10,000 Birds

JUNE 30, 2012

White-backed Woodpecker was one of the major target birds of the Bükk Hills portion of the trip to Hungary and though I would probably have preferred seeing what I now believe to be the mythical Black Woodpecker , the White-backed Woodpecker was a nice consolation prize. No one had access to my thought processes or to the previous footnote.

Woodpeckers 178

Woodpeckers Hungary Europe Japan 178

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 13, 2012

My week-long trip to Hungary was a familiarity trip organized by the wonderful folks at Swarovski Optik to introduce their new line of superior spotting scopes, the ATX and the STX modular telescopes , which were used to digiscope all of the images in this post. Few are as easy to figure out! …

Hungary 160

Hungary Asia Europe Africa 160

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2012

We, and by we I mean me and a gang of about ten other birders, found this youngster along the edge of Lake Tisza on the grounds of Tisza Balneum, a marvelous hotel where we had the good fortune to stay for two nights of the Hungary trip. We visited Hortobágy National Park, the Bükk Hills and places in between.

Hungary 170

Hungary Eggs Abandon Abandoning 170

10,000 Birds

JULY 20, 2012

… I wanted to explicitly point out that Swarovski Optik flew me and a bunch of other birders to Hungary for a week of all-expense-paid birding with the new scopes. Feel free to come on back and say what you think about the scope – positive or negative – in the comments once you have had that experience. …

Hungary 227

Hungary 2013 Groups Game 227

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 8, 2012

Having jumped around a bit while writing up my trip to Hungary – sharing a few galleries , a trip to find an elusive woodpecker , and the most exciting news in optics since Galileo discovered Jupiter’s moons – I thought it was time to go back to the beginning of the trip and proceed chronologically.

Hungary 160

Hungary United States Birds Woodpeckers 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 17, 2012

Corey’s Best Bird of the Weekend was the last bird he paid attention to in Hungary on Saturday morning before flying back to the United States, a European Goldfinch singing in a tree outside of his hotel. If you’ve blogged about your weekend experience, you should include a link in your comment.

Hungary 167

Hungary 2012 Miami United States 167

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 21, 2012

The famous bird experts, Thorogood and Davies, carried out an experiment which… reveal that social learning is specific to the cuckoo morph that neighbors mob. Our results suggest that selection for mimicry and polymorphisms comes not only from personal experience but also from social learning.

Hungary 174

Hungary 2012 Science Eggs 174

10,000 Birds

MARCH 1, 2018

Yet, it takes great logistical effort to organize the census all the way from Germany to Austria, Hungary and Serbia in the same day, to count on numerous volunteers and hope for the best February weather. Yet, David, who has much more experience with bustards, isn’t convinced: “In winter, some females develop bristles, too.”.

Hungary 147

Hungary Serbia Austria Eggs 147

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 25, 2012

And while I can still remember the first time I saw one in 2007, in the company of Jochen and Hendrik in a pine forest on the coast of the Baltic Sea, it took until this year’s trip to Hungary before I managed to get a decent image of one. It’s because they like to crack open or “hatch” nuts for food. …

Hungary 127

Hungary Europe Portugal Georgia 127

10,000 Birds

JULY 30, 2012

After Corey shared his story of his hedgehog experience in Hungary I thought you may like to see some rather adorable pictures of a young European Hedgehog in England. It appears that hedgehog numbers in the UK have dropped by 25% in the last 10 years , so every hedgehog that can be saved is extremely worthwhile.

Hedgehogs 167

Hedgehogs RSPCA The Blue Cross Hungary 167

10,000 Birds

MAY 28, 2015

I have asked myself that same question many times over the last six months, until last week, when I was involved in an opening ceremony of five new bird hides at the Palic Lake, by the town of Subotica in the very north of Serbia, along the border with Hungary (all photos are from that area). They got the message right. And so did I.

Serbia 245

Serbia Birds Spain Hungary 245

10,000 Birds

JULY 5, 2018

What I have always missed there and what I still miss is to experience presence of the European Beaver. But, published in 1921 in Budapest, Hungary, it was written in Hungarian. Whenever I pushed my paddle lower, I had the impression that there is no water and that I paddle on and though the mist, timeless and eternal.

Beavers 121

Beavers Serbia Eagles Hungary 121

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 31, 2012

Attila Steiner, who I was lucky enough to meet while I was in Hungary , was ecstatic to see a rare rail in Ghana: It was my last afternoon in Ankasa Reserve, Ghana. I have chronicled the experience on my blog. A whole bunch of you responded and shared your best birds either in blog post form, email form, or in our comments.

2012 133

2012 Ghana Ireland Birds 133

4 The Love Of Animals

NOVEMBER 24, 2009

Horowitz and other scientists are now running experiments to determine what a behavior, like a kiss, really means. Horowitz wondered if they behave this way because they truly recognize they’ve done something wrong, so she devised an experiment. See TIME’s video “ The March of TIME: Hunting Dog Field Trials.&#.

Wolves 100

Wolves Fox Dogs Puppies 100