Nature trails

Haris nature trail

The trail starts from the village Mikóháza, length: 6.6 km

This nature trail is named after the corn crake (Crex crex), a migratory meadow bird living in solitude. These birds regularly build nests in Hungary, there are approximately 4000 breeding pairs of them in our country. It's 27-30 cm in length, with a wingspan of 46-53 cm, and a body mass of 135-200g. The upper feathers have a blackish colour with light brown ones on the edges, which makes it seem scaled. The belly is pale brown with reddish-brown stripes. The chest, the throat and the sides of its head are dove grey in colour. It has a short and powerful beak so that it can pick up seeds and grains from the ground. The young are all blackish-brown in colour, which is unusual for meadow birds.

The brooding period is between May and June, these birds rarely lay eggs twice. Nests are built from grass stalks, in holes on the ground. There are 7-12 greyish-green or reddish-brown eggs with tawny or crimson spots in a nest. The brooding takes 14-18 days and is done solely by the hen bird. The young leave the nest after 5 weeks.

'Imperial eagle' nature trail

The “Imperial eagle” trail starts from the village Mikóháza, length: 7.9 km

This nature trail got its name after the magnificent and also specially protected imperial eagle (Aquila heliaca), which inhabits Hungary in the largest numbers within Europe. Its base colour is dark brown. The crown is light brown, and white patches on the shoulders also make identification easier. The strong legs with the long talons and the curved beak, which has a grey tip, are yellow.

The length of its body is 72-83 cm, the wingspan is 2 metres. Males weigh 2.5-4 while their breeding pairs weigh 2.8-4.5 kilograms.

The imperial eagle is a carnivore, preferably hunting various rodents like susliks, hamsters, and field voles, but sometimes also reptiles and smaller birds. It also feeds on carrions in times of hunger. Nowadays, because of a reduction in the suslik population, imperial eagles catch more and more birds, including poultry. Therefore, it is very often the case that farmers poison them in order to protect their animals.