The River Tisza is blooming!

Here is the time to see how can a river bloom: for a few days the River Tisza has been blooming! This means: the mayflies fly to meet with each other and live their short life.

A sunny day at Kecskeri-puszta

Today I checked the Kecskeri-puszta Nature Conversation area.

The list of the best observed birds:

Night heron 12

Squacco heron 1

Purple heron 7

Great-white Egret 12
White Stork 13

Black Stork 1

White-tailed Eagle 1

Red-footed Falcon 3

Lesser-grey shike 6

Corn bunting 6

A Little owl has made my day: it was relaxing on an old farmhouse.

Focus on the Great Bustard

One of the main ornithological events of the Hungarian Spring is the Great Bustard Display. We took this picture on our tour this morning.

News from the Ricefields

Our first rice fields are flooded! The first flocks of waders are here. Here is the time to book your "Birdwatching-trips at the rice fields" tour. If you want to see Pratincoles, Squacco herons and the famous Ferruginous ducks, book your tour and enjoy the trip with us.

The first Wryneck

Last weekend We went to birdwatch to the Telekhalmi-fishponds. While Ákos was ringing the songbirds I checked the lakes.

The observed birds:

Night Heron 8
Bittern 4
Osprey 1
White-tailed eagle 1
Marsh Sandpiper 7
Lesser Whitethroat 1
Corn Bunting 1

Ringing list:


Eurpoean Wryneck 2
Bearded Reedling 4
Eurasian Blackcap 6
Robin 4

Hoopoe!

Here is the first Hoopoe as well!

Hoopoe: 1
Osprey: 1
Black kite: 1
Long-legged buzzard: 1
Northern wheatear: 1
Bluethroat: 2
Reed warbler (our first in this year): 1
White stork: 15

Long-legged buzzard and Terrapins

Today we saw a a Long-legged buzzard and a Bittern on our ricefield. Some European Pond Terrapins already enjoyed the sunshine by the canals.

The first Swallow!

Today we saw our first Swallow in Túrkeve. On the ricefields we saw a Black kite and a Short eared owl as well. Ádám saw a Barn owl in his garden

The first Bittern is back

I went today to see our ricefields. I saw a few good species, for example a Bittern. This bird was the first in this year, so we can wait for the next ones. Last year we had got 6 pair of Bittern on our ricefields.

Bittern: 1
Great white egret: 50
White Stork: 4
Mars Harrier: 6
Hen Harrier: 8
Osprey: 1
Wheatear: 2
Raven: 3

Barn owls

Tonight we saw 4 Born owls in Kisújszállás. They was calling euch other. We saw a firs hadgehog in this year as well.

The storks are back

In this week we saw the first storks in our area. We observed a few Black Storks on a mudy fishpond when they was looking for some nice Hungarian dish :D . Our first White Stork in this year is very busy, because he didn't wast the time and he started to put the nest to rights.

Birds on the ricefields

Great white Egret: 15
Grey heron: 3
Spoonbill: 5
Greyleg goose: 2
Rough-Legged Buzzard: 1
Marsh Harrier: 1
Kestrel: 1

The day was very windy and cold. It wasn't the perfect day to birdwatch.

Waxwings and eagles

Today was probably the first nice sunny spring day in this year. The weather was perfect to do some gardening in our yard. When the birds sing, the work is going much better, so today work was very easy: tits, blacbirds, gold and greenfinches were singing. Suddenly we heard an interesting sound: they were Waxwings! We observed 18 birds on the top of our oak tree. Later we went to see our ricefields. We saw a few Hen Harriers, Buzzards and Common Cranes. The best two birds came just later: a Golden and an Imperial Eagle! These birds had made our day.

Whooly pigs on the Puszta

Today Adam and me went to the Kecskeri-puszta. On this grassland habitat we observed many bird species, but the best record was the 11 whooly pigs on the puszta. The 3 older pig looked after the 8 piglets. I think these animals run away from a farm and they began a new life here on the puszta. They feed on plants, fruits and sometimes small animals as well.

White fronted goose: 2000
Greylag goose: 150
Eurasian Wigeon: 510
Eurasian Teal: 200
Northern Pintail: 230
Smew: 1
Bittern: 1
Great White Egret: 9
White-tailed Eagle: 1 immature
Common Crane: 32
European Golden Plover: 1
Common Redshank: 3
Caspian Gull: 8
Long-eared Owl: 1
Eurasian Skylark: 12
Pied Wagtail: 1
Corn Bunting: 1

The first Godwits in this year

I went to look after our ricefields, of course my binoculars hang on my neck. Interesting birds today:

Common Crane: 400
Great White Egret: 22
Geese: 4000
Teal: 100
Hen Harrier: 7
Black Kite: 1 imm.
Black-Tailed Godwit: 5
Ruff: 120
Stonechat: 2
Corn Bunting: 30

Golden eagle...rest in peace

Today I have a bad news for my friends: I found a Golden Eagle on our ricefields, but the bird unfortunately was dead. It was under an electricity pylon, so I suppose it had caused fatal accident. The bird's body was in very bad condition, because I guess a fox found and ate almost the whole eagle. He left only a few feathers, what is a memory of a huge immature Golden Eagle, which died in last winter in Karcag.

Our Ricefields 04.03.2009

Grey heron: 10
Common Crane: 310
Great White Egret: 15
White-fronted Goose: 1300
Greylag Goose: 200
Mallard, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal: 4000
Hen Harrier: 6
Black Kite: 1 imm.
Buzzard: 5
Imperial Eagle: 1 ad.
Kestrel: 2
Lapwing: 200
Snipe: 4
Pied Wagtail: 4
Fieldfare: 2000
Blackbird: 1
Wren:1
Great Grey Shrike: 1

Otter: 1

Our "Kevirigó" guesthouse

Our guesthouse is located in the Túrkeve Kincseskert holiday resort area and has been converted from a family house into a comfortable lodging.
It is an ideal place for those who wishes to relax in a peaceful and natural environment. The town centre of Túrkeve is a nice 10 minute walk away, while the local SPA is only 3 minutes from the guesthouse. The house has a spacious living and dining room, a fully equipped kitchen, bathrooms with shower and 2 bedrooms. This is a self-catering guesthouse. Everything you need for your comfort is provided including towels, linen, cookware and toiletries. The bedrooms are situated upstairs. One of the bedrooms has a double bed and an en-suite. The other room can accommodate 2-3 persons. The guesthouse has a big garden, where you can play volleyball, badminton or any other ballgames, relax or just enjoy the sun and the nature. There is also a barbeque and a sandbox for children in the back yard. We can provide parking as well. There is a great photohide for the nature and bird photographer or for anyone, who loves nature.
You can find more information about our guesthouse on the: www.kevirigo.hu

We are back

Our guides are back from The U.K. They were there in a study trip to see the birding and nature conservation culture and improve their communication skills. "The trip was very good, because we met lots of nice people and saw many different places." - said Zoltán. "We are looking forward to the enthusiastic nature friends to come and visit our area."

Owl-news

Last weekend we hade the long-eared owl monitoring days in the towns of Nagykunság.We observed about 800 owl but last month on the same places we found 1600 owls. Sometimes we can see a few Short-eared owls in the roosting flocks. In this season we found about 6-7 Short-eared owls in places.

Birds in 2008

Last year we began our tours at our ricefields. Black storks, cranes, herons and waders looked for food there. The summer was interesting as well: our red-footed falcons and sakers were feeding the chicks. The autumn sky was noisy by the cranes and geese. In Last year the Hungarobirds team observed 268 bird species. You can download the checklist here: www.hungarobirds.com/eveslista

Study trip to England

Next month two of our staff are visiting to England. Our friends will guide us into the English birding and twicher culture and practice. We are visiting to the Wetland Centre in London, a few reservoirs and another high value nature reserves around London.
We visiting to the other effect as well: to meet our partners, to seek new ones and to do promotion for our tours.

Long-eared Owls in Túrkeve

January is a real harsh winter month in Hungary. The temperature is near - 15 Celsius. In this time the Long-eared Owls come into the towns, so we can find this species easily near by our home. In Túrkeve the birds roost on the trees of the High square, where we observed 248 owls last week.

Harsh winter in the Hungarian Great Plan

Today we had a guided birdwatching tour into the winter Puszta. In the morning there was -15 Celsius, but the temperature was frosty in the afternoon as well. Buntings, thrushes, finches were the most common birds, but we saw a few White-tailed Eagles, Black Woodpeckers and Great White Egrets too. The trees had a white rime wintercoat, the lakes a 20 cm thick ice, so after thise frosty experience we loved to drink a hot mulled wine.

Feathers: Identification for bird conservation

I would like to announce that the guide "Feathers: Identification for birdconservation" by Marian Cieslak and Boleslaw Dul is available via internet at new price. It is an excellent guide for bird feathers identification by Marian Cieslakand Boleslaw Dul as an effect of 15 years of their research and studies. Theguide is illustrated with over 250 photos and feathers are presented as awing formula of 60 species of bird of which 38 are included in Annex I ofthe EU's Birds Directive. This book mainly covers diurnal species of birdsof prey (Falconiformes) and owls (Strigiformes) and species wich featherscould be confused with them.More information and how to order the book you can find here:

http://www.naturapublishing.eu/

The book is also available in NHBS

http://www.nhbs.com/feathers_tefno_150782.html

The first Waxwing this year

Today I checked the Long-eared owls in our town. The result: 104 Long-eared and 1 Short-eared owls. When I finished the owl spot, suddenly I heard a familiar call... Then I noticed the bird: my first Bohemian Waxwing of this year.

Nest monitoring in our local area

After a long planning we began a nest monitoring in our local area. We followed the lead of the National Park: we had to write a note about the nest, a GPS position, type of the tree, what kind of birds of prey uses the nest. The enthusiastic team roamed about the riverside of the Hortobágy-Berettyó. We worked all day long, but we had a pass mark: we found a few buzzard and goshawk nests.