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.

Béda-Karapancsa

Ready, steady, go! This boat row was at stand by when we reached the Külső-Béda, a narrow side stream of the Danube river. During the water body regulation of our major river many branch have been cut of from the main stream. This was to prevent the area of the constant flooding and to make the river a possible place for shipping companies.

I don't know who owns these boats but one can certainly arrange a short trip the Belső-Béda (Inner-Béda) is at the edge of the nearby village. It is possible to come here by coach and after a little walk right through the forest which leads to the Ramsar site, one can easily get to the waterbody.

Here I observed a Night heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) with my new binocular. I was not lucky enough to shoot a picture about this adult specimen however I could make an accurate observation. 

The habitat is near to the village called Kölked, where we visited the White stork (Ciconia ciconia) museum (http://www.fehergolyamuzeum.hu/mainpage_en#). It was very good and well managed. The national park takes care of the museum and organizes specialized trips to explore the area's natural resources. Storks are not rare in this region and one can expect to see the endangered Black stork (Ciconia nigra) too. 

I shortly interviewed the lady who let us in to see the exhibition and she told me that being a Ramsar site does not give much benefit, it is because the area is under national law enforcement. Personally I believe that being listed in the Ramsar Convention can give an extra help but this only  can not stop habitat deterioration. Hungarian National Parks are well managed and kept in a good condition. The level of eco-tourism and the money gained from it could be improved.  

We've seen several leisure anglers but not much. The water quality can be in a favorable condition as it is not managed yield fish for the market and no other major pollution source could be seen at the proximity.

The site is a shared site with Croatia as this area continues to our Southern neighbor. Every information leaflet and description board is in three languages so I was pretty amazed.

Some info about the site and a good old field car, typically known as TRABANT. It's like a sacred object these days and a funny flagship of the communist era. 

The other side of the river has beautiful lawns, green as a pea. Unfortunately non of our black friends (C. nigra) were present.

We detected some perching trees and some guano underneath. This photo shows the dead tree accumulation along the river bank.

 While at the field I have spotted the usual song bird fauna. To see more waterbirds it is wise to hire a canoe from the national park at the Külső-Béda (see the photo below).

Water directorate has some property at the edge of the site and the forest at the flood plain also owned by a larger organization. To have more information about the management of the site, one can gather certain information from this site: http://gemenczrt.hu/ (so far I did not find the English version).

The roads were surprisingly good. One can ride along the river at the top of the dam with a bike as it is completely paved. 

Information boards like this say a few words about the avifauna and in general about the natural cornerstones of the discrete. 

Biharugra

We approached this site by car but one can get pretty close by coach too. The area is composed of three discretes and one of them is found in Romania. We did not visit the fish pond in Romania and mainly explored the Ugrai lakes near Biharkeresztes. 

The site is easily reached by a dust road and we walked along the shore to see the avifauna. There were a few mute swan (Cyngus olor) on the lake, I have seen several coot (Fulica atra) and wild geese flying over our head.

Reed is harvested and bumped into stacks in the nearby meadow.

The road within the territory allowed us to get barely close to the waterbody thus the observation was quite easy. It is migration time so we spotted several flock of migrating waterfowl, mainly geese.

The mud showed us some quadrupeds footprints. Some of them were pretty small and indicated mammal presence for the area.

Observation tower and the open gate is visible at the entrance. We were lucky and not got stuck in the mud but as it was raining the night before our way was quite slippery.

The water was certainly not full of birds but even with this lenses we captured a few swans for the record.

Brave Dad with his son in the distance...

It is possible to get an inside view of the lake by boat BUT not with this one...

Burnt reed trunks. It supposed to stop the extensive floral habitat expansion and also helps a healthy regeneration for the reed bed.

Mild pollution and the unseen water quality the 'Dark side' of this area.