A rare sight! A sitting Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines). A common early spring butterfly but the darn things never EVER sit still for a photo. One of the more hyperactive #butterflies around here. I don't know what was wrong with this one. 😂 #WildHungary #insects #bugs #lepidotera

Some nice Black-tailed Godwits (Limosa limosa) in breeding plumage. #BirdingHungary #BirdsSeenIn2026 #godwits #shorebirds #waders #birding #birds

Distant Great Snipe (Gallinago media). Uncommon in Hungary and only during a brief window at migration. Compared to Common Snipe, it has white stripes in the wings, flushes much closer, has more direct flight and is usually silent. In sharp decline in Europe. #BirdingHungary #waders #shorebirds

How's this for braking power? 😀 Black-crowned Night Heron (Nycticorax nyticorax) coming in for a landing. #BirdingHungary #herons #waders #birding

The only pipit around here that's not all stripey n'stuff 😄 The clear-breasted Tawny Pipit (Anthus campestris) #BirdingHungary #pipits #BirdsSeenIn2026 #SpringMigration2026

The second orchid to bloom in the spring.. the Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes). We saw a few of these yesterday along with tons of Green-winged #Orchids 😀👍 #WildHungary #wildflowers #WildflowerPower

The first orchid to bloom in the spring in these parts... the Green-winged Orchid (Anacamptis morio). #WildHungary #wildflowers #WildflowerPower #orchids

Gray #Partridges (Perdix perdix) skedaddling across a hay field. The birders bane on a Kiskunság big day! 😄 They're there, but they almost never show themselves... especially when the crops get a bit higher. Best chance for the tick is to listen for their calls at night. #BirdingHungary #birding

The Purple Herons (Ardea purpurea) are back, looking sharp as ever. Resident in most of sub-Sahara Africa, India and SE Asia, but in Europe it is strictly a summer bird. It ain't digging the cold weather. #BirdingHungary #BirdsSeenIn2026 #herons #waders #birding

🎵 I am the eye in the sky, looking at you / I can read your mind / I am the maker of rules, dealing with fools / I can cheat you blind .. 😀 A male Whinchat (Saxicola rubetra) keeping an eye on the sky. Not sure what it was looking at. #BirdingHungary #whinchats #birding #chats #flycatchers

What could be more appropriate for Bluesky on a #BlueMonday than a Bluethroat (Luscinia svecica). 😀 This is a different male than the one I posted yesterday. #BirdingHungary #bluethroats #MondayBlues

Actually that's a good point. There was a movement a few years back about standardizing common names similar to the way scientific names are standardized throughout the world. But I can't see it working for exactly the examples you cited.

They were classified as thrushes for so long that I still think of them like that. They seem more like thrushes than flycatchers to me. But apparently it is based on genetic phylogeny. Who am I to argue with DNA? 😄

Thanks! 😀

From Google. Nightingales belong to a distinctive group of Old World flycatchers, known as chats, that were formerly thought to be thrushes. Genetic analysis showed that they were in fact a type of flycatcher (Muscicapidae), with the resemblance to thrushes being the result of convergent evolution

You might want to check your taxonomy on that one. They USED to be considered thrushes. They are now considered Old World flycatchers. Google it.

I’ve never seen it this thick. Also it is only April… still early in the season. Usually get this goop in summer. So yes… a bit unusual this year. Not sure what is causing it.

Thanks! 🙂

Thanks Lori! 😀

Phonescope video of Savi's Warbler (Locustella luscinioides). The dry, buzzy insect-like trill you hear is the bird's song and it can go on like this non-stop for several minutes. 😀 The elongated undertail coverts are characteristic of all Locustella #warblers in these parts. #BirdingHungary

Wood Sandpiper (Tringa glareola) walking on water. 😄 The layer of algae on top of this channel was thick enough to support the birds weight, but there is nothing underneath it but several feet of water. 💦 #BirdingHungary #BirdsSeenIn2026 #sandpipers #waders #shorebirds

Short phonescope video of one of today's Bluethroats (Luscinia svecica). It was too far away for my phone to pick up the song. The only thing you can hear on the video is the cricket at my feet. 😃 #BirdingHungary #bluethroats #flycatchers

The tiny but spectacular Bluethroats (Luscinia svecica) are back! Here is one of several we saw today. Hard to think of it as a flycatcher, but it is currently classified as an old world flycatcher. Same genus as the nightingales. #BirdingHungary #BirdsSeenIn2026 #bluethroats #flycatchers

😄👍

Yeah.. I can see how it might look like that, but it was fine. It was walking and when they walk, they kind of lean forward a bit. Standing still they are more upright. 😀

Black Stork (Ciconia nigra) cruising by this morning. #BirdingHungary #BirdsSeenIn2026 #waders #storks

Wasn't quick enough on the shutter button to capture the whole Greenshank in flight but got most of it. 😀 One of the largest of the Tringa genus, it's closely related to NA's Greater Yellowlegs. To me, the two species sound exactly the same. #BirdingHungary #shorebirds #waders #sandpipers

Another wader from today. Common Greenshank (Tringa nebularia) doing what #shorebirds do... sticking their face in the mud for something to eat. 😋 #BirdingHungary #waders #sandpipers

Speaking of cool breeding liveries, check out this male Ruff (Calidris pugnax). I nicknamed him Rusty. 😀👍 #BirdingHungary #waders #shorebirds #sandpipers #BirdsSeenIn2026

Back in black! Spotted Redshanks (Tringta erythropus) are heading north, and some are already in breeding plumage. At the height of the breeding season even their beak and legs turn black. Looks so cool! 😎👍 Quite a contrast to the whitish Greenshanks behind. #BirdingHungary #shorebirds #waders