I spent the week 7-13 November 2008 birdwatching with the Japanese group, when the unusually long Indian summer still persisted. This is why, in spite of the short periods of daylight, we had an action-packed birdwatching tour. In the first morning we could take pleasure in the sight of 10 Great Bustards, with Hen Harriers and Rough-legged Buzzards hunting nearby. Before lunch we went to see the Great Spotted Eagle wintering here regularly. During the short afternoon, we found a wild goose flock grazing in a wheat field, with a Red-breasted and a Lesser White-fronted Goose among them. The group applauded the sighting of a flock of 400 Stock Doves. We spent the evening watching the nearly 10,000 Cranes flying to their roosting area.

During the next few days, in an unhurried way, we collected all Hortobágy species special for Japanese birdwatchers, such as  Merlin, Saker, Penduline Tit, Bearded Tit, Pygmy Cormorant, Dotterel, Little Owl, Shelduck, Ruff, Snow Bunting, Meadow Pipit, Peregrine Falcon, Long-eared Owl, Great Grey Shrike, Blue Tit, Brambling, Fieldfare, Ferruginous Duck, etc. We also had the time to go and see the two “star” species, Great Bustard and Red-breasted Goose again.

We saw the first woodland species (such as Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Short-toed Treecreeper, Hawfinch, Mistle Thrush, Redwing, Black Woodpecker and Marsh Tit) in the Great Forest of Debrecen, and continued collecting them in the Zemplén Hills (Black Redstart, Syrian Woodpecker, Green and Grey-headed Woodpecker, Bullfinch, Coal Tit and Tawny Owl). We crowned the tour with the sight of an adult Imperial Eagle perching on a tree by the main road.

Bird of the tour: Red-breasted Goose.

Zoltán Ecsedi