Crane record on Hortobágy: nearly 200,000 birds rest on the plain

Local News

Based on the latest synchronized count, 197,688 cranes spent the night in Hungary, of which 182,780 individuals stayed in the territory of the Hortobágy National Park Administration, the institution reported.

As they write, the number of cranes in the area in the fall has increased significantly, starting from the barely three thousand observed at the end of the 1980s, and today, year after year, well exceeds the hundred thousand birds staying here at the same time. Today we can clearly state that Hortobágy serves as the most important migration site for the species in the world!

The phenomenon that took place in just one man-killer, the so-called There are various reasons behind the fact that the Baltic-Hungarian migration route has become so special. On a European scale, the most significant factor of all is that the European breeding population of the species continues to show a strong growth, the species is successfully recapturing suitable habitats for breeding in its former distribution area across the continent. In the area of the Hortobágy National Park, during the autumn migration, the birds that stay here encounter an extensive chain of resting places with shallow water, while outside the protected area, they find harvested corn stubbles that provide an easily accessible food base in a considerable area.

Photo: Attila Szilágyi Nature Conservation Service

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