Autumn tour with Ornitholidays
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
Japanese group arrive for geese-watching
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
Crane Spectacular & Wild Goose Chase tour for Ornitholidays
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
Limosa 2009 Crane tour
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