Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)
180 Phylum Vertebrata The continuing process of traditional individual ringing was combined with collection of biométrie data on the birds (FÜLÖP 1977 and 1978a; SZENT ENDREY 1980). It is worth giving here some data on occurrences and nesting of some bird species at Fertő and in the Hanság. (Further information appears under the final subheading of this section: 'Sporadic ornithological data from the West Hungarian border region'.) Examples of the red-throated diver (Gavia stellata) were seen at Mekszikópuszta (November 14, 1975—ANON. 1981) and at Fertő, in Rákos Bay (HADARICS 1998a). The black-throated diver (G. arctica) was observed during flooding of Borsod Meadow at Fertőújlak on May 15, 1999 (HADARICS 1999h). An earlier observation from the Hanság is also recorded from Barbacs in December 1894 (AUMÜLLER 1973). Turning to grebes (Podicipedidae), the red-necked grebe (Podiceps grisegena) has been seen at Fertőújlak (HADARICS 1998a and 1999h), Fertő (Herlakni Pond —ANON. 1981; Homok Bay — HADARICS 1997d) and Balf and Fertőrákos (HADARICS 1998d). The Slavonian grebe (P. auritus) is known from several Fertő locations (Nagy-Kláder Pond, Fertőrákos, Püspök Pond, Herlakni Pond, Hidegség Pond—HADARICS 1998a, 1999h and 2000; MME NOMENCLATOR BIZOTTSÁG 1998b). Fertő data for the great crested grebe (P. cristatus) were published by GYÖRGY BREUER (1928e). However, the Fertő population declined sharply after 1977, when the lake was stocked with plant-eating fish (KÁRPÁTI 1989c). The squacco heron (Ardeola ralloides) was once a very rare nester at Fertő (STERBETZ 1961). A cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) observed on May 30, 1998 on the habitat-reconstruction site near Fertőújlak (Borsod Meadow) was the twelfth known occurrence in Hungary (HADARICS 1999a). There were two earlier, hitherto unconfirmed occurrence data for the species (KÁRPÁTI 1983b). The nesting habits of the purple heron (Ardea purpurea) at Fertő were first described by GYULA MADARÁSZ (1892). A heronry developed there again in 1978, after a gap of a decade, when a mixed colony of purple herons and spoonbills (Platalea leucorodia) was noticed on an island and hatching was successful. In recent years, Fertő has possessed a stable colony of purple herons and the species also nests in the Hanság. Six to ten pairs a year were hatching young in the 1990s (FÜLÖP 1995). There were several references to the earlier heronries (SEITZ 1934a, 1934b, 1935a and 1937). These days, spoonbills no longer nest on the Hungarian side of the lake, but flocks of 40-50 birds arrive from the Austrian side to feed (HADARICS 1998c). A film was made in 1968 by DEZSŐ BOGNÁR of the spoonbill colony on the northern tip of Herceg-bokor Island, which serves as documentary evidence of mass nesting by the species in that period. There have been many accounts of occurrences and nesting at Fertő by the great white egret (Egretta alba —CHERNÉL 1919d; LUTTER 1922; WARGA 1922c; SCHENK 1922b, 1924b, 1930g and 1934d; KIRÁLY 1924; SCHERMANN 1924; SZEMERE 1924a and 1924b; FOURNES 1926; BREUER 1929; ÚJHELYI 1933; LEIDENFROST 1936; Szijj 1956; GYŐRY and GÁRDONYI 1957; SMUK 1957b). KÁLMÁN WARGA (1922b) also recalled an egret colony at Nagycenk. At present,
