Her work lies between spatial planning, ecology, and environmental governance, guided by the belief that conservation should be rooted in science, local knowledge, and long-term care of the land.
She co-leads the Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS), coordinating programs on coastal ecosystem protection, species protection, and biodiversity policy. In 2025, she founded the Bird Ringing & Art Residency Camp, the first field-based ecology and art residency in Albania. The program connects ornithologists, ecologists, anthropologists, and artists to study bird migration while exploring the dialogue between science, culture, and climate awareness.
The first edition in Divjakë–Karavasta National Park brought together over 130 participants, 22 residents from 19 countries, blending field research with creative practice. Residents produced drawings, poems, field recordings, and films inspired by the fragile relationship between people and nature.
Taulant Bino
Co-Founder
AOS - Albanian Ornithological Society
Taulant Bino is the Head of the Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS) and a lecturer in Ecology at Polis University in Tirana. He holds a PhD in Evolutionary Biology and Ecology from Montpellier II University in France. An experienced ornithologist and ecologist, he is the author of the first bird guide of Albania and has played a central role in national bird conservation for more than three decades.
Since 1995, he has served as Albania’s National Coordinator for the International Waterbird Census (IWC) on behalf of Wetlands International, and since 2019 he has represented Central Europe in the AEWA Technical Committee. He has led or advised the designation of Albania’s key protected areas, including Vjosa–Narta, Divjakë–Karavasta, and Butrint, and coordinated the identification of 16 Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBAs). His work has contributed to the recognition of these sites as Ramsar sites, Candidate Emerald Sites, and Natura 2000 pilots.
Bino has also played a prominent role in civil society campaigns defending Albania’s wetlands from destructive development.
Erald Xeka
Ornithologist / Bird Ringer
AOS - Albanian Ornithological Society
Erald Xeka is an environmental biologist and ornithologist with extensive experience in bird conservation and wetland protection in Albania. Since 2016, he has served as a Project Coordinator at the Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS), where he leads key initiatives as the European Breeding Bird Atlas, targeting illegal killing of birds, and other threats affecting migratory routes and species. His work spans field monitoring, advocacy, habitat assessment, and community engagement to strengthen long-term conservation efforts. Erald holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Biology and has contributed to academic training as an Assistant Teacher for a bird identification program coordinated by Nord University in Norway. He is also one of Albania’s most active bird ringers, participating in national and international ringing programs and supporting research on migration ecology, biometrics, and population trends. His field experience covers wetlands, forests, coastal ecosystems, and riverine habitats, where he has conducted biodiversity surveys, site assessments, and conservation planning for threatened species and important landscapes.
Klajdi Duro
Biologist
AOS - Albanian Ornithological Society
Klajdi Duro is a biology graduate from the University of Tirana and has worked as an ornithologist with the Albanian Ornithological Society for more than five years. His work focuses mainly on Divjaka-Karavasta National Park, where he monitors and studies the Dalmatian pelican (Pelecanus crispus). He is also a bird ringer in training and an amateur wildlife and bird photographer.
Sindi Ziu
Volunteer
AOS - Albanian Ornithological Society
Sindi works as a data and software engineer, but has always felt closely connected to nature and wildlife. Sound is another way Sindi relates to the world, often working with natural soundscapes in her practice. Vounteering with AOS is a way for Sindi to stay curious, learn from nature and supprt its protection.
Experts & Guests
First Residency | October 2025, Divjakë-Karavasta
Iris Elezi
Filmmaker
The award-winning Albanian cineaste Iris Elezi is a film curator and archivist, working at the intersection of cinema, cultural memory, and spatial practice. Her feature debut film BOTA received 18 international awards, represented Albania to the Academy Awards - Oscars in 2016, and was selected by Sight & Sound as one of the Best Films of 2018. An NYU Tisch School of the Arts graduate, Elezi is the Founder-Director of the Albanian Cinematheque, a nomadic-turned-permanent platform dedicated to film heritage, public access, and cross-disciplinary education. Her curatorial and archival work focuses on ethical historiography, under-represented film histories, and the relationship between cinema, architecture, and ecology. Alongside her filmmaking practice, Elezi develops long-term cultural infrastructure projects and international collaborations, working with institutions, researchers, and artists across Europe and beyond. She also brings long-standing experience in higher education teaching, has delivered public lectures at international institutions, and has conducted masterclasses with internationally recognised figures including Francis Ford Coppola, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Jon Jost, and Mark Cousins.
Niko Ferro
Anthropologist
Dr. Niko Ferro is a researcher, writer, and observer of the world around us. For over 15 years, he has worked in research and writing, publishing more than 20 books on history, culture, ecology, and nature. One of his most significant works focuses on the Divjakë Forest, where he explores both its biodiversity and the bond between people and this unique landscape.
He sees curiosity and knowledge as the drivers of life. Nature is his main source of inspiration, offering clarity, balance, and constant lessons. Travel, reading, and conversations with others have taught him that every story matters and every moment holds something worth learning.
For him, writing is more than a profession. It is a way to share, preserve, and inspire.
Ervis Loce
Environmental Biologist
Ervis Loce is an Environmental Biologist whose expertise lies in conservation biology, biodiversity monitoring, invasive species, species diversity, wildlife ecology, wildlife conservation and more.
During the residency, Ervis led residents on a bat survey around concrete bunkers close to Divjakë, introuducing us to this unique and important habitat.
Ols Lafe
Archeologist
Cultural Heritage
Ols Lafe has studied history and archaeology at the University of Tirana, Albania. He received an MA at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio (USA), and holds a PhD in cultural heritage management from the University of Tirana, Albania.
His co-authored book on the tribal cultures of northern Albania, titled Light and Shadow: Isolation and Interaction in the Shala Valley of Northern Albania, has won the 2014 Society for American Archaeology Book Award in the Scholarly category.
His work experience has been focused on archaeology, excavation and publishing but professional interests include also training in tourism and cultural policies, historic tourism, management of monuments and their restoration, museum and archaeological parks administration and their presentation and communication of values to the public.
Marjol Meço
Botanist
Plants and Habitats
Mariol Meço graduated in General Biology in 2011 at the University of Tirana, Faculty of Natural Sciences. In 2013, he completed the Master of Science in Environmental Biology at the Department of Biology. He was a student of the doctoral school of Conservation Biology, Botany, 2015-2019. He focused on study of flora, vegetation and diversity of natural habitats in Albania; knowledge and application of modern methods for the identification of plant species, analysis of the dynamics of vegetation and natural habitats.
Baudewijn Odé
Biologist
Grasshopper Acoustics
Baudewijn Odé is a prominent Dutch researcher specializing in the bioacoustics of grasshoppers. His work focuses on the study and analysis of sounds produced by crickets, grasshoppers, and bush-crickets, significantly contributing to the field of acoustic entomology.
Trained as an ecologist, Odé became a botanist in the Netherlands, monitoring wild plants and managing a volunteer network of botanical experts at FLORON.
His main expertise is now in invasive alien species. Since 1990, he has studied grasshopper songs, starting in the Netherlands, but growing into a European expert. Over this time, he has built a collection of about 15,000 sound recordings of Orthoptera, which are gradually being made publicly available through xeno-canto.org. His recordings are frequently used in scientific publications. He aims to raise awareness of Orthoptera and Orthoptera conservation, especially using their fascinating bioacoustic behaviour.
He is also a Red List Coordinator of the IUCN Grasshopper Specialist Group, helping people to assess Orthoptera species for the IUCN Red List.
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