Year: 2009

There is a (White-winged) Snowfinch at Somoskő Castle, a few meters inside Slovakia (the village in Hungary, the castle in Slovakia), which is the first ever twitchable in the Carpathian Basin. Most of the previous observations are from present Slovakia but there are no records since 1968. Also it is not clear how many of the XIXth and XXth Century records are offically accepted.

This superb bird was found by Tímea Szederjesi and Eszter Angyal on the 29th of December so our great thanks goes to them!!!

A few images of the bird:

(White-winged) Snowfinch Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

We have made the video of the 2001 Slender-billed Curlew available for anyone to view! It is now viewable from the link (banner) on the SAKERTOUR front page (bottom of the page).

Or you can click on this: http://www.sakertour.com/slender-billed_curlew.php

Sakertour team

Although we had a short spell of ´proper´ winter with -20C temperatures and lots of snow, the geese still hold on in the Hortobágy in tens of thousands! In two days the temperature increased to +12 and we had rain all the way through Christmas (32C difference in 36 hours!). Still several large flocks of Red-breasted Geese and a few Lesser White-fronted Geese can be found among the hordes of Greater White-fronted Geese.

Red-breasted Geese adult and juvenile (on the right) Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

In the last few weeks White-tailed Eagles have been regular visitors to our eagle hides. Also Common Buzzards are daily guests in good numbers.

Fighting Common Buzzards Photo: Miroslav Zítek

Three days ago the Hortobágy got snow-covered so the eagle photography likely to be even better now. Two days ago there were 12 White-tailed Eagles in front of eagle hide II.

Adult White-tailed Eagle Photo: János Perényi

For more images from these hides recently please visit our hide gallery:

http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=1&author=&text=

http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=19

Sakertour team

We have just uploaded a few new images to our ever growing Awards archive. This time a regular guest and friend Csaba Lóki shared a few more of his 2009 winning images from our hides. Please check them out: http://www.sakertour.com/awards.php

Cranes at night Photo: Csaba Lóki

Sakertour Team

We spent a week in the Hortobágy from the 31st of October, and luckily we had splendid weather almost every day.We had also luck with the birds, especially geese, as we saw almost 100 Red-breasted Geese, 64 in one flock, just 150 meters away… This flock contained 3 Lesser White-fronted Geese too. During the week we saw 16 Great Bustards, 3 Imperial Eagles, many White-Tailed Eagles, 3 Sakers, Jack Snipe, 2 Snow Bunting, Ferruginous Ducks, a late Whiskered Tern, Black, Lesser Spotted, Middle-spotted and Syrian Woodpeckers and many more.

Cranes were still presented in good numbers and we saw many thousands flying to the roosting area two evenings. 

Huge flocks of Great Whitefronts have arrived in the Hortobágy Photo:Simay Gábor

Geese attracted many White-tailed Eagles Photo:Simay Gábor

Cranes flying to roost Photo:Simay Gábor

Cranes and geese together on a sea lavendar field Photo:János Oláh

Red-breasted Geese in flight Photo: János Oláh

A long-term partner of Sakertour our Japanese friends came along for the annual geese-watching this year again! One of the most precious target is the ´ao-gan´ or in translation ´blue goose´ which is commonly known for us as Red-breasted Goose. November is also good to see some of the leftover Cranes, many eagles and massive number of Long-eared Owls.

Other targets include the impressive ´no-gan´ or ´field-goose´or as we know it: Great Bustard.

We shall see the final results in a week time!

Sakertour team

Our friends from Ornitholidays (http://www.ornitholidays.co.uk/) arrived on the 31st of October with Mike Witherick as leader.

They arrived at the very best time for some geese watching as unprecedented number of Red-breatsed Geese arrived to the Hortobágy Plains this autumn! Flocks of 30-80 have been seen and the total number of redbreasts estimated to be over 300 in the region! So it was not surprising that already on the arrival day on the way from the airport to the Hortobágy the group had 11 Red-breasted Geese in the fading afternoon light. The leader from Sakertour side was Gábor Simay and he shall give details of this tour soon!

Crane portrait Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

The annual Crane week (17-24 October) for Limosa Holidays was once again a great event with many birds seen. Check out their full itinerary here: http://www.limosaholidays.co.uk/. The tour started in the Zemplén Hills with Ural Owl, White-backed Woodpecker, a fine Alpine Accentor and Rock Bunting. All the usual goodies were seen on the Hortobágy (Lesser White-fronted Goose, Great Bustard, Saker etc.) plus some unexpected bonus like a Dalmatian Pelican.

The tour also coincided with the zenith of the cranes which was 101,500 (a new record for Hortobágy!) this autumn so surely there were enough birds around to see….

Sakertour team

We started our trip in the Zemplén hills, where we managed to see a superb Ural Owl and several species of woodpeckers. On the way to the hills we saw 2 Imperial Eagles together with 2 Saker Falcons. During the rest of our trip we found 6 individuals of the latter species.

On the Hortobágy, besides our target species, like the Great Bustard (9), Stone Curlew (9), Dotterel (100+), Lesser White-fronted Geese (7) we saw a Black-winged Pratincole at the same site where we saw 14 White-tailed together with 2 Impeial Eagles and 9 Jack Snipes. Other highlights were a very late Marsh Sandpiper, Ferruginous Ducks, Bar-tailed Godwit and many,many Red-throated Pipits.

Part of a flock of Dotterels Photo: Simay Gábor

Long-eared Owls at a poost site Photo: Simay Gábor

Penduline Tit Photo: Simay Gábor

Cranes flying to a roost site Photo: Simay Gábor

In the last few days there is a wide discussion of the ID of the Pluvilis seen at Nagy-Vókonya on the Hortobágy. Finally all experts and comments have concluded to be a Pacific Golden Plover (Pluvialis fulva).

Another image of this bird below.

Pacific Golden Plover Photo: János Oláh

Today we were lucky enough to find the second (if accepted) record of Pacific Golden Plover for Hungary. This adult bird was seen at Nagy-Vókonya wetland in the Hortobágy. Other highlights of this magnificent day were 22 Lesser White-fronted Goose, 8 White-tailed Eagle, 4 Imperial Eagles, Bar-tailed Godwit, many Red-throated Pipits and a wonderful roost-flight of Cranes (20 000).

Yesterday´s Crane count on the Hortobágy was 48,000 individuals at 4 main roosting areas.

Pacific Golden Plover Photo: János Tar

Sakertour team

A group of friends just arrived for a three day birding in Hortobágy and an additional day in Zemplén Hills.

On our first day we had an action-packed start. We were concentrating on raptors and we managed to see 3 White-tailed Eagles, 5 Imperial Eagles, a Long-legged Buzzard, Hen Harriers, Goshawk and 2 Sakers.

Other goodies included Ferruginous Ducks, 14 Great Bustards, 7 Stone-curlews and 84 Dotterels.

Winter plumaged Dotterel Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

Late September and October in the Hortobágy National Park is an action-packed period as the autumn bird migration is in full swing. One of the specialities is the masses of cranes visiting the park. The cranes arrive from mid September onwards and the numbers gradually build up day by day to an impressive 100,000 by the second half of October.

The Crane photography is always special and not many photographers appreciate that the Hortobágy (by far the biggest of the European Crane gathering places) can be as good for crane photography as the well-known Hornboga in Sweden! In fact the variety of subjects is probably wider and ranges from bathing and drinking Cranes to feeding and roosting Cranes.

Sakertour is slowly getting to grips with these subjects and following our first year in 2008 we now have many hides for the various subjects. We use mobile hides for the ever changing drinking and bathing places but we also have permanent hides for flying, feeding and roosting Cranes.

Adult and juvenile Cranes  Photo: János Oláh

The roosting hides are located in a fishpond where the Cranes go to roost every evening. As it is not possible to leave the roost area after dark as sometimes there are Cranes sleeping as close as 15 meters to the hides, we built a sleeping cabin with a capacity for 4 photographers. This way after the photo session they can move to the cabin (heated and comfortable) and then go back to the hides pre-dawn without disturbing the birds. A truly magical experience!

Adult Crane preparing to bath Photo: János Oláh

Please follow the autumn photographer results in our galleries or here on the blog!

More images from the beginning of the Crane Photo-season you can find here:

http://hortobagymadarfoto.wordpress.com/

or in our galleries:

http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=15

http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=16&author=&text=

Sakertour team

We have finished the installation of another superb hide in the Hortobágy National Park. It is a very comfortable multi-functional hide for several target birds. This is in steppe habitat and hopefully will be very active from April to October in future. It is a ´steppe drinking´ hide which will surely increase the photographable species list in the Spring tours! Also can be very productive in the Crane migration time or even for geese.

The first pictures were taken from this hide just recently and our firts guests were there today!

Greyleg Goose Photo: János Oláh

Juvenile Ruff Photo: János Oláh

We will updating our ´hide´ section on the website this winter with more pictures of the hides and also a more accurate species list with when to photograph comments.

We looking forward a very busy autumn with many many visiting birders and photographers but we will continously keep everybody updated about our activity!

Sakertour team

We had a group of friends visiting the Hortobágy National Park led by Lance Degnan and they had two days with Sakertour guides on the 3rd and 4th of September.

They were after not only the special birds of the park but also but some relaxed birding too.

The two days birding yielded a lot of good birds and some great numbers too!

Best sightings:30 Pygmy Cormorants, 3 Black Storks, many Garganeys, Ferruginous Ducks, up to 10 White-tailed Eagles, 7 Short-toed Egales, Montagu´s Harriers, a male Pallid Harrier, Long-legged Buzzard, 20 Red-footed Falcons, Hobby, 3 Sakers, 2 Little Crakes, 1500 Common Cranes, 11 Great Bustard, 6 Stone-curlews, 37 Dotterels, Curlew Sandpipers, 30 Long-eared Owls, 3 Hoopoes, many Bee-eaters, 5 Rollers, 20+ Tawny Pipits, 3 Lesser Grey Shrikes and 5 Golden Orioles.

A fantastic experience indeed!

Long-eared Owls Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

In the last few days due to the extreme draught and also because the migration is in full swing our Passerine Drinking Hide has hundreds of birds daily. Most interesting however that four species of woodpeckers regularly visiting the pool and even the shy Black and Green Woodpeckers are daily guests!

Black Woodpecker Photo: János Oláh

Sparrowhawk Photo: János Oláh

More images of this hide can be seen here: http://www.sakertour.com/hidegallery.php?hide=24

We are preparing our mobile hides for the Crane migration and also two new permanent hides will be available for Crane photography this autumn. At the moment the first family parties of Cranes arriving and now up to 800 birds can be seen in the northern Hortobágy.

Sakertour team

As migration is in full swing in the Hortobágy National Park more birders appear on the scene. In August we had Ben and Ian visiting us for a days´s birding with some special target birds.

Short-toed Eagle Photo: János Oláh

We had a fantastic day starting with walk-away views of a female Saker, followed by two magical Long-legged Buzzards and yet at another Saker (this time a juvenile hunting Souslik!) while a female Red-footed Falcon and Bee-eaters were hunting nearby.

Our next ´target´ was a scarce passage wader, the Broad-billed Sandpiper. With a bit of effort we located two birds on a muddy pool and had good looks of the very prominent split-supercilium of the juvenile birds. Additional goodies included 24 Black Stork and Temminck Stint.

A short visit to see 26 magical Long-eared Owls was followed by 42 superb Dotterels down to a few meter with some females still in spectacular plumage. Montagus´s Harriers were flying around us too. The final ´target´ was Great Snipe as one was reported the day before but we had no joy in the extensive marshland with this skulking species. Other birds nearby included Glossy Ibis, a fine Short-toed Eagle and a family party of Hobbies.

Sakertout team

Some of our team visited Transylvania for some late summer birding and to find more fantastic locations for future tours.

We had been to the Southern Carpathians and various wetlands too.

For detailed description see our Transylvania blog: http://birdwatchingtransylvania.wordpress.com/

Shore Lark is a scarce breeding bird of the Carpathian high plateaus over 2000 meter.

Photo: János Oláh

The fantastic landscape of the Bucegi Plateau in the Southern Carpathians.

Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour team

We had a great time with three Belgian birders. Despite having the only rainy day of the month we managed to get some superb birds. Raptors included 3 Short-toed Eagle, Long-legged Buzzard, 6 Montagu´s harrier, 2 Saker and many wonderfull Red-footed Falcons.

Adult Saker on a pylon Photo: János Oláh

Other highlights were a family party of Stone-curlews, Little Owl, up to 18 Long-eared Owls, hundreds of Cranes, Great Bustards and many many Tawny Pipits, Rollers and Lesser Grey Shrikes.

Juvenile Lesser Grey Shrike  Photo: János Oláh

Sakertour Team

We made a short visit to the southern border of the Carpathian Basin into Krassó-Szörény county in Romania. We had a wonderful morning seeing not less then five species of bunting species within a few hours. These were: Black-headed Bunting, Cirl Bunting, Ortolan Bunting, Rock Bunting and Yellowhammer.

The Black-headed Bunting is a rare breeding bird of the Carpathian Basin. As a fairly new colonizer it started to breed close to the Fruska Gora Mountains in Serbia. There is a small population there in the last 9 years. In Romania however it is a fairly common breeding bird outside the Carpathian Basin in the east. In the west the breeding has never been confirmed yet. A few years ago (2005) we saw two singing males just about two kilometer from the Romanian border. This year however we found this singing male well into Romania.

Black-headed Bunting (Emberiza melanocephala) is a rare bird in Transylvania

Photo: János Oláh

We also had several other interesting birds in this single day birding like Short-toed Eagle, Levant Sparrohawk, Red-rumped Swallow, Alpine Swift and Spansih Sparrow. The Red-rumped Swallow and the Levant Sparrowhawk are both scarce but regular breeding birds along the Danube River in Krassó-Szörény. This is the only regular breeding area for these species in the Carpathian Basin.

The Spanish Sparrow is also among the rarest of the breeding species of the Carpathian Basin. There are about 3-4 colonies known and they seem to change places after a few years. There is a decrease in the population in Serbia. In Krassó-Szörény we know two breeding locality.

Red-rumped Swallow (Hirundo daurica) is a regular but scarce breeder along the Danube in Transylvania

  Photo: János Oláh

For more images visit our Transylvania blog: http://birdwatchingtransylvania.wordpress.com/

Sakertour Team

The visiting team from naturArt managed to take some really nice images from our hides!

You can check thir selection here: http://www.naturart.hu/hortobagyi-hetvege

Sakertour Team

On the 11th and 12th of July the most well known Hungarian nature-photo organization naturArt (http://www.naturart.hu) has a weekend in our hides.

Sakertour is a sponsore of the The Wildlife Photographer Of The Year (naturArt) competition in 2009 and also offers a weekend for all the members of the naturArt group in our hides.

More will follow with images!

Sakertour team