a·vi·an
a·vi·an the paramedics of birdlife a photo essay about injured birds and an organization set out to rescue them.
A természet szeretete és megóvása hozta létre ezt a fantasztikus intézményt, de igazán a benne dolgozók teszik naggyá és lenyűgözővé a Hortobágyi madárkórházat. Legfontosabb célkitűzése a madarak gyógyítása, rehabilitációja és szabadon engedése. Emellett fontos a megelőzés amit csak úgy lehet elérni ha bemutatjuk az embereknek milyen károkat okoznak tudatosan és tudatlanul a természetben. Mindig is lenyűgöztek a madarak és már kicsi korom óta velük foglalkoztam. Rengeteg madárhatározó könyv és lexikont bújtam és mimnél többet és többet szerettem volna megtudni róluk. Eleinte terepi madarásztam , gyűrűzéseken és megfigyeléseken vettem részt,de mindig is testközelből szerettem volna megismerkedni a madarakkal nem csak a távcsövön keresztül. Így amikor lehetőségem volt lemenni önkéntesnek a hortobágyi madárkórházba egy új szemszögből találkozhattam a madarakkal. Dr. Déri János, a madárkórház doktora minden fontos állatorvosi fogást megmutatott és megtanított ahhoz ,hogy megfelelően el tudjam látni a madarakat. A kórházban dolgozók pedig a többi fontos dologra, hogyankel egy madarat megetetni vagy megitatni. Évről évre visszajártam és minden nyaramat itt töltöttem el miközben rengeteg önkéntessel találkoztam akik ugyan úgy szerették a madarakat és segíteni akartak rajtuk mint én. Hatalmas hatással volt rám és mindenkire Tóth János a madarakkal suttog ,mert őt csak így hívták. Solymászként rengeteg mindent megtanított a ragadozó madarak viselkedéséről és szokásairól, emellett egy fantasztikus ember volt, akit mindenki szeretett és tisztelt. Egy olyan új életformát mutatott be nekünk amit mi is követni szerettünk volna és egy pár önkéntessel elkezdtünk solymászni . Elvesztésével hatalmas űr maradt a madárkórház szívén , mert szaktudása és felkészültsége pótolhatatlan emberré tette őt. Egy „nagy család”jött össze akik a madarak megmentésének és megóvásának szentelték életüket és örülök, hogy én is ebbe a családba tartozhatok.
This fantastic organization was born from the desire to love and conserve nature, but in really the people working there make the bird hospital of Hortobágy a w and fascinating place. The main objectives are curing birds, rehabilitating them and releasing back to the wild. On the side, raising awareness is important which we can only achieve if we show people the ways we consciously and unintentionally harm nature. I’ve always been fascinated by birds and been studying them since being a little kid. Getting lost in countless bird field books and lexicons I wanted to learn more and more about them. In the beginning, I was participating in on-location bird watching, tagging and observing, but I’ve always wanted to be closer to birds, to not just observe them through a telescope. This way, when I first went to help out at the bird hospital as a volunteer I met birds from a different viewpoint. In order to properly treat them, Dr. János Déri, the veterinary surgeon of the hospital revealed and thought me every important technique. The other knowledge I learnt when the other workers showed me in what manner food or water should be changed. Coming back every year I’ve met a lot of volunteers that had the same passion to help these birds as me. János Tóth, described as bird whisperer had an huge impact on both on myself, and everybody else, at the hospital. Him being a falconer, he educated me about the habits and actions of birds-of-prey, being a fantastic person whom everybody admired. Showing us a new lifestyle that was promising to follow, with a couple other volunteers we took up falconry. Loosing him left a great empty space in the heart of the hospital, his knowledge and preparedness will be forever missed making him irreplaceable. All in all I’m happy to say to be part of this “big family”, that give their lives work to the rescuing and conserving birdlife. Zsombor Cseszlai
Cseszlai Zsombor
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W
hen arriving to the village of Hortobágy, stylized haystacks are greeting the visitors. The town itself is a historical touristic attraction, famous for it’s flatland, food and farm animals. As crossing the notorious Nineholed bridge visitors can already notice the netted structure of the “big flutter cage” where birds that recovered from their injury can learn to fly again. The hospital works as a tourist attraction to see interesting birds up close, but as Zsombor menioned it’s also imporant that people see the damages we do to birds so it’s an educational experience.
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Most birds arrive in cardboard boxes. This one titles “Common Chaffinch, barely flies”
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Every day many birds go through the doctors table, from having checkups on their injuires to complicated surgeries. It’s important that an assistant unarms the bird by holding the beak and claws. This Black Kite suffered some electical damage and is being bandaged up.
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Recovering birds are first kept indoors (like the kite on the right) so they are in a safe, monitored environment. Afterwards, they are put into one of the several outdoors cages for them to be able to practice flying again. This buzzard is about to go practice with Balazs.
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The youngest falconer of the team, Márk training a goshawk. In the early stages of falconry the bird has to be around humans, to get used to the noises and experiences it would encounter later free-flyining.
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Majority of the animals here are birds of prey, so traditional birdfood won’t cut it. Day old chicks and ducklings are a perfect diet for carnivores like them.
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For some, like Csabika (a young rook) the food has to be prepared, which is done by Adri here. On the next spread, Tundi is feeding some owls with this meat.
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During my stay, the most exciting bird at the hospital was Helga, an eastern imperial eagle originaly bought in with poisioning. This is sadly quite common with almost all birds-of prey, since they are competiton to hunters, some put out poisioned rabbits which these birds would eat and die. Helga now is doing well and pracicing, training her muscles in the big cage to be able to fly again. In the firm grip of his rescuer, Dr Janos Deri is about to take her for a checkup. On the next spread, he is checking her wing with magnets and looking at an x-ray. The device in the middle of the second image is a gps tracker, which works as a little backpack enabling people to track her if there seems to be a problem.
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At the same time as healing birds as I mentioned before falconry is popular amongst the workers. On the previous spread Balazs is training his buzzards and on this page, Bogyo or Bodis is relaxing while his harris hawks fly around to get some excercise. When it’s time to go home, he just whisles with a piece of meat and they follow him back.
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I believe Bogyo’s T-shirt is an apporopriate quote to end with. Surely, these non trained wild birds don’t like to be held so they would fight back if their claws are not held tight, and they are not physically caought for check-ups. But at the end they will recover and fly free, and that’s definetaly a happy ending.
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Thank you to the wonderful people at the Hospital, specially Dr Deri Janos for showing interest and letting me visit and also, Zsombor Cseszlai and for Gergely László Bódis for being so helpful and knowledgable.
photographs and book by
Ferenc Beleznay
www.belez.photo
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