Lake Fehér is a lake of

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It is named Fehér (White), because it is white. It is a part of

Kiskunság National Park Kiskunság National Park () is a national park located in Danube–Tisza Interfluve mainly in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary. It was created in 1975 and declared a biosphere reserve by the UNESCO. The park covers an area of 530 km2 and stretch ...

, and it is situated just north of the town of

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also #Etymology, other alternative names) is List of cities and towns of Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat ...

. It covers an area of 14 square kilometres. Lake Fehér is Hungary's largest saltwater lake. It is carefully protected because it is home to 280 species of

bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

and because of its ancient flora. The area is an important stop in the

migration Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

of European birds, and serves as a resting and feeding place for them. During the migration season, crowds of cranes, wild geese, and

teal alt=American teal duck (male), Green-winged teal (male) Teal is a greenish-blue color. Its name comes from that of a bird—the Eurasian teal (''Anas crecca'')—which presents a similarly colored stripe on its head. The word is often used ...

varieties are visible on Lake Fehér. The lake was officially mentioned for the first time in the year 1075. The

Tisza The Tisza, Tysa or Tisa (see below) is one of the major rivers of Central and Eastern Europe. It was once called "the most Hungarian river" because it used to flow entirely within the Kingdom of Hungary. Today, it crosses several national bo ...

River regularly flooded the area up to the early 19th century. The lake once began to the typical brackish lakes of the

Great Hungarian Plain The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain (however, the Great Hungarian Plain was not par ...

. The common property of these shallow, salty lakes is that their water is cloudy from the

colloid A colloid is a mixture in which one substance consisting of microscopically dispersed insoluble particles is suspended throughout another substance. Some definitions specify that the particles must be dispersed in a liquid, while others exte ...

lime Lime most commonly refers to: * Lime (fruit), a green citrus fruit * Lime (material), inorganic materials containing calcium, usually calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide * Lime (color), a color between yellow and green Lime may also refer to: Bo ...

salts and a greyish-white carbonic lime silt accumulates on the lakebed. When the lakebed dries up, as it does partially occasionally, the salt "blossoms" on the lakebed.

References

A Szeged Portál cikke

Kiskunsági Nemzeti Park

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Feher Geography of Csongrád-Csanád County {{Hungary-geo-stub