Vig Károly: Zoological Research in Western Hungary. A history (Szombathely, 2003)

Phylum Vertebrata 185 There was also a decline in the Hungarian population of the avocet (Recurvirostra avosetta) in the mid-2Oth century, with several authors fearing its extinction. PÉTER BERETZK (1938 and 1942a) gave occurrence data from Fertő. KÁLMÁN MIKOLÁS (1934) reported it from Szil. Then stilts too took to the habitatreconstruction area at Mekszikópuszta in 1993 (KÁRPÁTI 1986; PELLINGER 1993e), since when 10-20 pairs have bred a year, depending on the rainfall. Occurrence data for the little ringed plover (Charadrius hiaticula) were published by ANDRÁS KEVE (1954b) and later TIBOR HADARICS (1997d and 1999h). One or two pairs breed at Fertő each year. Only a few Fertő occurrences of the dotterel (C. morinellus) are known (BERETZK 1941; BANKOVICS et al 2002). The high precipitation and melting snow in 1982 flooded wide areas of the Cikes Meadow at Mekszikópuszta. The proliferating Cladophora weed turned into a felt blanket once the pond had dried out, bleached white by the salts from the water. The blanket was chosen for nesting by six pairs of Kentish plover (Charadrius alexandrinus), which had not bred on the Hungarian side of Fertő before (KÁRPÁTI 1984b). A few pairs then bred there for several years in the 1990s. The survival rates of fledgling Kentish plovers in Hungary were examined by a team of researchers on the alkaline puszta habitat of the southern Great Plain and on drained fish ponds near Csajtó and at Fertő (NOSZÁLY et al. 1995). The Pacific golden plover (Pluvialis fulva) appears in Hungary as a very rare vagrant and only one occurrence from Fertő (at Borsod Meadow, Fertőújlak on May 14-15, 2000) is known (PELLINGER and MOGYORÓSI 2001). The knot (Calidris canutus) is a very rare, but regular sandpiper species in Hungary, observed altogether 36 times since 1985. A list of the specimens caught and observed at Fertő up to 1958 was published by PÉTER BERETZK and ANDRÁS KEVE (1958; see also HADARICS 1998d; MME NOMENCLATOR BIZOTTSÁG 1998a and 1998b). The same authors published in another article (BERETZK and KEVE 1957) the entire Fertő data for the sanderling (C. alba), which were augmented with new observations by TIBOR HADARICS (1999h). The pectoral sandpiper (C. melanotos) was observed at Fertőújlak (MME NOMENCLATOR BIZOTTSÁG 1998a); altogether five Fertő occurrences are known. The purple sandpiper (C. maritima), as a coastal wader, hardly strays so far inland. Only two occurrences in Hungary are known, of which one was by Fertő, probably at Mosonbánfalva (Apetlon), in 1857. This specimen is now in the Natural History Museum in Vienna (KEVE 1960b). Another occurrence at Fertő is known from the mid-20th century (BAUER 1954). The abundance of the snipe (Gallinago gallinago) at Fertő was the subject of an early study (GYULAY 1911). PÉTER BERETZK and ANDRÁS KEVE (1958) published all the occurrence data at Fertő for the bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica), which appears sporadically in the spring and regularly in the autumn (HADARICS 1999g). Three curlew species occur in Hungary: the whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), slender-billed curlew (N. tenuirostris) and common curlew (N. arquata). Occurrence and breeding data for these were summarized by a team headed by PÉTER BERETZK (BERETZK et al. 1959) in a publication that includes Fertő and Hanság data. Several other publications