Between 17-18 November 2023, nature photographers from Szeged, Jászberény and Szentes took part in the XII Fehértav carnival. Unfortunately, this year, due to the threat of bird flu, the Diós Kristóf Photography Memorial Competition was cancelled, but our team was not discouraged to take more beautiful photos of macro and bird themes.
On the first day of the Darvadozás we visited the Szalakota centre near Sándorfalva to watch the evening retrieval, when unfortunately the weather was not favourable for the programme, and we were not very successful in the heavy rain. Hoping for favourable conditions the next day, we headed back to the Community Centre for the night.
By Saturday morning, the rain had stopped, so everything was in place to capture the dawn retrieval in clear weather. With our team of students from Jászberény and Szeged, we waited for the sunrise at the Peter Beretzk Lookout near Lake Fehér at dawn. Many cranes spent the night in the agricultural fields near the lookout, which flew out to more distant feeding grounds shortly after our arrival. The lucky ones managed to capture some of these moments.
After the dawn of the White Lake, we went to Ópusztaszer, where we met our colleagues from Szentes, and said goodbye to Szabi and Luca until the evening, they spent the day in the nearby bird nesting place of the kingfisher, and then joined us again in the evening.
Our team of young photographers then travelled to the large lake at the Csanytelek Fish Farm, where after a hearty breakfast they tried to capture the seagulls, egrets and ducks of the lake as it was about to be fished. Much to our surprise, we also managed to spot some hunting eagles during our time here.
Leaving Ópusztaszer, we drove to the two main venues of the hunt, the castle garden of Sándorfalvi and the Szalakóta Visitor Centre. In the castle garden we saw the live animal show of Gábor Tóth “Animal Jo” and the work of the Csongrád County NGOs. And in the visitor centre, we explored the macro-world of the ornithologists during the last evening retrieval.
Szandra Vass
Szeged group 2
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