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The Eagle Centre, the main element of the HELICON LIFE+ programme running from 2012 through 2016, and which is located seven kilometres from Jászberény along the road to Jászárokszállás, was handed over at a ceremony on Friday, April 17th.
The opening ceremony started in the project partner Jászberény ZOO, where the Imperial Eagle Education Centre has made its first appearance to the press.
The Eagle Centre was built here on purpose. The Jászság SPA, within the Hortobágyi National Park Directorate, hosts the densest Imperial Eagle population in the country. The area is also an important place for wintering raptors, among them Imperial Eagles, that is why we started to operate an eagle feeding station here during the winter, which could be followed online with the help of a web camera.
The Eagle Centre and the Imperial Eagle Education Centre in the Jászberény ZOO are connected by a 31-km-long bike trail, and even bikes can be rented in the ZOO. Visitors of the Eagle Centre can gain further experience about the species while walking through the 3,5-km-long walking trail.
This institution will be an important place for research, nature conservation and awareness raising work in the future. Here, a special bird aviary can also be found, where poisoned, shot eagles can regain strength after their medical treatment, and from where they get released back to the wild eventually. The building complex hosts an education room, accommodation for staff, researchers and pupils of forest school.
Now, let us see some photos of the event!
Katalin Bodnár, Public Relations Director of MME, opened the event.
The participants ...
... were first greeted by András Schmidt associate of the Ministry of National Development, ...
… then by László Bécsy, Life Programme manager of the Environment Department
of the European Commission, ...
... by István Kapocsi, deputy director of the Hortobágyi National Park Directorate, ...
... by Dr. Gergő Halmos, Executive Director of MME ...
... and by Dr. Márton Horváth, HELICON LIFE project leader.
After the ceremonial opening, visitors occupied the Eagle Centre. First of all, the exciting
education room ...
... where Albert Lukács’ paintings of the phylogenetic tree of raptors ...
... Imperial Eagles ...
... their preys ...
... could be seen on the walls.
Probably the most exciting part of it is the miniature, painted interactive educational trail, ...
... which depicts civilisation threats, ...
... and the possible answers to those.
Novelty of this game is that ...
... the stations of the graphics are invisble in normal light conditions. Flashlights may
reveal the faint contours painted with special materials, as it is seen on the picture.
Therefore, visitors need to use an UV lamp which shows all the hidden content.
Participants of the hand over ceremony (Photos: Zoltán Orbán).
The Eagle Centre awaits visitors from May 4. More details will be available later on the parlagisas.hu website and on the facebook page of HELICON LIFE project and the Eagle Centre.
Zoltán Orbán