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The European Christmas Bird Count

10,000 Birds

A Great Egret , a few Pygmy Cormorants and, by the middle of the Danube, about a hundred Greylag Geese. Two hundred yards further, the first Common Goldeneye and Smew started to appear and, while counting Smew and geese, a Great Bittern took flight from one stand of reeds to another, right in front of us.

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The Self-Refreshing Rarity

10,000 Birds

These, however, were as wary as lawn geese. One of the rangers at the refuge had some photos showing an injury on the bird’s breast, likely from a gunshot wound as the refuge is a popular site for waterfowl hunting, including hunting the thousands of Tundra Swans in the area. The other birds took some doing to find.