This year's first bustard chicks hatched at the Great Bustard Conservation Station of the Körös-Maros National Park Directorate recently. Caregivers feed and walk the five flaky little chicks every day. Great bustard eggs rescued from the first endangered nests arrived at the Station in mid-April. So far, experts have delivered ten endangered eggs from the KMNP and two from more remote areas. Within the framework of the LIFE project entitled “Cross-border protection of Great Bustard in Central Europe”, the National Park Directorate could procure new, modern hatcheries. This year's chicks have already been hatched in these facilities. The other bustard eggs are also constantly monitored at the Conservation Station and we are confident that the number of successfully hatching chicks will soon increase further. The young birds will then be reared on the Directorate’s 400-acre Great Bustard Conservation Area and will be gradually released according to the practice of previous decades.
On July 18th 2019 a short article about the visit of the Bustard observation tower at the Wartberger church by the regional councilor Schleritzko was published.
In the course of a major press event with Hungarian Deputy Prime Minister Zolt Semjén, the first section of a medium-voltage power line from NKM in the Kiskunság National Park was transfered below the ground and the last pylon dismantled.
These impressive photos were taken by our Bustard friend Jozef Chavko from the Raptor Protection Slovakia (Ochrana dravcov na Slovensku). The photos show an imperial eagle in the second calendar year, who was tagged on 06.07.2018 by the TB Raab in the March-Thaya-Auen in coordination with DI Hans Jörg Damm, Director of Agriculture and Forest Wilfersdorf of the Foundation Prince Liechtenstein and the professional hunter Stefan Weeks. The bird stayed in Lower Austria and the Czech Republic for a long time after the tagging, but was spotted and photographed in the Bustard area Parndorfer Platte - Heideboden on the 2nd and 3rd of February. We hope that this bird will continue to provide many important information to learn more about the influence of the Imperial Eagle on the Great Bustard and to successfully protect both species.
On July 20th 2018 an article about game management on protected areas is published in the Newsletter of the Kiskunság National park. The article can be found on page 9 in hungarian.
Fortunately, two females with offspring could already be spotted in the Marchfeld this year.Farmers in the Marchfeld have spotted these juvenile Bustards and Franz Josef Kovacs has been able to photograph them from a far distance on a high stand.
Reason for joy. During the night, at 1:45 am, a juvenile bustard was photographed by farmer Robert Kriegl in a fallow field in Marchfeld. Fortunately, the farmer has taken consideration. Because the fallow should have been chopped today - now once shifted by 2-3 weeks - and Bustard expert Rainer Raab will ride along and watch, because in the Marchfeld every juvenile Bustard is very much needed.