Red-footed Falcon

On August 8, 2004 the first Red-footed Falcon (Falco verpertinus) to stray into the western hemisphere was identified at Katama Airpark on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts.  In addition to the bird creating a media frenzy - a news helicopter nearly took out the falcon while landing - birders from all 50 states and all 11 provinces came to see the bird.  The falcon was very cooperative and stayed until at least August 16th.  A group of friends from Baltimore arranged a bus and ferry trip to the Vineyard to see the bird but I was not with them.  Unfortunately, I had moved to Michigan a month earlier.  

Then the Red-footed Falcon was gone.  I always wonder, when such a special bird is found so out-of-place, where does it go to never be seen again?  From Martha's Vineyard the best answer to this might be back out over the Atlantic Ocean.

Despite hoping for it, we did not see Red-footed Falcon in Bulgaria.  So it was another target bird to see in Hungary - especially after I missed the Martha's Vineyard visitor.  Leaving the Saker Falcon we moved on to find the Red-footed Falcon.  Keeping my days straight, this is Sunday, May 25th.

Before we could find the guys below, we went through a small town which had an ornately steepled church.  Hungary is a country of churches; most Hungarians are Catholic, but Orthodox and Muslim religion is also common.  The denomination of the church can be identified by the symbol at the top of the steeple.  I think this church was an Orthodox church.  

We drove out of town and were in farming habitat with barns on one side of the road and open fields on the other side. 

Along a somewhat busy two-laned road Gerard stopped the car to check out a dead bird at the edge.  As with the Saker Falcon boxes, nest boxes are also placed in trees for nesting kestrels. Often these boxes are in trees right at the edge of the road, as was this one, and not all that high up either. That might be an adult female in the nest box above, but it could also be an almost ready-to-fledge juvenile.  Just below the nest at the edge of the road was this road-killed kestrel.  Gerard took several photos.  He uses this evidence to warn against road-side placement of nest boxes. Another adult Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) was nearby hunting over the road and adjacent fields.  If the bird in the box was a juvenile, perhaps there was another parent caring for it.   

This was the first of several stops we would make like this and, in addition to being an excellent learning experience, I would come to recognize it as one of the perks of being on a one-person trip.   

The Little Owl was perched on some large hay bales deep into the fields.  Finally, a single Red-footed Falcon was flying and hovering. Red-footed Falcons are colonial birds and where there is one there are more.

While photographing this bird close to the edge of the road, Red-footed Falcons began to appear at intervals hunting over the field for about the next 100 meters. 

Something about the way this bird its hovering...

... the position of its body is more vertical.  This is different from kestrels which have a more horizontal body position when hovering. Third life bird of the trip.

Red-footed Falcon and Kestrel hunting grounds.

A soaring Kestrel.

On future days we would occasionally see Red-footed Falcons over farmland along the road.  On the last full day of birding I was able to get quite closed to this perched bird.  Unfortunately, the light was dreadful and all of my photos are severely backlit. 

I tried to improve both photos with the rudimentary iPhoto editing tool without much luck.  In general, I struggled with the light for photographing throughout the trip.  I thought back to the crystal clear light in Costa Rica and then considered the hot, humid and hazy light in eastern Hungary.  This did not impact the excellence of the birding experience, but did impact the photos I have to share.

Saker Falcon

We stayed at the hotel below, Kunsagi Major, actually a beautiful horse ranch, on our first night in Hungary  As it turned out this would be my favorite place to stay.  The location was quiet, calm and beautiful and suited me well after a harrowing past four months at work.    The nights were cool to  chilly and I opened the window in my room.  Glorious for sleeping.  We stayed here for two nights and I was actually able to leave work and remember that I was on vacation in a spectacular country. The first night I heard the Little Owl and Chaffinch song woke me early.  

The little stallion pony below was doing his best imitation of California Chrome.  There were a lot of beautiful riding horses grazing in the fields and on our first night there was a riding group from Scandinavia also staying.

Both mornings we walked around the expansive, birdy grounds to see many birds.  My favorite here was a Hoopoe (Upupa epos) that briefly raised its crest while perched on a fence post; alas, too quick and too distant for a photo.

On my first full day in Hungary, Gerard knew where there was a Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) nest box on a huge utility tower along a road near the village of Tass, approximately 65 kms directly south of Budapest.  This location was not that far from where we saw the Great Bustards the day before. 

My photos, horrible for sure, are for me to remember the experience and location of seeing this bird.  As always, terrific images can be found on-line.

The nest box was on the utility tower just visible in the lower right of the photo above and held two chicks.  Saker Falcon is a threatened species and it is helped with monitored nesting sites in suitable habitat. Again, we looked at these birds through the spotting scope and watched the chicks, one of which appeared ready to fledge, hopping around in their nest box and the parents perched and flying nearby. 

Gerard pointed out that Saker Falcon is reminiscent of Prairie Falcon a bird I've only seen twice out west.  True, but larger.  It is also a bird that is bred in captivity for falconry, as well as having wild nests raided for chicks.  Please do read the first paragraph of this birdlife saker falcon link.  Additionally, the first three pages of a Google search all referenced links about purchasing a bird.

Two or three days later we stopped at another location to see Saker Falcon again.  At the second location the bird was much closer.  I should have tried for a photo of the second bird but, as I will explain in a future blog post, I didn't think to do this at the time.  

About a month prior to the trip I ran into Karl Overman at Belle Isle and I mentioned my upcoming trip to Hungary.  His reply, "oh, I like that."  He asked which were my target birds.  I said Great Bustard and Black Woodpecker.  "Those are both good birds, but you also need to add Saker Falcon.  Saker is difficult to find anywhere else, but in Hungary it's a gimme bird." 

Svensson's Birds of Europe, p. 122, 2nd edition, lists Saker Falcon as having V*** (three-star rarity) status.  In Hungary, Karl's description may be more accurate.  Ornithologists have set up nest boxes in suitable habitat and, as noted, these nest boxes are successfully used. At our second Saker sighting, a man was climbing the tower to the nest box to ring the chicks.  The thing is, you need to be in Hungary at the right time of year and have a guide who knows where there is an active nest box.     

Saker Falcon is the image on the Hungarian 50 forint coin.  I brought a few of these home with me, one to give to Karl, especially.  Second life bird of the trip.

Great Bustard

Gerard picked me up at the Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport around 1:00 pm on Saturday, May 24th, and we left the airport to begin birding almost immediately.  My typical way of dealing with jetlag is to remain active until the normal bedtime in my new time zone, so this suited me.  It was hot, humid and sunny.  I had worn jeans on the plane but needed to change quickly to shorts.  My heavy jeans would not cut it in such warm weather.  We drove through a few villages and stopped along some dirt farm roads.  We were immediately in Great Bustard habitat - specifically Kiskunsag Nemzeti Park - almost directly south of Budapest.

Great Bustard (Otis tarda) in the family Otididae was the target bird that really got me thinking about birding in Hungary.  A 2006 New Yorker essay titled Ruffled Feathers by John Seabrook about the fraudulent documentation of now discredited (and deceased in 1967) British ornithologist, Richard Meinertzhagen, first made Me aware  of the Great Bustard.  Meinertzhagan used specimens of Great Bustards from other locations to falsify their presence elsewhere.  His fraud was uncovered by Michigan State University ornithologist, Pam Rasmussen, and documented in Seabrook's riveting article.  Arguably, it is the heaviest flying bird, with male birds weighing in at 8 to 16 kg! Female birds are significantly smaller.  They are birds of the grasslands.  It is a resident bird in Hungary and, though I can't find the reference now, I have read that there are approximately 1,000 breeding pairs here.  It is the national bird of Hungary.   

So when Gerard pulled out his spotting scope for the first time of the afternoon and we climbed the steps up a steep observation tower, I'm not sure I was thinking we would see the bird.  When he called out that he had a bustard in the scope perhaps it was jet lag, but I responded lamely, "you're kidding."  His response was a surprised, "no I'm not" as in what do you think we're doing here?    

Gerard had the male Great Bustard in the scope just in the forefront of the largest shrub in the top left-center of the photo above.  The bird is in the center of the heavily cropped photo below.  In this photo the bird's head is ducked into the grass and its back and tail are all that's visible.  We watched it for awhile.  Then I saw a female bird to the left of the male bird.   

The birds were far out in the field.  But they were well seen in the spotting scope.  For the photos I could only focus my camera on the shrub and then search for the bird in the viewfinder and click and hope that the bird would show up in the photo.

We watched the birds for approximately a half-hour.  The male spread his tail and both birds walked and flew around.  In the photo below, cropped from the photo above, the full shape of the male Great Bustard is in view.  I was lucky to get this shot.

At one point the bird began walking toward us.  Gerard pointed out something that I would not have noticed on my own.  When walking the bird appeared to be rolling, like a child's pull toy on a string.  I watched this unique gait in the scope at the bird moved forward. 

Gerard found another male, arguably slightly closer, directly in front of us.  But, my far reaching photo attempt above did not have the bird in it.  Still, it's a nice view of the beautiful grassland habitat.

The sky was darkening quickly in the direction we would be driving. Gerard pointed out that it was already raining there and so we left our Great Bustards, my first life bird of the trip, and backed our way down the steep stairs of the tower and drove on to our hotel which was not far from this location. 

Hungary, an Introduction

"Hungary?  Really?  Oh, that's interesting."  This was the most frequent response when others asked what my vacation plans were.

So, why Hungary?  Now that I've been back five days and have returned to the realities of work, I recognize that my trip to Hungary was a bit of an extravagance.  When I made this comment to a physician colleague, who is a true world traveler, she expressed surprise.  "Why?  You have worked hard for this."  

A few years ago I traveled to Bulgaria for a birding trip organized by the Friends of the Bulgarian Society for the Protection of Birds (FriendsofBSPB).  That trip was great and is documented in detail on this blog.  I recall that we found 180 plus species and nearly all, but not quite all since I had been to England the year before, life birds.  

2014 was a combination year for the FriendsofBSPB's annual trip; that is, combined birding in Hungary and Bulgaria.  When, at the beginning of the year, I checked with Yoav Chudnuff, Director of FriendsofBSPB, about interest in the trip, no one had yet signed up.  This remained true into early March and so I asked about going on only the Hungary portion of the trip.  He checked with Gerard Gorman, the bird guide for Hungary, and Gerard agreed to do the trip - with me as the single participant.  Gulp!  This was new territory for me.

White Stork (Ciconia ciconia) on nest.  A daily, even hourly, sight in Hungary.

Corn Bunting (Embezira calandra) song heard daily, even hourly, in Hungary.

Corn Bunting not singing - a slightly less frequent sighting.

A typical landscape in the grasslands of Hungary.

Hungarian-style goulash - broth-style with vegetables and beef.  The goulash above was the best I tasted on the trip.

Another typical landscape - this from an area southeast of Budapest.

Prior to birding in Hungary, I had seen only three Eurasian Tree Sparrows (Passer montanus) in total. One in St. Louis, one in Suffolk County, England and one in Bulgaria.  In Hungary this cute little bird was a daily sighting.  Of course, Passer montanus was frequently accompanied by its infamous cousin Passer domesticus. 

Poppys were at the peak of their bloom.

My present position working with adults who have acute leukemia was opened up when the individual in this role for the previous forty years decided to retire.  She gave me a solid foundation on which to build the role as I currently practice.  She came to the United States from Hungary as a nine year old and speaks fluid Hungarian and makes frequent visits to Budapest where she still has family.  She expressed enormous pride in her Hungarian roots and told amazing stories about Hungary.  In my daily work I also frequently come upon a nephrologist from Hungary who happens to have a name that is so difficult to pronounce.  Occasionally we ride the elevator together and on one of these elevator trips he taught me how to say his name correctly.  I had it down perfectly when we stepped off on the 5th floor.  We parted to go to our separate offices and someone distracted me with a question or comment.  In that split second, I forgot all that I learned to pronounce his name.  

I digress.  When I expressed disappointment to Yoav that no one had signed up for the 2014 combined trip he agreed, but also commented that Americans traveling to Europe for birding was down everywhere. Perhaps this is because Europe now seems quite expensive for Americans. By contrast, it's much more affordable, even a bargain, for Europeans to travel west.  For example, we encountered many birders from Europe on our Costa Rica trip, especially in the highlands. Certainly other countries offer, dollar for dollar, more life birds.  It's understandable that precious birding travel dollars would be directed elsewhere.

I would encourage any birder interested in birding in Europe to consider the Friends of BSPB annual trip.  It's excellent and, once past the cost of the flight, very affordable. 

In the foreground, Hungarian Grey Cow

So, my trip to Hungary would not yield many life birds, but they would all be great life birds.  And, as above, I come by my interest in Hungary honestly.  If interested, read on for more.  

Again, from the New York Times and follow-up

Have just returned, literally last night, from a birding trip to Hungary which I will soon begin writing about here.  In the meantime, and before I've even had a chance to look at most of my photos, this article in the New York Times diverted my attention.  More real birding soon, I promise.

An article from this morning's NY Times may interest some:

Birds Leave Nest Involuntarily, and Oakland Fumes

Made me recall the petition I and many others signed against snowy owl killings at the G.R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids this past winter. 

Makes me also wonder if we are not finally getting somewhere, albeit by tiny baby steps, in our battles to protect birds and other animals from the stupid decisions humans make.

Maybe.

Follow-up:  California:  Tree Trimmer Won't Be Charged.