remembering good times birding with a friend

Long time readers of previous incarnations of this blog may remember my tales of birding with Hungarian friends: Peteri Lake, our search for Otis tarda, and the Tisza River. Maci, with whom I shared those adventures (and others), passed away last week.  She was a remarkable lady and I will never forget her. She was already 80+ when we shared these adventures. That Otis tarda was a life bird for both of us, and the last time I saw her in Budapest, she lit up remembering it.
So, in remembrance of Maci, here are some links to our adventures:

1999

total eclipse -- in which we watch a total solar eclipse from her garden at Lake Balaton.

2001

endurance birding -- in which we deliver an ornithologist to Peteri Lake, go birding there, eat fish soup on the puszta, and see our life Otis tarda.

extreme birding -- in which we fail to find black woodpecker and pygmy cormorant and I fall off a cliff looking at a ferruginous duck.

francia krémes -- in which we bring Maci pastries, meet her pet turtle, and admire her evergreen oak.

2003

hello -- in which I have coffee with Maci and reminisce about our birding adventures. This was the last time I saw her.

the dunes

Looking back over the dunes from the top of the lot 5 boardwalk...

 

 

Looking south along the beach...

Looking north ...

a bug

some kind of grasshopper

This grasshopper landed in front of me on the Lot 5 boardwalk. Alas, my grasshopper/cricket/bug id skills are rusty.