Crane festival 2025
Between 14–15 November 2025, the Kiskunság National Park held its event series titled “XIV. Crane Festival at Lake Fehér – the celebration of bird migration in the Southern Great Plain.”
Participating in this event is part of the traditions of the Szeged Community House, and this year it was expanded with the Kristóf Diós Field Photography Competition, last held two years ago — now featuring the active involvement of our nature photographers from Szeged and Szentes.
On Friday, after school, our photography team from Szeged visited the Roller Education Centre near Sándorfalva for the evening crane return, hoping to capture the cranes as they flew to their night roosts. Unfortunately, the foggy weather made our task difficult that evening; although we could not photograph any cranes, our team still found plenty of macro subjects in the descending fog.
The next morning, at sunrise, we returned to the same location together with secondary school students and our fellow photographers from Szentes, who joined the expanded photography run. The weather was much kinder to us that day — the fog lifted, allowing everyone to find ample subjects within the three announced themes: “Animal Category,” “Macro Category,” and “Water — the Source of Life.”
We continued our photography near the fishponds along the Algyő access road of the Fehértó Fishery, where we successfully captured herons, egrets, and gulls as well. After our long hike, we travelled to the café of the Pallavicini Castle in Sándorfalva, where we began editing our raw images until the submission deadline.
Other members of the Szeged Group 1 represented our Foundation that day under the guidance of mentor István Vidákovics. While the photography team was competing in the field, this group explored the event’s programmes. Upon arrival, they took part in a horse-drawn carriage tour between the castle and the bird-ringing station, then observed the bird-ringing process and gained insight into the work of rescue dog teams.
After submitting our contest photos, the two groups had lunch together, and then headed back to the Roller Education Centre to watch the evening crane return and attend the awards ceremony of the Kristóf Diós Field Photography Competition.
Following the spectacular evening crane return, we awaited the final results of the photography run with great excitement, as this event has always been an important measure for us in evaluating our nature photographs.
To our great surprise, our team — now strengthened by our new photography volunteer, Kata Karácson — received six awards at this year’s event:
MACRO Category
1st place — Macro Category:
Szabolcs Turuczki (volunteer – Szeged Group 2)
2nd place — Macro Category:
Balázs Móric Gila (Szentes Group 1)
WATER — THE SOURCE OF LIFE Category
1st place — Water Category:
Kata Karácson (volunteer)
2nd place — Water Category:
Zente Tácsik (Szeged Group 1)
3rd place — Water Category:
Kata Karácson (volunteer)
YOUTH SPECIAL AWARD:
Balázs Móric Gila
Congratulations on their achievements!
Next year, we will return to witness the crane migration with the same enthusiasm and renewed strength.
Mikics Péter
mentor
Mikics Péter
mentor