Breeding of the Common Crane (Grus grus L.) in Hungary since the 19th century to modern times

Abstract

Abstract In the present study, I summarized the data on Common Crane (Grus grus) nesting published in the Hungarian ornithological literature from the mid-19th century to the present day. Based on these data, it can be observed that the crane was never a frequent nesting species in Hungary. It probably nested regularly until the early 19th century, then occasionally until the 1910s, after which, apart from two occasional reports, no nesting data were available until 2015. From this year onwards, it started nesting again in the Transdanubian region. In the examined period, 55.6% of the nests (n=25) originated from the Transdanubian region, 37.0% from the Tiszántúl region, and 7.4% from the Duna-Tisza area. The observations recorded during the nesting period showed a strong correlation with the spatial distribution of confirmed nests. 82.6% of the observations recorded (n=23) were from the Transdanubian region, 13.0% from the Tiszántúl region, and 4.3% from the Duna-Tisza region. The distribution of nesting data between regions varies not only spatially but also temporally. The nesting data from the Duna-Tisza area and Tiszántúl region date back to the 19th century, with the exception of one report, while the most recent nesting data are from the Transdanubian region (Vas and Veszprém counties).