Today, we visited one of our grandfather's friends, across the county border, in Csongr谩d. Near the carehome where he stayed, there was a lake, where I saw 3 Green Sandpipers, a couple of Common Sandpipers, as well as a large gathering of Rooks, and many House Martins nesting under the eaves of the buildings.
Today, my mum and I woke up at 5:00am to cycle down to Szabadk铆gy贸s, to look for Black Woodpecker and other birds.
When we arrived, we soon heard a woodpecker tapping on a tree near the path, but it simply refused to show itself. We kept walking seeing Syrian and Great Spotted Woodpeckers, but no Black Woodpecker.
Eventually, we reached a bit where an unofficial path went off, deep into the woods, without walking 50m, I heard the call of Black Woodpecker. I decided the best idea would be to walk straight through the thick foliage, full of upturned roots, brambles, bracken, and nettles, to reach a nearby clearing, where, after playing the call of Black Woodpecker for just 5 seconds, a large adult female landed on a tree a mere 3 metres from me.
Sadly though, my mum didn't get to see the bird before it flew away, but we did eventually get eyes on it again, albeit further away.
As we rolled down towards the lookout tower, we started getting attacked by what we thought were flatflies, they were sort of like spiders but flat and had wings. They kept landing on us and crawling all over us! It was worth it however, since we did see my lifer Honey-Buzzard fly over. If you know what these strage insects were, you can post it in the comments, at the bottom of the page.
We then kept cycling, until we reached the lookout tower where we had a break. I spent some time photographing a male Red-backed Shrike, which was hunting for food for its chicks, which seemed to have just fledged.
We decided to go a bit further, to see what was beyond the tree line, we found another lookout tower, which seemed like it wouldn't be able to hold our weights for more that 2 minutes, as well as an Eastern Bath White.
After that, we started cycling back, but we decided to not go through the forest and instead go to look for Roller in the puszta/grassland. We saw some birds perched on some posts infront of us, which I dismissed as Red-backed Shrikes, before they flew away, revealing large white wing patches, they were Lesser Grey Shrikes! We got terrible views later of one of them, which landed not quite far away, and we also saw a female/immature Roller, on a haybale, as they always are.
We then saw a Buzzard and, a good bird for these parts, Hooded Crow. Despite being a daily sight over in Budapest, it was the first time I had seen them here in B茅k茅scsaba
We had a quick stop at the pools at Csaba-t贸, where we saw a few cool birds, such as more Bee-Eaters, but the highlight was a patch tick Greenshank
Once back home, around midday, we saw many butterflies, including Queen of Spain Fritillary, nectaring the flowers in the garden.
Today, my mum and I went out cycling around the quarry ponds near Csaba-t贸. We were surprised to spot as many as 6 Jays flying between some tall trees near us.
We kept walking, spotting a few Red-backed Shrikes and some Tree Sparrows.
Once we reached the quiet area west of Fas-t贸, that's when the birding truly started. We first saw some more common species, such as Syrian Woodpecker, and a distant Golden Oriole, we then spotted a Black-crowned Night Heron and a Purple Heron, on the first pool on your right when you enter the area. Further along, we saw a large flock of Lapwings, numbering in the hundreds.
As we kept going, we saw a Great White Egret, and 3 escapee Muscovy Ducks, as well as a distant Crested Lark.
When the Lapwings flew off, we turned our attention to some other birds around us. We watched some Bee-Eaters that darted over our heads, and saw a few Grey Herons, before we had to turn back.
On our way back we saw a single Common Tern and a family of Great Crested Grebes.
Today, after going to the Szabadk铆gy贸si market, we went for a walk in the K铆gy贸si Nagyerd艖. We started by seeing some insects, notably a few European Hornets, and a few Cardinals. As we kept walking, we saw some Long-tailed Tits, though they were sadly from the europaeus group, and lacked the white heads of the nominate ones that we love seeing when here.
We later saw a Hoopoe, a couple Great Spotted Woodpeckers, and a Roller. We were lucky to hear several male Golden Orioles calling to each other.
I think they are one of the few beautiful birds whose songs are just as lovely. Rollers, Kingfishers, and Mandarin Ducks all have resplendant plumage, though their calls are quite simple and the latter remains mostly silent. Golden Oriole however, has a name sake saffron and black plumage with a melodic and bubbly call.
We later heard a bird that I had been wanting to see since I started researching the avifauna of Hungary, several years ago... The Black Woodpcker. Despite only hearing it call a couple times, and not being able to see it, this was nonetheless a memorable experience.
Today, after hearing about a site with nesting White-tailed Eagles, we cycled to Makkosh谩t. When we arrived, we started by seeing a few Red-backed Shirkes, a Stonechat, and some Bee-eaters.
We then noticed a group of gulls, which we thought were Caspian Gulls, the most common Larus gull here. After checked the photos however, I realised they were in fact Yellow-legged Gulls, a Hungarian tick for me.
We kept walking, seeing more Bee-eaters, until we found some shallow pools, that were full of waders. Despite the heavy heat haze, we picked out Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Dunlin, and a highlight, Whimbrel, from the many Lapwings. Later, we saw a couple Yellow Wagtails, some Great White Egrets, and some Black-winged Stilts.
Despite finding a Bee-eater colony, we sadly couldn't find the eagles, and the heat eventually had us give up.
Today, we went cycling with our grandpa, down to the village of Szabadk铆gy贸s. We saw a few Buzzards and Marsh Harriers on the way, as well as loads of what might be the most common bird in the area: Red-backed Shirke. Our first stop was the Wenckheim-kast茅ly, where we saw a Song Thrush fledgeling, and a family of Spotted Flycatchers.
We then climbed up one of the towers to see the view from the top. To the top of the castle, there were between 170 and 190 steps (both my sisters and I got completely different numbers!). We then saw a few Black Redstarts and a very tame Woodpigeon.
We then quickly stopped at the nearby grassland, where we were looking for Roller. We soon found a male Roller perched, as it was 2 years ago, on one of the hay bales. We then had to head home, since it starting raining.
Today, we woke up at 6:00am, to have a wonder around Csaba-t贸 and the surroundings. We started by seeing a flock of Black-headed Gulls, which contained 3 Whiskered Terns, a patch tick for me here.
We then also saw a Night Heron, perched on a branch near one of the pools.
We kept walking, spotting Marsh Harriers, Red-backed Shrikes, and a mystery falcon species.
As we continued walking, we spotted a very rare sight in Hungary, other birders. They didn't seem as social as Aberdeenshire birders however, and didn't stop for a chat.
We kept walking, spotting a couple Crested Larks, and a Great Reed Warbler.
While walking around, we found many butterflies, which we later identified as Lesser Fiery Coppers, a lifer!
While watching the butterflies, I noticed a couple birds on a distant mound, that had very long legs - Tawny Pipits, a lifer!
We also saw a few Bee-Eaters, and, a highlight for the day, a juvenile Little Bittern, proving they're breeding at the site.
We then started walking back, hearing Golden Orioles, and seeing the falcon, which we idenitfied as a Peregrine Falcon, again.
B茅k茅scsaba
Today, we didn't do too much birding, but I did see some butterflies in and around my grandparents' garden.
There were a few Scarce Swallowtails and Mallow Skippers
We did however also see a Holly Blue and an Eastern Bath White, the latter being a lifer for me.
