Full-Day Birding Trip in Apaj - February 28

A Lucky Day with Red-breasted Geese

On February 28, we started from Budapest in very nice early spring weather. At 7:00 in the morning the temperature was still cold, around 3°C. We left the city quickly and arrived to the field around 7:40. First, we looked around from a watchtower near Bugyi.

From here we saw a Great Grey Shrike (Lanius excubitor), a White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla), and some flying Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons).

After this, we went to another nearby place, where luckily we saw flying Great Bustards (Otis tarda). Unfortunately, we did not see them landing anywhere, so we decided to go towards the grassy steppe area.

On the way we saw some European Stonechats (Saxicola rubicola). This was the first time this year that I saw this species.

On the grassy steppe we met several small flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons), but we did not find any other species among them. In this area we also saw a flying Eastern Imperial Eagle (Aquila heliaca).

After this, we went to the fishponds. Here we saw more White-tailed Eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla), a Ferruginous Duck (Aythya nyroca), a Red-crested Pochard (Netta rufina), some Pygmy Cormorants (Microcarbo pygmaeus), and Eurasian Spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia). At the fishponds we also saw smaller and bigger flocks of Greater White-fronted Geese (Anser albifrons) and Greylag Geese (Anser anser).

Then we checked the flooded and grazed grassy areas next to the fishponds. There were many waders here. We saw Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus), Black-tailed Godwit (Limosa limosa), Common Redshank (Tringa totanus), Spotted Redshank (Tringa erythropus), and Dunlin (Calidris alpina).

In the middle of the grassy area there were thousands of geese, but because of the distance we could not check them well.

We met a local birder who also wanted to check the geese. We asked him to call us if he sees a Lesser White-fronted Goose (Anser erythropus) or a Red-breasted Goose (Branta ruficollis), because these were our target species.

Until then, we went back to the fishponds and hoped that the geese would fly closer to the water, where we could check them more easily. Unfortunately, this plan did not work. But the birder called us and said he saw five Red-breasted Geese (Branta ruficollis) at the earlier flooded grassy area.

We quickly went back, and luckily we could see them before a flying White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) disturbed the geese and they flew away.

After this, we visited a nearby mining lake, where many wintering birds were present. Here we saw Smew (Mergellus albellus), Slavonian Grebe (Podiceps auritus), Mediterranean Gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus), and Common Crane (Grus grus). On the agricultural field next to the lake we saw a Crested Lark (Galerida cristata).