Bodrog

Dear All, who have read my blog! I had enourmously enjoyed my journey throughout Hungary.

Many parts remain untouched and of course new technology arose and gave a bunch of new possibilities to explore our natural wonder. 

This blog is the starting point and it was something like the Canossa Walk to me. 

I might continue this webpage by making it more specific and detailed. Dates and species lists are in my notebook and this valuable information can be given to the site at any moment.

Zám

Again, we came back to the famous Hortobágy. It's famous for the diverse bird communities and a popular place to visit during migration. One can enter the National Park easily, there are no fee to get it, however the highly protected lands can not be viewed by anyone.

This lake or rather fishing pond came up to this blog because we visited it on the way to Zám-puszta, a place where habitat reconstruction is undergoing at the moment so we could not really explore the actual Ramsar area. 

The lake gave us many good examples to study the different waterbird species. The road was considerably good and the place can be also visited with the help of national park's personals. 

Egretta alba

Cygnus olor

In the protection of reed beds the birds can safely feed and swim around. We have spotted some Aythya ferina and Podiceps cristatus. I also noticed a typical sound for a bird tends to hide in the reed but I coulnd not see it so I can not confirm its presence. 

I don't really like adding links to this blog but I can not resist to this one, where one can listen to the sound of some waterbirds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uws3doU4lZo 

This blog is intended to report on different waterbird species and their habitat however on the picture above, I add a picture about the rabbit (Lepus europaeus), which jump into the channel and swim to the other side to follow its way.

An information board with the description of the EU project for the area.

As the livestock belongs to a private company (person) the area is semi-closed. Rangers can be asked for further information. 

The Hortobágy is a great plain with channels like this to feed the water bodies.

Traditional way to assemble the reed.

First semi-serious presentation by my co-worker

Three to go

As I have no possibility to go on a field trip I was watching some Hungarian nature movies, such as: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1980298/ and a story about the Hungarian National Parks.

I have seen all the remaining three sites before but not within the frame of this blogging tour so I must go back. All of them situated at the Eastern part of the country. One is connected to an underground stream system with well explored caves (Aggtelek). The second one is found on the Hortobágy Plain and probably full of wild birds during migration time.And the last site is near the Tisza-river and it is called Bodrog-zug.

Count down

This little Ramsar-tour is nearly over. We have visited almost every Ramsar-site in Hungary and it means, that if I want to take it serious after this pilot phase I shall try to add valuable data to this site including maps, dates and proper observations with high quality pictures. For this I would need to find some funding and good suggestions how to write a semi-professional blog. If you are out there and you have some previous experience, do not hesitate to share it with me to improve this site and go to the right direction.

Rába

The Rába river is found at the Western part of the country and was unknown for me. The local ranger who works for the National Park suggested this village to explore a bit the natural values of this river. It is easy to reach the riverbank from the shore, and we could have a little walk along the Rába. Nevertheless the best way to see the river is to hire a canoe. The first picture was taken from the canoe station, next to the camp site and people were boarding when we arrived, so it is a popular way to travel along the river.

As the pictures suggest the flora and fauna is undisturbed, slightly modified and very enjoyable.

No bird movement by the time we arrived but insects such as crickets and a green Praying mantis was visible. 

I don't know about the quality of the waterbody but some years ago we had polluted water flowing over the border and it is sometimes happening that cross border natural sites get infected by irresponsible behavior of the neighboring countries.  

Tisza

We were willing to take a boat trip up on the Bodrog river, however it was not possible as the cruise ship was hired for a private ride. Two Ramsar sites are nearby one is connected to the Tisza river and the other to the Bodrog. This time we could only check out the ones associated with the Tisza river.

Here you can see a sand wall and a Bee-eater (Merops apiaster) colony. It was easy to spot the birds and observe them without any distraction. These birds are not waterbirds in any means but I thought to include them to this blog as they are spectacular and I like them very much.

Easy to take pictures of the nest wholes. They can be highly infected with parasites but usually those are not dangerous for humans.

Poppy in the front.

These inspiring views are not rare on the Upper Tisza. The water is fairly clean (judgment with eyes) and I must say that we even tried the water as we were there on a hot summer day. 

Some years ago the river was badly polluted and the fish corps were floating on the surface. Nowadays it is safe to fish from the river and people do it regularly. It is the second greatest river in Hungary and has a long history with famous flooding and historical regulations. 

Butterflies are easy to catch with the camera...

I was taking photos from the private boat, which takes guests on a regular basis. During spring time, the Bird Life Hungary shows the Sand martin (Riparia riparia) colony to the people who are interested. We were missing out this occasion as it was already in June when we came to this area.

White stork (Ciconia ciconia) nest, with high voltage wires.